IBook and Book Nook have 'issues' - Kindle uploaded fine - help!?

[PalPam]

Hi - This morning I uploaded my second book. Last year just did Kindle. This year, I uploaded my book using Sigil to Kindle and it accepted it with no trouble.

When I tried lulu.com to upload to IBook, Book Nook, etc I got this:

Oops! You uploaded an invalid EPUB file. Details...
The following issues were found with your EPUB, which can effect its eligibility for certain channels:

Did not pass epubcheck-1.1 validation. (the iBookstore and Barnes & Noble)
Contains unmanifested files. (the iBookstore and Barnes & Noble)
Contains invalid creator XML. (Barnes & Noble)
Contains invalid publication date XML. (Barnes & Noble)
Contains invalid publisher XML. (Barnes & Noble)

I don't think they asked for a publication date for one thing. These would seem to me to be Sigil issues because I didn't do any XML pages.

Any help gratefully received! THANKS!

[JSWolf]

Did you add any files to the ePub after you edited it with Sigil? Unmnaifested files are files that are not listed in the OPF. Also, do any of your filename contain a space? If so, go back into Sigil an remove any spaces in filenames. They can cause problems. Invalid publisher date is an invalid metadata date in the OPF. Invalid publisher is also a metedata issue in the OPF as well as creator.

[PeterT]

One possible cause for unmanifested files is if you have viewed it through the calibre viewer and have not disabled the "Remember the current page when quitting" option in the viewer preferences on the General | Miscellaneous options tab.

[Toxaris]

These are not Sigil issues. When you create an ePUB, you need to specify some metadata. That is required by the specifications. You can easily do that with the metadata editor (F6 or F8, I always forget...).
Also, run the validation in Sigil. That would give you some more information with regards to the unmanifested files.

[mrmikel]

If what PeterT suggested is true, you can use Adobe Digital Editions or the Nook viewer for PC to view the work. These won't make changes to the epub. As far I know you could even use the epubreader add-in for Firefox, also.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mrmikel

If what PeterT suggested is true, you can use Adobe Digital Editions or the Nook viewer for PC to view the work. These won't make changes to the epub. As far I know you could even use the epubreader add-in for Firefox, also.

Best to use ADE. Don't use the ePubreader add-in for Firefox. Things can display differently because the rendering engin is Firefox. Also, don't use Calibre's viewer. That can display things differently as well.

The only program to use is ADE. If you really want to properly test things, install both ADE 1.7.2 & ADE 2.0 as you'll find Readers/apps using different version of ADE from 1.7.2 to 2.0.

[AuthorGreg]

ADE doesn't always equal the output you'll get with B&N or iBooks. I can tell ya 'cause I know....

G

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by AuthorGreg

ADE doesn't always equal the output you'll get with B&N or iBooks. I can tell ya 'cause I know....

G

But, nook does use ADE code. And your sample was without a problem on my nook. Maybe the problem was an old version of the system software in the store on the nooks. Maybe that problem has since been fixed. It seemed to work on my nook STR with the latest firmware.

As for iBooks, that's another issue. It has it's own quirks, flaws, bugs, and non-standardnesses. That and it is one nasty piece of work.

[AuthorGreg]

Well, after Tex reworked my CSS and HTML, my book finally displayed the same side-loaded as it did on the in-store Nooks. Liz Castro and Paul Salvette couldn't help me, but Tex did.

The brother knows some things most of us don't. Hell, I don't really know....

G

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But, nook does use ADE code. And your sample was without a problem on my nook.

Which is why most of us on the boards usually stress actual testing on a bunch of different devices... and which is why I stress minimalism/simplicity in the code. Much less chance of things breaking because some devices decide to render code unexpectedly.

I really wish that there was a way where you could mass test code on a bunch of different ereaders. Most of us only own one, two, maybe three devices. I would say only the conversion companies have a mass of devices to test on.

I would think having one of each of the Kindles + each of the Nooks + perhaps a Kobo/Sony reader + an iOS/Android tablet + iOS/Android Phone would cover nearly all the bases.

Then just a few well-built test EPUBs, and feed it through all the devices. Take snapshots, take in-depth notes on comparisons. Sort of like what we had going at the PNG low-bit bug topic:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=222916

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Maybe the problem was an old version of the system software in the store on the nooks.

Yes, that could be a possibility... I bet those display devices are just set up initially and rarely touched again. In the wild, I assume the situation would probably be even worse with unupdated devices.

Also, there is also the possibility of REGRESSIONS in firmware versions. Perhaps certain bugs have been fixed, but others may have been made worse. And then you have the devices which will just NEVER see an update ever again (like my original Nook).

Originally Posted by JSWolf

As for iBooks, that's another issue. It has it's own quirks, flaws, bugs, and non-standardnesses. That and it is one nasty piece of work.

iBooks.. ugh. Let's not talk about that!

Originally Posted by AuthorGreg

Well, after Tex reworked my CSS and HTML, my book finally displayed the same side-loaded as it did on the in-store Nooks. Liz Castro and Paul Salvette couldn't help me, but Tex did.

That is one of the reasons why I disliked a lot of the code in Liz Castro's book + site... iBooks specific code/workarounds, and just causes (in my opinion) tons of unmaintainable bloat.

Perhaps it is good if you are in the InDesign + iBooks only crowd.

[AuthorGreg]

Even if you have all those devices to test on, you only gain a small measure of confidence in the results, as you are only side-loading. Amazon, B&N, et al would really do us a solid if they provided reliable previewers.

I'm mystified by B&N (Nook Press) in particular. Why provide a false sense of security to the self-publisher with its faux previewer, only to munch the living hell out of the final processed product?

Having said that, Tex and I know for a fact there is a way to write code that'll prevent Nook Press from mangling it. But as Tex has also said, that could change in a heartbeat.

As an author, I don't sleep well realizing that an eBook bought today will be properly formatted, but that the same eBook could be rendered as total crap the very next day with either a change in the firmware or the ePub processor itself.

It's no wonder the smart money is on print books to prevail in the end. I share that opinion myself.

G

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by AuthorGreg

Even if you have all those devices to test on, you only gain a small measure of confidence in the results, as you are only side-loading. Amazon, B&N, et al would really do us a solid if they provided reliable previewers.

Well, this is where solid tests of "templates" on the conversion side of things would help. For example, I tested my CSS on lots of devices a long while back, this is my "tried and true" CSS, I know it works.

Now, since I use this in every book I convert, I don't have to waste time testing every little thing all over again (only if I decide to add in something new into my repertoire, like that gray textbox).

Originally Posted by AuthorGreg

I'm mystified by B&N (Nook Press) in particular. Why provide a false sense of security to the self-publisher with its faux previewer, only to munch the living hell out of the final processed product?

Yeah.. I am mystified by someone like B&N (or even Amazon), who creates these previewers.

The renderer on the device is CLOSED SOURCE, the companies who produce these devices are the only ones who have access to it... they are the only ones who know the exact code that is being used to render the output.

Even something like Kindle Previewer does not allow you to fiddle with all the things as the physical device would (margins, line-spacing, different fonts, etc. etc.).

What we would need is just a trustworthy/reliable source, with lots of different devices, who can test out different code + lots of sample images + lots of different settings, and come up with a few/lots of clean CSS "templates", which others can then safely/reliably use in their ebooks.

If I ever get a few thousand spare dollars to purchase a ton of devices, and lots of free time, you know what I will be doing.

For now, I will just work on creating clean/consistent code in all of my books... As long as the underlying code is fantastic, CSS tweaks can be performed in less than a few minutes.

Everything I work on is CC3.0, and a lot of my work is also on Public Domain books... so you can just take any books I created, and toss them on your device and see how the final book would ACTUALLY look. If you like what I do, send your stuff my way and I don't mind "bashing it" into my templates for you.

Perhaps in the future, there will be a "Tex2002ans" template, a "JSWolf/Toxaris/mrmikel/Jellby" template... And then you just pick one you like the look of. :P

Originally Posted by AuthorGreg

As an author, I don't sleep well realizing that an eBook bought today will be properly formatted, but that the same eBook could be rendered as total crap the very next day with either a change in the firmware or the ePub processor itself.

Which is why you try not to handle the design by yourself... hand it off to someone who knows a thing or two and has to deal with this crazy crap.

I will take my hammer and bash it into my trusted "in-house" CSS (and clean up your code, and make it easier to understand/maintain... I will make your life much easier in the long-run).

Originally Posted by AuthorGreg

It's no wonder the smart money is on print books to prevail in the end. I share that opinion myself.

Well... printing has had their technologies perfected over the centuries... ebooks are quite new.

With print, you can have it "designed/typeset once" and set it and forget it, but you lose all of the advantages of ebooks. And do not come crying back to me in few decades when you want the book updated/fixed (or maybe you want to go from a small paperback to a larger hardcover version)... Or maybe the printing company you want to use in the future will want it in format X, but you have it in fixed format Y.

Your computer crashed and you lost the source file... and the program originally used to publish it does not exist any more... the publisher you worked with went out of business and took all the source files to the grave with them.... so then you have to work backwards from a horrible source. (ok ok, maybe I am biased, since I have to work backwards from dreaded book scans, or digital PDFs in which I have no source files for).

I don't see HTML+CSS going anywhere any time soon though. So if you keep your layout/code quite simple, I don't forsee anything breaking for a LOOOONG time.

If you have a clean code base, and want to generate a completely new look for your book, BAM, a few tiny CSS tweaks, and your book now looks completely different:

http://www.csszengarden.com/

Now, while most ereaders aren't quite to this level of CSS yet, they most likely will tend towards more CSS compliance.

On the topic of fixed layout/print:

Perhaps one day there will be an easier way to sell PDFs than directly on your site... or easier tools/ways to create fixed layout ebooks... but according to my experience this is just spelling pain and misery (and lots of money), with very little gain.

With ebooks, in the blink of an eye, millions of copies of your book can be replicated and around the world changing everyone's lives.

Cost of printing/transporting a million physical copies of your book around the world:
A few million

Cost of spreading a million EPUBs around the world:
Bandwidth Costs (few hundred/thousand dollars).

Ebooks are the way of the future, physical books are going to go the way of the dodo. (ok ok, maybe not the dodo, but I definitely see them becoming less influential as more and more gets influenced by the digital revolution).

Side Note: Ebooks have the ability to let the blind read: http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_mccallu...e_to_read.html

Can't get any more amazing than that. DOWN WITH PHYSICAL BOOKS!!!