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Digital books, popularly known as eBooks, have shown a remarkable increase in popularity with more and more people dropping the traditional book reading and going the digital way. As the popularity gradually increases, so does the revenue.
With an intent to expand the reach of eBooks and achieve higher sales, a majority of authors, publishers, corporates, and educational institutions are very prudent in choosing the eBook publishing formats and platforms that best suit their strategic marketing intent. After all, finding a befitting platform that augments the reach and enhances the reading experience is quite a challenging job for you as an author. So, in this guide, we intend to throw some light on the various eBook publishing platforms, referred to as “direct to retailers” platforms, that can help you manage your digital content better. This guide also walks you through the various sought-after eBook aggregator platforms, thereby helping you monetize your content by distributing or marketing across the suitable ones. So, let’s get started!
Let us first discuss the various eBook publishing platforms that prevail in the market in detail:
1. OneRead
It is basically a cloud-based digital publishing and distribution platform that offers a global outreach to a number of authors, corporates, educational institutions, and publishers. This platform also helps in monitoring the content performance in real-time! If you are on the lookout for an end-to-end solution for all your digital content, then OneRead is a perfect choice!
2. The Kindle Store
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is a renowned eBook distribution format backed by Amazon to access eBooks on Amazon devices. It is the most popular of them all used worldwide by authors to target a potentially large number of readers spanning across the globe.
3. ePUB3 – The Latest Version Of ePUB
Being a commonly used eBook format, ePUB is one such format that is accessible across multiple eBook readers. A majority of authors and publishers opt for ePUB3 (the latest version of ePUB) for accomplishing better reach and higher sales. Even if your digital content or eBook is in a format other than ePUB3, be it PDF, text, or any other, you can easily get it converted into ePUB3 format by hiring an offshore partner rendering ePUB3 conversion services.
Another thing that you need to keep in mind is that the publishing platform you choose must be supported with ePUB3 to ensure an enjoyable reading experience for your target audience. Additionally, you can choose between fixed and reflowable layouts for enhanced readership.
4. Kobo
Kobo Writing Life is an effective distributing medium facilitating in improving international sales by providing accessibility to readers belonging to 190 + countries.
5. Barnes & Noble NOOK Store
Also referred to as Nook Press, Barnes & Noble is a perfect eBook distribution platform giving eBook access to eReaders spanning across the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), along with some of the European countries.
6. Google Play Books
With over 50 countries accessing the content online, publishers can leverage the Google Play Books platform to boost the reach of their eBooks by leveraging Google Books. Infact, your eBook might as well be discoverable in Google searches, isn’t that great!?
If you are an ePublishing company among a majority of them prevailing in the industry, then you must take note of the above-mentioned eBook publishing platforms and choose the one that best suits your digital content requirements. Every digital publishing platform mentioned above is unique and offers a great deal of flexibility and interactivity to the users. So, choose the platform wisely.
Apart from this, there exist several digital formats that authors and publishers choose to maximize the reach and hook the readers with engaging content by rendering a high-end, interactive reading experience. Some popular formats that have been used time and again include Apple iBooks, PDF, Rich Text Format (with the extension .rtf), KFX, HTML5 (a widely accepted format after the ban of Flash), .odt format for LibreOffice, and so many more. You may also consider AZW or Mobi formats for your eBooks. Also, even if you intend to opt for eBook conversion services, then you must zero in on a particular format to get the eBook converted without any hassles. For instance, if your eBook is in PDF format, you might want to go for PDF to ePUB3 conversion.
eBook distribution basically involves two kinds of distribution – one is the “direct to retailers” and the other one is “using an aggregator”.
As far as “direct to retailers” platforms are concerned, you get to upload all the relevant details including metadata separately on every platform. On such platforms, you receive a higher royalty too! Some of the prominent ones include Barnes & Noble (also referred to as Nook Press), Kobo, Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, Scribd, Apple iBooks, and so much more.
For the latter, you’ll have to hire a service for distributing your eBooks to your own book store or to online retailers. You will have to pay a certain fee or commission from your sales. Some of the well-known eBook aggregator platforms are as follows:
From the above-mentioned eBook aggregator platforms, make sure you choose one or a combination to make things work in your favor. Now, as far as the eBook distribution formats are concerned, finalize a particular one based on your requirements and opt for eBook conversion services if your eBook isn’t in the desired format.
In order to engage and render a rather enjoyable experience, it is extremely important that you select befitting platforms to publish and distribute your digital content across. And needless to say, the more you make your eBook interactive and immersive, the more will be the engagement. So, glance over a few things that you can do to boost engagement and drive more downloads:
- Text-to-speech integration: The concept of interactive eBooks including read-along books and eJournals is gaining a lot of popularity and by adding background audio, video, and sound effects, you get to engage the audience better. Additionally, you can target visually impaired readers or the ones with different learning disabilities by using the read-aloud feature.
- Rich media: Just like a comic book, you can also make your eBooks media-rich with striking text formats and an enticing graphic display. With limited time at hand, readers prefer reading interactive content to a physical copy. So, make it worth their while by incorporating media-rich content into your eBooks.
- Typography: Do not add up to your readers’ difficulty level by overusing stylish fonts. Keep the font simple for legible reading and increase your eBook’s readability score effortlessly.
- Links to relevant resources: For a better understanding of your online course material or eJournal, make sure you add relevant information via links to specific resources, thereby adding considerable value to your digital content. Make it easy for your readers to comprehend by integrating tutorials, news articles, and relevant resources.
Explore and experiment with all these features to make your eBooks all the more interactive and media-enriched for your readers. You can outsource interactive eBook conversion to make your eBooks available across the platforms where your potential readers are.
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Data-Entry-India.com is a reliable offshore service provider rendering customized digital publishing solutions that are cost-effective, yet quality-driven. Our ePublishing experts go all out to understand your distinct digital content requirements and meet the expectations by delivering within the stipulated time frame and without compromising on the quality.
Get in touch with our experts at info@data-entry-india.com to take things forward.