Ebook App Development: Features & Cost

Author : DZ Insights | Published On : 01 Apr 2024

Walt Disney once said, “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” There's no denying that. While most readers like to read straight from the books, others love to read from reading apps like Kindle, Google Play Books, and ReadEra.

According to a report from Statista, the global e-reader market will reach $204.7 billion by 2027. For entrepreneurs who want to take advantage of the ever-growing ebook reading app market by developing one, this blog will cover everything you need to know before investing in it. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

What is an eBook?

An electronic book or ebook is an uneditable, reflowable book in a digital format that can be read on computers, smartphones, and other digital devices. An Ebook should always be converted into a format that doesn’t allow editing.

Also, regardless of the device's screen size, the ebook should always fit the screen. Some of the most used ebook formats are EPUB (.epub), PDF (.pdf), AZW (.azw), Mobi (.mobi), Comic Book Archive (.cbz), and KPF (.kpf).

That being said, an ebook reader app allows readers to read the book online or offline (after downloading). These apps serve as digital platforms to store, manage, and read a wide range of digital books.

A few popular ebook reader apps out there include dedicated ebook reader apps, cross-platform ebook reader apps, library ebook reader apps, PDF reader apps, and open-source ebook readers.

Read: Magazine & Newspaper App Development

Why Invest in Ebook App Development?

Before investing in ebook reader app development, it is crucial to know the ‘Why’. Some benefits of developing an eBook app are as follows:

• Brand Loyalty

• Niche Targeting and Marketing:

• Better Accessibility and Global Reach

• Convenience

Brand Loyalty: Developing a customized ebook app helps create a seamless user interface and experience through ease-to-navigate features and a secured payment gateway on every platform that leads to repeat purchases by existing and new readers, improving brand loyalty.

Niche Targeting and Marketing: Publishing a new book or browsing among millions of books available on eCommerce platforms like Amazon can be tedious and hassle for small publishers and readers respectively. However, having an ebook app for a particular niche and marketing it on different social media platforms can help gain targeted authors and readers.

Better Accessibility and Global Reach: Investing in a custom ebook app development allows you to create a platform accessible to a wider range of audiences, including those with disabilities across the globe. All you need to do is integrate features such as screen readers, text-to-speech converters, screen magnifiers, and alternative input devices.

Convenience: An ebook reader app also allows users to carry hundreds of books anywhere in their pocket, reducing the need to carry physical books and making it convenient for users to read anywhere at any time.

Read: How to Design a Mobile Application

Essential Features to Integrate in the Ebook App

Some of the must-have features of ebook app that you must consider before developing one are:

• Login/Register

• Search, Categories, and Filters

• Book Listing

• User Library

• Offline Reading

• Audiobooks

• Secure Payment Gateways

• Cross-Platform Availability

• Personalized Reading

• Social Sharing

Login/Register: Registering on the app and then logging in using credentials or Single Sign-on are the primary features of the eReader app. It will allow users to access the platform and read the book of their choice.

Search, Categories, and Filters: To make it easier for users to navigate the app and search for their preferred category, author, or book, you need to add the search feature as well as create an organized system with tags to categorize books in the app. You can tag them based on their ratings, genre, sub-genre, etc.

Book Listing: Another crucial feature to add to the ebook reader app is book listing. The app should entail a list of all the available books in the app. Listing can be categorized into downloaded, ready-to-read, and sourceable. Apart from these basic categorizations, book listings can also be divided based on their genre such as thriller, fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, romance, young adult, historical, professional, and more.

User Library: Adding a user library will help users add their current reads, to-be-read, and completed books in one place. It will also enable users to manage their downloaded books, read and unread books, and more.

Offline Reading: The app should also allow the users to read the downloaded books offline by saving the data into their device’s local storage. The offline reading mode will make it easier for the reader to read their books even when they don’t have internet access.

Audiobooks: Some readers don’t get the time they need to relax and read due to their tight schedules. However, having an audiobook in the app will allow them to listen to their favorite novels on the go.

Secure Payment Gateways: Whether you are planning to monetize the app through monthly or yearly subscription methods or book purchases, it is crucial to integrate a secure payment gateway with multiple payment options to make purchasing easier for the users.

Cross-Platform Availability: While some users will like to read on Android or iOS, others will want to do so on Windows and MacBooks, therefore, making the app available across different platforms is a must for its success. Also, making it available for PCs will enable small authors to write and publish their books with ease.

Personalized Reading: Adding a few personalization features such as font style, font size, dark mode, light mode, dictionaries, highlights, bookmarks, background color, etc. that allow readers to adjust the reading experience as they prefer.

Social Sharing: You can also ask the developers to add social media sharing features using which readers can share their favorite books or passages from the app across their social handles. Not only that, but it will also help you create a community of readers who interact with each other and boost your brand awareness and loyalty.

Read: Mobile App Architecture

How to Build an Ebook App?

Developing an ebook app can be a demanding task. However, the proper guidance and market analysis can help you get through this with a breeze. Below we have enlisted steps that you can follow to design and develop a successful app for readers. So, let’s dive right into it.

• As much as you want to dive right into the development process, it is crucial to do thorough market research and analysis on other global and local ebook apps. While doing so, ensure that you check out top competitors and their strengths/weaknesses to overcome them.

• Next, choose a niche on which you really want to focus on. You can define the niche by the genre, theme, author origin, etc. Your app’s niche can be whatever you want it to be. The key here is to find a niche with a promising readers community.

• Now you need to select a monetization technique for the app. Some of the monetization methods you can go for include paid subscriptions, in-app purchases, and fees for book reading.

• Once everything is set from your end, the next step is to search and choose an ebook app development company like Decipher Zone which has been in the market for almost a decade and can help you develop an app that meets your needs at a minimal cost and optimum quality.

• With the help of the hired developers, you will also have to choose the right tech stack for ebook app development. For the backend of the app, you can go for programming languages like Java, PHP, Swift, Flutter, or Kotlin, databases like MySQL or MongoDB, API swagger, and more. For front-end development, JavaScript and its frameworks can be quite useful.

• After deciding on the basics, you can go for an MVP for marketing testing before moving on to the actual product. Having an MVP with minimal features will help you get the richest feedback from the users using which developers can make much-needed changes when working on the actual product.

• Once the app is developed, the last but not least step involves testing, launching, and marketing the ebook app to reach targeted audiences and bring some ROI.

Read: Best IDEs For Mobile App Development

How much does it cost to develop an eBook application?

The approximate cost of developing an ebook app can range anywhere from $15,000 to $200,000. While it is difficult to give an accurate number without knowing your requirements. This varies depending on the complexity, features, platform availability, design elements, third-party integrations, security measures, testing requirements, ongoing support, number of hired resources, hourly rates, and more.

Wrapping it Up

In conclusion, we can say that the ebook reader app is here to stay and expand over the course of time. Therefore, it has become increasingly essential to invest in ebook app development to take advantage of the continuously growing readers community.

Read: Emerging Trends in Mobile App Development

At Decipher Zone, we offer both consulting and app development services to answer any queries you may have regarding ebook app development and cost. We also have a team of seasoned frontend, backend, DevOps, and full-stack developers who you can rely on to build reliable, scalable, and secure products. So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us today!