help an ipod nano noob separate the audio books from the music during shuffle

[RAMd®d]

I don't know that changing the genre to Audiobooks will be enough.

One can do a Cmd-I on a title, select the Options tab, and check the Skip when shuffling box .

In iTunes, select one audiobook file, then go to the end of those files, press the Shift key, and click on the last one in the list.

This will highlight all the files you selected. Hit Cmd-I, and you can check that box for multiple files, saving a little time.