Creating Books
From nookDevs
If you want to create a file readable on your nook you can use any of the following options.
Contents |
Online (web-based) converters
www.2epub.com
- link: http://www.2epub.com/
- input: doc, epub, fb2, html, lit, lrf, mobi, odt, pdb, pdf, prc, rtf, txt.
- output: epub, fb2, lit, lrf, mobi.
fb2pdf.com
- link: http://fb2pdf.com/
- input: fb2
- output: pdf
fb2epub.com
- link: http://fb2epub.com/
- input: fb2.
- output: epub.
Converter applications
Calibre
- link: http://calibre-ebook.com/
- platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
- input: CBZ, CBR, CBC, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC**, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, TCR, TXT
- output: EPUB, FB2, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, PDB, PML, RB, PDF, TCR, TXT
EPUBGen
- link:
- platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux; requires JDK 1.5 or better
- input: fb2, doc, rtf
- output: epub
ePub editing applications
Sigil
- link:
- platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
- input: epub
- output: epub
PDF creation
Using PDFs is advised, if you want to read documents and books with character sets different then ASCII (i.e. English and some Western European languages). Since nook's PDF reader supports in-PDF font embedding, almost any character can be successfully rendered, if it was available on the computer that created the file.
Publication properties and fonts
It was found, that the best settings for paper are: 4.1" x 5" (10.4 cm x 12.7 cm), with 0.1" (0.25 cm) margins on each side. With such properties, text saved in PDFs with full justification seems to fill the nook's screen completely (with eye-pleasing margins), when font is set to Amasis Small on the device. Recommended indentation for a paragraph is 0.25", and 1.2 line spacing. Books generally do not use special paragraph spacing, therefore it is worth to heed this example.
Most of Latin-based and Greek-based languages should benefit from using a typeface called Gentium, which is a free, sharp, fresh typeface made with book publishing in thought.
It is worth to create a custom paper size, that can be later used for quick setting of books. Perhaps using a document template is a good idea, since this allows one to have a complete and coherent preset for font, paragraph and paper sizes among documents.
Platform-specific information
Mac OS X
PDFs can be saved in Mac OS X directly from the Print dialog by pressing PDF and Save as PDF. Two popular applications worth using are Microsoft Word and Apple Pages. If Headings and Table of Contents are used and created properly, the latter is able to create PDFs that contain links to particular chapters, thus allowing for traversing the document quickly.
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows supports only native publication to XPS (and default PRN), which are not supported on nook. However, Microsoft Word and Open Office do support saving directly to PDF files.
