A huge focus of James Daunt’s keynote speech to the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) was how Barnes and Noble is bouncing back from the retail apocalypse. It also included a lot about mundane changes like new furniture to major overhauls of how books are even shelved!

One big change is that stores can now take responsibility for stocking their shelves — a real game changer and an advantage to authors who can get their books stocked at the local stores.

Individual stores will now decide which books they want to stock. Publishers used to buy a place on the shelves, but no longer have that option.

B&N has shifted from how it operated in the past, providing a much-needed opportunity boost for indie and small press publishers.

“It’s so smart of Barnes and Noble to position themselves as less of a big retailer and more as an indie bookstore,” said Miral Sattar of LearnSelfPublishingFast and author of the Self-Pub and Book Marketing newsletter. “There are lots of ways to get your print books into physical Barnes and Noble stores, but I always tell indie authors to distribute through IngramSpark for the print book distribution. In general, bookstores are more amenable to ordering copies from places that aren’t competitors (like Amazon).

“So if you want to get your physical book into a Barnes and Noble, distribute your paperback and hardback through IngramSpark, reach out to your local Barnes and Noble, make sure your book meets the Barnes and Noble requirements, and send your book to the small press department.”

Now that they have a chance to reach the shelves of Barnes & Noble, independent authors and small publishers can focus on forging relationships with local B&N branches. They at least now have a chance of competing against massive advertising campaigns and shelf space contracts from the Big Five.