Barnes & Noble Now Shipping NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight Ahead of Schedule

Pre-Orders Shipping Over the Next Week

Due to Strong Demand, Limited Quantities will be Available through Mother’s Day

Customers Encouraged to Pre-Order Hot-Selling New NOOK at www.nook.com and in Stores to Ensure Delivery for Mother’s Day

NEW YORK--()--Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, announced today that it began shipping the highly anticipated NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight ahead of schedule to customers who pre-ordered the device. NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight is the world’s first E Ink® Reader with patent-pending lighting technology that eliminates the number-one problem couples have in bed – having their sleep interrupted, or being prevented from falling asleep, when their partner reads with the light on. Due to very strong pre-order demand, the company recommends that customers who wish to gift the device for Mother’s Day pre-order now, as orders will be fulfilled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

“Our new, patent-pending GlowLight technology coupled with the most advanced E Ink display available make this product the most versatile, high-utility Reader ever and the only device of its kind,” said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. “It’s like having two Readers in one, with our breakthrough GlowLight technology making the device as exceptional for reading in the darkest bedroom as on the brightest beach, and all at the amazing value of just $139.”

Said Lynch, “We thank our millions of NOOK customers and are pleased to deliver NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight earlier than committed to those who pre-ordered our newest NOOK. For those who would like to give NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight as a gift for Mother’s Day, we strongly recommend pre-ordering the device now in stores or online as we will have very limited quantities based on the larger-than-expected order volume we’ve received so far.”

NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight, introduced by Barnes & Noble less than two weeks ago, is the first and only Reader designed to let E Ink customers read in the dark and at the beach. With a soft, adjustable glow, GlowLight gives bedtime readers just the right amount of light for reading, without disturbing a sleepy spouse. The first and only Reader designed to let E Ink customers read in the dark is equally amazing at the beach, with a paper-like reading experience, even in the bright sun.

Like having two Readers in one, this revolutionary device is the first to combine the most advanced and fastest E Ink display with a precise infrared touchscreen, built-in anti-glare screen for reading in any lit environment, and an evenly distributed and adjustable light for reading in the dark. It is also the lightest NOOK ever, with a long-lasting battery for over one month of reading on a single charge, with the light on.

Beginning this week, customers visiting any of Barnes & Noble’s nearly 700 stores will be able to try NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight demonstration units. Barnes & Noble NOOKsellers™ will be on hand to demonstrate and answer questions about the newest member of the award-winning NOOK® portfolio, as well as set up devices and take pre-orders. Pre-orders will ship throughout the month and limited quantities of the device are expected to be available for sale in stores in early May.

Customers should visit www.NOOK.com or visit the NOOK Digital Shops and displays in one of Barnes & Noble’s nearly 700 bookstores for more information, or to order NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight.

About NOOK® from Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble's NOOK brand of eReading products makes it easy to read what you love, anywhere you like™ with a fun, easy-to-use and immersive digital reading experience. With NOOK, customers gain access to Barnes & Noble's expansive NOOK Store of more than 2.5 million digital titles, and the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices. NOOK Tablet is Barnes & Noble’s fastest, lightest tablet with the best in entertainment from top services and everything you want in a tablet at a great value ($199 for NOOK Tablet – 8GB, and $249 for NOOK Tablet – 16GB). Both NOOK Tablet and the award-winning NOOK Color ($169) feature a stunning 7-inch VividViewColor Touchscreen to read all of the content you love, shop popular apps, connect via email, browse the Web and more. NOOK Simple Touch($99) is the fastest, easiest to use reader with the world’s best reading screen and the longest battery life and NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight ($139) features patent-pending lighting technology that makes it perfect for reading at bedtime and on the beach. Barnes & Noble offers NOOK owners Always Free NOOK Support in any of its nearly 700 bookstores, as well as free Wi-Fi® connectivity to enjoy the Read In Store feature to read NOOK Books for free, and the More In Store program, which offers free, exclusive content and special promotions. Barnes & Noble was the first company to offer digital lending for a wide selection of books through its LendMe® technology, available through NOOK eReading products. Find NOOK devices in Barnes & Noble stores and online at www.nook.com, as well as at Best Buy, Walmart, Staples, Target, Radio Shack, Books-A-Million, OfficeMax, Fred Meyer, P.C. Richard & Son stores, Office Depot, Fry’s Electronics and Systemax Inc. retailers.

In addition to NOOK devices, Barnes & Noble makes it easy for customers to enjoy any book, anytime, anywhere with its free NOOK Reading Apps, available at www.nook.com/freenookapps. Customers can use Barnes & Noble's free eReading software to access and read books from their personal Barnes & Noble digital library on devices including iPad, iPhone®, iPod touch®, Android smartphones and tablets, PC and Mac®. Lifetime Library™ helps ensure that Barnes & Noble customers will always be able to access their digital libraries on NOOK products and software-enabled devices and BN.com. Barnes & Noble also offers NOOK Study (www.nookstudy.com), an innovative study platform and software solution for higher education, NOOK Kids™ (www.nookkids.com), a collection of digital picture and chapter books for children, and NOOK Books en español (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooksenespanol), the first-ever Spanish language digital bookstore in the United States.

For more information on NOOK devices and eReading software, updates, new NOOK Book releases, Free Friday NOOK Books and more, follow us on www.twitter.com/nookBN and www.facebook.com/nook.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 691 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 641 college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through BN.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™ (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK™ eReading product offering, customers can buy and read digital books and content on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK devices, partner company products, and the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associated 2012 Customer Service Champion and is only one of 50 U.S. companies so named.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

NOOK®, NOOK Tablet, NOOK Simple Touch , NOOK Color, Reader’s Tablet, Best-Text, NOOK Store, NOOK Bookstore, NOOK Magazines, VividView, NOOK Newspapers, FREE NOOK Reading Apps, NOOK Kids, NOOK Digital Shop, Read In Store, More In Store, LendMe®, NOOK Library, NOOK Books en español, NOOK Study, Lifetime Library and Read What You Love. Anywhere You Like are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Other trademarks referenced in this release are the property of their respective owners.

Follow Barnes & Noble on Twitter (www.bn.com/twitter), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/barnesandnoble) and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/bnstudio).

Contacts

Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Mary Ellen Keating, 212-633-3323
Corporate Communications
mkeating@bn.com
or
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Carolyn J. Brown, 212-633-4062
Corporate Communications
cbrown@bn.com

Contacts

Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Mary Ellen Keating, 212-633-3323
Corporate Communications
mkeating@bn.com
or
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Carolyn J. Brown, 212-633-4062
Corporate Communications
cbrown@bn.com