What Formats Does Google Play Books Publish Support?

Google Play Books allows readers to choose from a variety of formats such as EPUB and PDF. The ability to read EPUB files, with their reflowable text that looks great whether reading on a phone or on a tablet, is particularly wonderful to me. For PDF files, however, all of the beautiful formatting is preserved just as the creator intended, making PDFs a perfect format for graphic novels and other illustrated books. In addition to the ability to read online, Google Play Books also allows users to upload their own EPUB and PDF files, including those author-independent titles you've been itching to read.

Another cool feature of Google Play Books is that you can upload your own books in the form of EPUB and PDF files. The catalog already has a large collection of books by independent authors and even lesser-known published works. I found that taking a look through the books available on Google Play Books was sort of fun for me and it’s a huge obsession of mine. I also learned that Google Play Books also supports audiobooks which I believe can be enjoyed by readers with disabilities.

I mentioned there were several formats before. In Google Play Books you can read adventure novels, very intense thrillers and even so-called slice-of-life stories. I recently read ‘The Martian’ by NASA employee Mark Watney on my phone in the EPUB format. Even though I had chosen to read it in this format, because it was so easy to read on my phone, I opted for the tap function to switch between pages instead of using the scroll bar. And at night? No problem! I can read in bed without worries of waking up others because of the light of the screen.

As I begin to explore the opportunities provided by Google Play Books to publish my work online as an author, I have found that Google Play Books supports the publishing of EPUB, PDF and MOBI files on Google Play. The file types that are supported by Google Play Books are primarily for reading on electronic readers and mobile devices of all shapes and sizes and I find that the experience of reading EPUB files is particularly wonderful. I first experienced reading an EPUB file a few years ago and it was like a breath of fresh air for me. I find that the reflowable text that can be displayed on any screen size whether that be a smartphone, tablet or e-reader, is wonderful. I have found that converting a manuscript to an EPUB file is very easy to do and there are many free software programs available that can do this for you, such as Calibre.

Another popular option when considering which format to publish with is PDF. With PDFs you are able to publish a book that is going to look exactly as you designed it, all of the images are going to be where you placed them and all of the text is going to be exactly the right size. I recently published a coffee table book using the PDF format. The book contained many images and lots of formatting that would not have worked well using the EPUB format. Many of my fellow writers prefer to use PDFs for their academic and graphic heavy publications, as they are able to maintain the full integrity of the original design.

Lastly, MOBI is the primary format for Kindle and is a nice format to support in your cross-published works. Even though Google Play Books does not natively support MOBI files, it’s nice to note that they can be converted to other formats (like EPUB) that do support this new. It just goes to show that having so many different options in the digital era of publishing is great and Google Play Books supports authors in the many ways they can publish their work.

I had not realized that Google Play Books supports publishing content in not only PDF but also EPUB formats. While PDF is ideal for books containing a large amount of content and charts/diagrams, which require fixed layouts in order to appear correctly, EPUB formats are better for fiction written in EPUB-compatible formats, including novel-length works of fiction. The biggest selling point for EPUB is the opportunity for the book’s text to reflow to best use the space on the reader’s screen.

On the other hand, PDF files are very helpful for documents that require constant layout. We have many customers who have created books with charts, diagrams, pictures and in general a lot of graphics. These kind of books are perfect for non-fiction books, textbooks and academic books. The layout is unchanged from the original file and it always looks perfect.

So there you have it – something to consider when publishing. Have a think about which format would best suit your content.

Complexity is not the endpoint when it comes to sharing a story. Google Play Books’ aim is to spread literature far and wide, which is what every passionate writer wants too. The differing formats of your work are sure to find the right reader and satisfy their needs. It’s great to see so much literature shared in so many formats.

Emergency excitement was added to my book collection recently with the addition of Google Play Books. Support for formats such as EPUB and PDF is offered to cater for most readers. Whether you read books on your tablet or join a community discussing the best edition of a manga, Google Play Books offers support. The accessibility feature for audiobooks is also fantastic. For someone like myself that loves to be able to read books of all genres, there is a huge selection available at your fingertips. Happy reading!