Russia boasts a rich literary culture, but is also besmirched with digital piracy of an unprecedented scale; that translates to substantially less cash inflow to the publishers who are on the fence about investing in eBooks. This might change, due to Russian startup Bookmate releasing new apps for Android and iOS that promotes the whole Netflix for eBooks concept.
James Appell, head of global development at Bookmate said that his company used to focus primarily on Russia, Turkey, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and the Philippines. The company has since expanded their portfolio and is now offering English titles to the UK, US and Canada.
The app’s features include a social feed, which allows users to follow their friends, favorite authors and celebrities who are also on Bookmate, and share the books they love and passages via Russian social network VKontakte, Twitter and Facebook. It also allows you to upload your own eBooks in EPUB or PDF format directly to your library and use the app just to read your content.
There are currently 500,000 titles on the Bookmate subscription service and they boast a loyal user base of 1.5 million. It costs a paltry $5.00 a month to opt into Bookmate, which is why they have grown and expanded so quickly.
Download Bookmate for Android from the Good e-Reader App Store.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.