(Formerly, Amazon accepted Mobi eBooks but not EPUB eBooks. That has changed and we can forget all about Mobi. Amazon now accepts EPUB eBooks, which is the industry standard.)
Once you have an EPUB file, what do you do with it?
Perhaps you have created it from your own manuscript (using our formatting service, of course!).
Perhaps someone has emailed it to you.
Perhaps you have downloaded it.
Now, how do you read it?
Google has a great EPUB eReader app. It makes it easy to add notes to your book and even to share those notes with others if you wish.
It works in a web browser, but it works great on Android phones and tablets (I haven’t tried it on an iPhone or iPad).
If you have a Google account (and maybe an Android phone or tablet), you are all set.
Google’s EPUB eReader app is called Play Books.
Whether you plan to read the EPUB eBook in a web browser or on a phone or tablet, the first step is to put the eBook into your Play Books library.
if you haven’t already, download the EPUB eBook to your computer and/or put it on Google Drive
in a web browser, go to play.google.com
click on Books
click on My books
click on the blue Upload files button (near the upper right of the window)
at this point you have several choices:
click on the blue Select files from your device button and select the EPUB file you wish to upload, or
click on the grey My Drive item near the upper left, then select the EPUB file from your Google Drive
after Google finishes uploading and syncing, the EPUB file will appear as one of the Books in your library and under Uploads
You can now read the book in your web browser by clicking on the 3 vertical dots in the lower right corner of the EPUB’s cover image and choosing Read. But, it will be more pleasant to read it on your phone or tablet.
To install the Play Books app onto your Android phone or tablet. Hereafter, I’ll just say phone, but it all applies to tablets as well.
On your phone
Go to the Play Store
Search for “play books”
Locate the Play Books app (by Google Inc.)
Install the Play Books app
Once the app is installed on your phone, and the book has been uploaded to your Google Play library (as described above), here is how to read the book:
Open the Play Books app on your phone
Optionally, at some point, you might wish to add the Play Books app to your phone’s home screen
After Google finishes syncing the library with your phone, the EPUB file will appear under Uploads in your phone’s Play Books app
In your Play Books app, go to the menu and choose My Library then Uploads, then the EPUB book, and Bob’s your uncle (as we say here at Nepo Press).
If you are proofreading on your phone, you can highlight a word or phrase by holding your finger on the word (then possibly dragging out the highlight to span multiple words). This pops up a menu letting you click a highlight color or click the plus sign to add a note.
To add a note, you can type on the onscreen keyboard that pops up, or, even better, you can click on the microphone icon and dictate your note (if your phone or tablet allows voice input). Google even gets a lot of the words right!
If you choose to sync the notes to your Google Drive, you can later view (or share) those notes with others. For example, if you are proofreading for another author, you can grant access to your notes to that author. Or, an author and editor can share the notes with each other.
To get an EPUB Book on your Kindle or Kindle App, simply email it as an attachment directly to your Kindle or phone or tablet. Of course, before you can do that, you must do one other thing: you must authorize the email you will send from in your Amazon account.
go to Amazon in a web browser and log in
near the top of the page, to the right of the Devices tab, click on the Preferences tab
expand the Personal Document Settings section
scroll down to the Send-to-Kindle E-Mail Settings to see the email address for each of your Kindle devices
scroll down further to the Approved Personal Document E-mail List
if the email address you intend to send the EPUB or Mobi file from is not in the approved list, click the Add a new approved e-mail address and add it
Once the above steps have been done, you are all set to email Mobi and EPUB files to your Kindle. Just send an email to your Kindle’s email address and include the eBook file as an attachment.