Formatting for Nook

[Karey]

My book is currently formatted & uploaded/selling via Kindle/Amazon.
My KDP select has expired, and I was looking forward to uploading to Nook.
Uh, yeah, not so much.
Reading several online blogs, apparently, I'm not alone when it comes to the difficulty in converting manuscript into the Nook format.
Was wondering if any Indie authors here discovered the 'tricks' to a more smooth upload for Nook?
iBooks seems to require a magic wand. I've written to J.K. Rowling & asked for the loan of said device. Still awaiting her reply :P

[Karey]

Okay, so this is what I've found--thus far:
Free download via Nook (if you have a PC or an iPad, you can download the Nook app without having to have an actual Nook contraption) a book called, Format Your eBook the Free and Easy Way by J. Gunnar Grey.
I'd never heard of a free program called Calibre, which is mentioned in this book with step-by-step instructions. You can rest assured, I've downloaded this thing and am currently learning how to utilize it.
This journey has truly introduced me to some nifty software, and loads of help by many other Indie authors in the same 'learning boat' as I.

Anyooo, not sure is this post will be read, but thought it might help someone out there looking to upload their manuscript to Nook and discovering it's NOT as easy as uploading to Kindle. Barnes & Noble still have a long way to go--I'm holding out hope.

[Shannon]

Nook seems to have a bit of a higher standard when it comes to their books (at the very least, it's higher than amazon), so it's not surprising they're making sure that the author/publisher at least has the formatting right (since they don't control book content).

If you don't know much about HTML coding, Calibre is going to be your best option, and even then sometimes you need to know HTML to get exports right with Calibre. If you know enough about HTML you can use this validator to run your epub file through and it'll tell you exactly what needs to be fixed before nook will accept your file.

http://validator.idpf.org

The other way to get around uploading (if calibre and html isn't any good for you), is to upload an MS Word document to their manuscript editor (or just copy and paste the text into it) and format it that way. The editor is actually really nice. I use it to do small posts edits that my html skills can't seem to get right. It's one feature I wish Amazon had. They'd really benefit from it.

I will also note, that uploading to Kobo (for those looking into selling through them) can be a pain as well. I'd say it's more so than Nook.

[Shannon]

Also, check out the support tab at the top of the Nook Press dashboard as well. There's a lot of helpful information about Nook Press, the dashboard, uploading specifications, etc...