The Nook, Barnes & Noble’s first eReader, is seeing heavy demand before the holidays. According to reports from Brighthand.com and the Wall Street Journal, The Nook, which was officially announced on October 20, is apparently back-ordered.

Customers who intitially pre-ordered the device were told that their device would be shipped on November 30. However, customers ordering the device now are being told the device will arrive in the second week of December.

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing a Barnes & Noble spokeswoman, demand for the Nook has exceeded the company’s expectations. As a result, a second wave of shipping is being set for December 11.

The Nook, which sells for $259, is Barnes & Noble’s first entry to the growing market for eReaders. Amazon’s Kindle has long been the market leader in the space. Sony also offers a line of eBook readers. The Nook differentiates itself with an Android operating system, as well as a dual screen with a full color touchscreen panel at the bottom of the device.

Barnes & Noble’s e-bookstore, which it rolled out in July, now boasts a catalog of over a million books, 500,000 of which are free and come as a part of its recent partnership with Google Books. All of those books can be bought and read on desktop computers and laptops, as well as through apps for the iPhone and BlackBerry.