So you’ve written your book, took some hefty criticism from your reader friends, and edited it countless times until you achieved a pristine and gripping novel. But now what? How do you get your story to the masses without resorting to a printing press?
You can put your books on those tablets devices everyone seems to be purchasing these days. Most of the time, though, you can’t just upload the text file you wrote your story onto and sell it to your soon-to-be fans. You have to convert your book to a format supported by the online stores for those tablets. There are various methods for achieving that, but two that will ensure that most tablet users can access your book: converting your story to a mobile device app or an .epub file. We’ll cover app conversion this week, but stay tuned for our .epub quick guide in the near future.
APPS:
Google estimated that 250 million devices ran their Android operating system in 2011, according to MobileChannels.eu. That makes for a huge pool of potential readers. You could transform your book’s text file to an application for those devices, otherwise known as an Android app.
Bowker, the company that distributes ISBNs, recently introduced the ability to create books as apps— you send the company your books and it takes care of everything else from there. Bowker handles the conversion of your story to an app, the sale of your app on the major Android stores, and the maintenance needed for the book to be readable after major Android updates.
These features aren’t free, though: Bowker charges a flat rate of $299 to set up your file, as well as 50% of the royalties from your book and an optional $50 a year to maintain the app. There are less expensive options to convert a book to an Android app, like AppOpus, but these programs will not handle the distribution of your ebook like Bowker promises. The choice depends on how much work you would be willing to do, and how much you would pay another company to handle the process for you.
You worked hard on your story. Now it’s time for readers to see where all that work went to.
Have you used the Bowker tool? Or AppOpus? Share your feedback with us below!
Follow Us!