Google Play Books for e-reading?

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WinkeJ
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Google Play Books for e-reading?

Post by WinkeJ »

What's the though on the usability of Google play books?

So far I've been impressed with the simplicity of what it was designed to do and think it's OK for reading. Not too bad for audio listening too for hose times when you cant read.
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Post by Scerakor »

Between the "Kobo" app and Google Play books, I would have to say they are very good platforms (all things considered) for reading. When I'm not on my e-book reader and I only have my phone, I have often defaulted to the Google Play Books app. One of my favourite features is the ease of integration / placement of ones own content onto my devices. The Kobo app is excellent for sharing books bought over the Kobo market (across multiple devices) but is one-device limited for our own content. Google Play Books however works with the Google enterprise and if I upload my own ePub to my phone, my tablet has no issues accessing it (and syncing where I am) through the app.

TL:DR - I have used it extensively and definitely would recommend Google Play Books for when physical books or ebook readers are not available.
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Post by Lincoln »

WinkeJ wrote:What's the though on the usability of Google play books?

So far I've been impressed with the simplicity of what it was designed to do and think it's OK for reading. Not too bad for audio listening too for hose times when you cant read.
Google play sort of sucks right now. It is going through an overhaul so there are no real entry points for authors, which means it doesn't have a lot of new content. It isn't really trying to compete in ebooks but I imagine google has something up its sleeve for the next few years.
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Post by Amagine »

I've used google play books before. I remember it being okay but it wasn't as accessible as the kindle app. Also, with Google play, they didn't have a big selection of books that I wanted at a reasonable price. Amazon kindle has a bigger selection and their books are more affordable.
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Post by CaitlynLynch »

Just a note that as an author, it's really quite difficult to get your books into Google Play. They aren't accepting any new author applications. I'd heard that the aggregator StreetLib were sometimes able to get you in.
However, with the advent of the new aggregator Pronoun in 2017, they can get you into Google Play (and also iTunes without having to own a Mac!) so hopefully you will start to soon see an explosion of new books in Google Play.
A lot of authors will use Pronoun to set the price of books free on 'all other stores' and then ask Amazon to price-match, in order to give away their reader magnets or first in series. I've done it myself with two that are first in series. So hopefully you'll start to see a lot of free books on Google Play too!
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Post by Chitopogi »

For some reason I can not explain, I am unable to to download the google playbooks app on my Lenovo android phone. So I resorted to using KOBO for my android. I have no regrets.
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