Barnes & Noble values the strong relationships we have with our publishing partners and the many authors whose works line our bookshelves.
Publisher Relations
We stock over 100,000 unique book titles in our stores and over 1 million unique titles in our warehouse – more than any of our competitors or even the largest book wholesalers. Our vast inventory contains over 50,000 publisher imprints, including small presses, university presses and independently published books.
The sheer volume of books we carry demonstrates our commitment to a wide variety of publishers. Every year we review more than 100,000 submissions from both large and small publishers from diverse backgrounds. Our buyers review publishers’ catalogues, marketing materials and galleys or sample copies to help make their decisions. Most of these books are added to our book database and a small order is placed for our warehouse. This makes the title available for sale on our website and for order through our stores. If you would like our buyers to consider your titles, please see Sell Your Book at B&N.
To ensure that our publisher partners get their books and other products on sale in our stores and online as quickly as possible, we provide Vendor Guidelines developed according to voluntary industry standards prepared by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG).
Author Relations
At Barnes & Noble, we believe the best way for us to serve our authors is to make sure we can tell our customers, “Yes, we can get that book for you.” That’s why we stock as wide a selection as possible in our stores – over 100,000 unique book titles per store. And, we stock over 1 million unique titles in our warehouse – that’s more than any of our competitors or even the largest book wholesalers. This inventory is connected to the customer service stations in our stores in “real-time,” so customers can walk into our stores at any time and access books that are not on our shelves.
Because no two Barnes & Noble stores are alike, we also tailor our selection to each store. Our store managers play a central role in deciding what titles are stocked in their stores, and they have the additional authority and responsibility to reorder books to fill local demand. In addition, customers can always order books from our largest bookstore of all – our website BN.com. Our extensive warehouse stock enables BN.com to ship more titles faster than any online bookseller. Authors looking to get their titles into Barnes & Noble should review Sell Your Book at B&N for more information.
In addition, our stores annually host thousands of author events to help promote the latest titles to our customers. For more information, see How to Be Considered for an Author Event.
NOOK Press
Thousands of self-published authors have joined Barnes & Noble's innovative NOOK Press platform, which recently expanded to allow authors to create not only eBooks, but print books as well. NOOK Press features an easy-to-use, self-service program that enables authors to create hardcover, paperback, and digital books for customer purchase both in-store and online. Authors can also qualify for the opportunity to participate at in-store events including book signings and discussions, where they can sell their print books and meet fans. For more information, visit the NOOK Press page.
Discover Great New Writers Program
The Discover Great New Writers Program highlights the best new and undiscovered contemporary writers, and since its inception in 1990, has introduced readers to Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Gilbert, Khaled Hosseini, Kazuo Ishiguro, Cormac McCarthy, Jodi Picoult, and Michael Pollan, among others.
Publishers recommend writers making a strong literary debut, and a small group of Barnes & Noble bookseller volunteers convenes year-round to review submissions to the program and to choose a selection of new books per season for special promotion. Annually, we recognize two of our exceptional writers with the Discover Great New Writers Award (one each for Fiction and Non-Fiction).