We’re in the middle of the year now and we just decided it would be nice to shed more light on our company, changes, achievements and what next.
Being a digital publisher in a country where the saying, “Nigerians Don’t Read,” is the order of the day, one would wonder how we have found our market and built a solid foundation on it.
The truth is, Nigerians read. Nigerians love to read. But the factors that challenged the reading process include:
- Unavailability of good books
- The high cost of good books
- Heavy or bulky books
- The stress and the high cost of publishing and marketing of books
With the digital age and wide acceptance of it by Nigerians, we have been able to provide a solution to all the above listed. And they are
- We have grown our platform to accommodate all kinds of fiction books, nonfiction books, academic books, motivational books, religious books, lecture notes, magazines etc.
We have been able to achieve this by ensuring we made the platform comfortable for all kinds of readers. And knowing you have a whole e-library containing books from both Nigerian and foreign authors at your disposal, you can sit in the comfort of your living room, be in a bad Traffic jam, cook in the kitchen, do your laundry or have your bath, while still reading.
Oh, you can even get some of the best academic books on the platform, without needing to visit the local library, that is, if there’s one close to you.
How is this possible? Let’s introduce you to our App.
The app can be downloaded from the Google PlayStore, Windows Store, BlackBerry Store, and IOS.
The opening screen of the app is a plain yellow with our name across it
Afterward, it takes you straight to the feature tab of the store. The next tab is “New Books” (Books just uploaded), and the next after it is, Magazines. You can swipe to see more tabs.
You can tap on the three horizontal lines at the top left to visit the app’s menu, either to check your balance credit, refill your account, or to read the book you have bought. The ‘My Books’ section of the menu is for app users to browse through their personal library of downloaded books already synced with app user’s account. But they will need to sign in before they can asses it.
NOTE: All purchases with DRM (digital rights management) is protected. This means that materials bought or downloaded cannot be shared or distributed to other people. The OkadaBooks DRM feature was reviewed in 2013 by Pearson UK and found acceptable to carry Pearson titles.
The app, just like the web store, has a search feature to help you easily find books.
What Reading Features Does The App Have?
The reading experience is extremely important to us, and that’s why we built in the following features:
1. The app reader has a horizontal scrollbar, as well as a page flip feature that allows the user to browse through several pages quickly and easily.
2. It also has a font modification feature that users can use to change the font style and size to their preference.
3. Contrast allows the user to change screen brightness to a level that works for the reader.
4. Users can highlight key sections of the book and have those highlights automatically saved. You can always easily return to it whenever you want. it is useful for studying.
5. The search feature allows the user to search for text within the book.
6. The app reader has a voice reader that reads to you even though you’re busy.
How Do Readers Purchase Books?
OkadaBooks accepts credit/bank card payments from all over the world including Africa. The customer simply enters their card details in our app and then enters their account refill amount and instantly the user’s OkadaBooks account is credited.
By accepting a wide range of bank cards, OkadaBooks helps ensure publishers and authors on our platform generate revenue.
Purchases can also be made via direct deposits to OkadaBooks bank account (Diamond Bank in Nigeria) as well as Stripe and PayPal for international users. Users also have the ability to pay with Etisalat/MTN recharge cards in Nigeria.
Currently, we have 18,000 plus books of contemporary African books, foreign books, comics, magazines past University/College questions and answers, lecture notes and even textbooks. We have 210 thousand users and we have recorded over 1 million ebook downloads.
Books on our platform cost anywhere from N50 to N5000 and above.
Publishing On OkadaBooks
Apart from being 100% free, publishing on Okadabooks is as easy as publishing a blog post. And with our new platform about to go live, it’s going to be much easier, than publishing a blog post.
We accept all kinds of publications, as long as you’re the author or have permission from the author to publish the book on our platform.
Now after publishing, we always advise authors that the next best thing is marketing. See our step by step publishing guide here. To advertise your book after publishing, see details here.
We’ve had authors who were originally afraid to place their books on our platform, now go on to make millions in book sales. While there are those making a million, a lot of authors make hundreds of thousands in sales.
While we have new authors on our platform, we also have very popular authors like Nnedi Okorafor, Leslie Arima, Chimamanda Adichie, Toke Makinwa, Omoni Oboli, etc.
How Do Authors Get Sales Reports?
OkadaBooks has a system that is able to track every author sale on our platform and automatically compute the author’s total earnings in real time.
Also, authors get instant email notifications whenever someone buys his/her book. Also, the system is built to send an automated and detailed monthly book sales report that shows all the sales made in that month along with the countries the sales came from. This is a handy tool for publishers who want to get a frequent update on their book sale numbers.
To withdraw funds, all the author/publisher has to do is to click the withdraw funds button on the author portal page, enter the amount for withdrawal as well as bank details and hit enter. When we receive your fund withdrawal request, along with your bank details, please give use between 1 – 5 days, depending on the amount will deposit the amount in the specified bank account.
What Else Have We Done?
We’ve also held a series of major and minor contests for authors. They include the APEN contest, The Dusty Manuscript Contest, Instagram contests, Samsung Contest, Short story contests, etc. And lots of fantastic prizes have been won.
Now, we are proud to announce, the second edition of the APEN contest is now on-going. See details here. We are also working hard to have a contest for young writers in campuses across the country. We will drop all details here on the blog when we are set.
These contests are our own way to help upcoming authors gain recognition and win cash prizes, as well as mouth-watering publishing deals.
We’ve talked so much about authors so you may ask, what about your readers? I’ll say, keep your fingers crossed. We are planning something special to appreciate and encourage all our active readers.
You can also test out our new platform here.
So, are you interested in reading fiction or nonfiction books? What about Academic materials? Please go here
If you’re an author looking to sell your books on a secure platform and reach a wider audience, then you’re in the right place. Please click here.
If you have comments, questions or inquiries, please drop them in the comment section below. I’ll be happy to provide answers as best as I can. Cheers!
This is good