There are several factors that determine which titles national chains like Barnes & Noble choose to stock in their physical stores. These include regional market demand, historical sales data, seasonal trends analysis, and even customer requests. Additionally, Barnes & Noble, like many bookstores, requires a 55% wholesale discount as well as returnability. These are the terms we encourage authors to offer to the wholesale market if they want to sell books in bookstores.
Your paperback, hardcover, and ebook are automatically made available to Barnes & Noble’s online catalog through your distribution agreement with Bublish. Every Barnes & Noble location is able to purchase physical copies of your book. Most Barnes & Noble stores are willing and even excited to promote high quality books by local authors as long as the wholesale terms offered are favorable.
The same is true for smaller independent bookstores. Every bookstore makes decisions on which titles to stock based on the space they have available, customer preferences, local interest, the book's sales history, and their unique mission.