Reading is one aspect of personal development that no serious mind should take lightly. While reading helps you develop cognitively, it also helps improve your self-esteem in ways that will wow you.
LifeHack highlighted 10 benefits of reading which includes:
- Mental Stimulation
- Stress Reduction
- Knowledge
- Vocabulary Expansion
- Memory Improvement
- Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills
- Improved Focus and Concentration
- Better Writing Skills
- Tranquillity
- Entertainment
The question now is when was the last time you read a book? Don’t worry, you are not alone if you have not read in a while. You probably didn’t know that reading is now a lot easier with the introduction of some amazing mobile apps.
It’s 2019 and everybody is going online. The publishing industry is definitely not taking a back seat. Hence, this article.
By the way, it’s interesting to hear some people say they can’t read books online, that they’d rather stick with the traditional paperback. But these same people spend hours reading tweets, Instagram captions, Facebook posts, blog posts and the likes. Something is not adding up.
Whether you read for fun, academics, research, interview or personal development, there are mobile apps where you can find just the book for you.
Hold on a second! Did I mention that you have to pay to get books from these digital platforms? Of course you will pay!
Books are intellectual properties and copyright contents. Getting it free if the author has set a price for it is an act of plagiarism punishable under the constitution of most countries. Now you see why you got to pay.
Having said that, what’s interesting about this list is that the prices are highly subsidized on some of them compared to what you would pay for a paperback.
Let’s get into it already – 4 mobile apps you should have if you love reading (or have to read):
Okadabooks
Flashback to the 1990’s and early 2000’s, publishing books in Nigeria was no joke at all. The traffic was more deadly than the Lagos traffic of today because of the numerous procedures involved. That is if they even agree to publish your book in the first place.
The guys at Okadabooks noticed this challenge and came up with Okadabooks to make publishing easier for writers and make books cheaper for readers.
At the International Publishers Association (IPA) African Regional Seminar in May, Okechukwu Ofili said Okadabooks is “like the actual Okada motorcycles in Lagos, that passengers use to circumvent the notorious Lagos traffic. Because the motorcycles are nimble and small, they are able to weave between cars to get their passengers to their destination. At OkadaBooks we believe there is a traffic jam in the African publishing industry and we much like the Okada’s are using mobile devices to weave through the traffic and deliver books to people across the continent!”
Authors can upload their books free on the platform and receive payments at a stipulated interval. And for you the reader, you can get books on Okadabooks for as low as N75 (seventy-five naira). And there are 5k books on the platform too, so there is something for everybody.
Okadabooks at Google Playstore for android, windows, blackberry and ios devices.
Bambooks
Bambooks is a digital reading platform that gives readers access to unlimited number of books for a monthly fee of N900 or N9,000 annual fee. Acclaimed Africa’s largest digital library, the platform is host to many best-selling Nigerian books and readers can read any of them while their subscription lasts.
Apparently, one of the problems of reading in Nigeria is the cost of books. For a country currently named the poverty capital of the world, it makes sense that people may not be able to afford some books.
With Bambooks’ flexible subscription model though, even students in school will be able to access books for that subscription fee. Investing N900 monthly to your personal development (or whatever reason you read for) seems to me like a good investment.
The Founder and CEO of the platform, Ugo Okoye revealed at the mobile app launch November 2018 that “Bambooks offers users access to thousands of eBooks, magazines and comics from any internet-connected device including mobile phones, tablets and computers.
“From romantic fiction to entrepreneurship, self-help, religious, and educational books, there’s something for every reader. Users simply go to the website or download the Bambooks mobile app from the Google Play store or App Store for free and sign up to start reading.”
Bambooks mobile app is available for Android and ios devices.
Scribd
Enough of apps made in Nigeria, let’s go international. Scribd gives you access to over 500,000 ebooks and audiobooks in more than 80 languages.
The digital library also gives personal book recommendations and access to reviews, comments and ratings.
Scribd, like Bambooks, operates the subscription model. $8.99/month is all you need to access all the amazing books collection of Scribd. Scribd mobile app is available for android and ios devices.
Kobo
Kobo is a detailed catalogue of magazines and ebooks for readers to buy. Kobo have amazing features such as customizable texts, auto sync of bookmarks, free previews of books, notes taking and highlighting.
Kobo is available for android and ios devices.
So there you have it – 4 apps you should have if you are a book enthusiast in Nigeria.
Do you know another amazing book app you think we should have included? Drop it in the comment section and we might just add it to this list.
