When you buy a book at Amazon, B&N, Apple, or Kobo, your book goes automatically into the seller’s eBook reader (Kindle, Nook, iPhone, or Kobo device). When you buy from me, the book goes to your downloads directory. You have to be knowledgeable enough to find the book file and open it with your reader app.
Most buyers who do not buy from major stores read on their phones or tablets. Those do not bring native eBook or PDF reading apps. The user finds an app for reading eBooks and installs it on the device. The book must be sent to the device and opened with the reading app. In a PC or laptop, the downloads directory is easy to find. In tablets and cellphones, the type of system used determines where your book file goes. In an iPhone, you’ll find your book file in the Files App, Downloads folder. In an Android phone, open the file manager or click on My Files and find Downloads.
If you are using an Android device, you probably used the Google Play store and downloaded your reading app there. One top-rated app for Android is ReadEra. This eBook reader app can read multiple file formats that include eBook, PDF, old Moby, and lots others. Other apps available are Kindle App, Moon+Reader, KOReader, PocketBook Reader, eBoox, and FB Reader. There are many eBook apps available at Google Play store. To find the one perfect for you, you must try different ones.
If you are in the Apple universe but don’t want to buy books from the iStore, then you also have a ton of eBook apps to choose from. Again, Kindle App is available in Apple. Some popular eBook apps are Bookfusion, Pocketbook, KyBook3, eBoox, Libby, and a favorite of mine, FBReader. Many readers favor KyBook3, as evident from the high number of people who have downloaded it. It’s super customizable. However, you have dozens other apps to choose from. One great plus with using iPhone or iPad is that you can download any reading app available at the App Store, including Kindle, Kobo, and Nook mobile apps and read books bought at those stores right in your Apple device! Amazon does not do that. Kindle devices will not allow you to install the Apple reading app.
Remember to choose an app that handles as many different formats as possible. At the least, you should be able to read ePub, PDF, and DOCX. Many will read comics and Mangas. Keep in mind that these apps will not open DRM-protected books. This creates a problem when you wish to buy a brand-new bestseller, but the book is DRM protected. With such books, which involves most if not all traditionally published books and many indie ones, you can only read the book in the seller’s device or seller’s app.
You can install the Kindle App in your phone or tablet to read DRM-protected Amazon books. There’s a Nook app for mobiles also, which enables you to read Barnes and Noble books. Kobo also has a mobile app. With Apple, unless you have an iPhone, you’re out of luck. On a cellphone or tablet, you can have all these mobile apps installed in addition to an eBook reading app of your own, enabling you to read any book from most sources, even when the book is DRM protected.
I happen to own two Kindles, an iPad Mini, and a regular iPad. I am considering getting a Kobo too. I decided to remove DRM from my store-bought books. I bought a popular app called Pubor. It actually works easily and removes DRM from any new book I buy, but the app is purchased, not free. For me, it has worked perfectly. Before that, I used Calibre with the DRM removal tool, but that became harder and harder to do. I remove DRM only for my personal use in my different devices. I never give away, share, lend, or sell these books, as that is a crime.
In the next post, I will tell you about my painless method of transferring book files to my reading apps.