Earlier this month, a group of self-publishing authors was shocked to find that Barnes & Noble had removed some, and sometimes all, of their print (POD) editions for sale through BN.com.
Barnes & Noble didn’t deny taking such action; the initial reasons they gave authors for delisting were “low quality” books and customer complaints regarding some print-on-demand books. Whatever B&N’s methodology, it removed long-standing titles from established indie authors who had been selling on the site for years. In response to author inquiries, Barnes & Noble stated, “We recently decided to discontinue featuring on BN.com such titles until closer quality review” to avoid unintentional customer purchase of unsatisfactory books.
On June 14, a representative from B&N Press posted an update on a Facebook group for indie authors, Wide for the Win. The rep wrote, “As we close out the week, I know there has been much frustration and confusion with the recently removed titles from BN.com. Please know this decision was made because, for a variety of reasons, Barnes & Noble cannot maintain availability for all books that are in print on our site. And, consequently, we know many independent authors and publishers with print-on-demand titles were caught in this curation process. As of today, many titles have already been reinstated, and we expect more to return to sale by the end of the month. If you would like immediate consideration, we encourage you to please reach out to publisherauthorinquiry@bn.com with a full list of your affected ISBNs. B&N remains dedicated to supporting the indie author community, and we appreciate your patience as we navigated the impacts of this issue and sorted out a fix.”
In follow-up comments, where authors asked why B&N cannot maintain availability for all books, the rep clarified, “These parameters should not have affected indie published titles. I would say this was more oversight than your books likely not fitting a certain criteria.”
Authors who distribute directly to BN.com using Barnes & Noble Press appear to be less affected than those who use Ingram, although this couldn’t be confirmed. Ebooks are unaffected.
One must wonder if B&N’s latest decisions about “availability” of low-quality material have been driven by the proliferation of AI-generated books and efforts to curb their prevalence at BN.com.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
