White Label eBook Platforms- Pros, Cons, and Business Benefits for Publishers
Ultimate Guide to White Label eBook Platforms
Despite COVID-19, or because of it, 191 million eBooks were sold in the USA in 2020. We’re still waiting on the figures for 2021, but the outlook is clear. And promising. Be it libraries, authors, book stores, or publishing houses, every major player involved in the world of eBook distribution services has turned to digital media to stay above water.
In such circumstances, the white label eBook platform has received its fair share of attention.
On one hand, it’s a cost-effective tool for mass content distribution. On the other hand, it presents flexibility issues that some brands might find difficult to wrap their hands around. As many pros as cons and quite a few nuances squeezed in between can make it challenging to understand just how white-label eBook reader apps may benefit a publishing business.
Here’s my take on why you should go for it anyway!
White label applications- a relevant remarketing technique in ePublishing, and otherwise
In a nutshell, any white label product is produced by one party but used by many others. It’s a generic solution. The user party can change parts of it- rebrand it- to suit their needs and make it look like a product they’ve developed.
Following that definition, a white label eBook platform is one that you can use for eBook distribution under your brand name and trademark.
Plus, there are several advantages to using white label eBook distribution platforms.
- Buying a prebuilt solution costs way less than building a custom one
- No development process management
- No need to hire additional resources
- Quick delivery; all it needs is a few customizations
- Minimal maintenance complications- the seller often handles that part
Now, the most significant pain point of this concept, as you can often find rallied across the internet, is the limited scope for customization. You will be able to add your brand identity elements to the solution, change the logo, redesign bits, and pieces, and maybe even more, depending on what the service provider offers.
But, there is a chance that it might not be the case. The final product might come off like a stock product, and wouldn’t that work against your remarketing and rebranding campaigns?
Well, partly, yes! But that’s why white label solutions aren’t for everyone. Or every case.
You can highly likely benefit from a white label eBook platform if you are using it for one or more of the following objectives. All of this applies if you are into eBook creation services, eBook conversion, or distribution business.
- Expanding your offerings with multiple product lines
- Targeting very specific customers with a particular product type
- Attracting more customers by using discounts
- Increasing visitors and conversions by marketing a high-quality solution
Benefits of a white label eBook platform for publishers
There are several good reasons to go for a white label eBook platform instead of having your own developed.
1. Discretion
Having an exclusive platform for your ePublishing solutions, like eBooks, whitepapers, etc., helps pull together your target audience in one place. It also ensures that when they are browsing your content, their focus does not stray from your publications or your brand.
2. Budget
White label eBook platforms are a cost-effective medium. Because they are generic, ready-made applications designed for mass sales, they are cheaper than a custom application developed from scratch.
There is no need to hire a team of developers, UI/UX designers, project managers, testers, or researchers. All you need to do is to find the answers to a few simple questions.
- What is a white label eBook platform solution equivalent to your requirements?
- What are the charges and delivery constraints?
- Who do you need to rebrand said solution?
That’s it. You’re set. And, rest assured, there won’t be a big dent in your corporate budget.
3. Time-to-market
One of the biggest benefits of a white label eBook platform for publishers is the time-effectiveness of this entire process.
When you buy a ready-made app from a reputed third-party vendor, there are no development, management, and tracking processes involved. Instead, you simply convey your requirements, choose from the list of solutions that qualify your prerequisites, buy the said solution, rebrand it, and release it online.
It leads to extremely controlled time-to-market cycles, leading to cost and time savings.
4. Next-level rebranding
Researching the best white label eBook platform service providers worldwide will directly impact the quality of rebranding and remarketing that said solution can facilitate.
Here’s how.
High-end vendors are likely to offer solutions with minimal customization limitations. You will be able to leverage their reading experiences while redesigning the eBook viewer to suit your target audience segments.
There is also a good chance that a reputed vendor company will accept requests for more fundamental, code-level changes. Although, such implementations depend on how many users the company is hosting.
Either way, there is a lot of scope for affordable rebranding with a white label eBook app.
5. Flexibility
When you buy a white label solution, you can host the solution yourself or have the vendor company do it. The latter is a common practice in the IT industry at present.
And, for a very valid reason, too.
Most white-label app sellers maintain a dedicated team of developers for customization and maintenance purposes. Therefore, you are bound to get 24*7 technical support from a decent vendor.
What to avoid when working with white label eBook platform solutions
As already mentioned, white-label applications come with limitations. You will save a lot of money and time on them. But they will put a damper on your ability to customize the solution, scale it quickly, or upgrade it when you want to.
But, there are workarounds for such scenarios. As long as you play safe and follow the rules, you can turn many white-label disadvantages into benefits.
Here are a few ideas to help you along.
1. Brand identity overlap
The first and most basic way businesses rebrand white label solutions is by adding their brand identity elements to the app. That includes logos, footers, contact, social buttons, etc.
Every business that buys a white-label eBook platform from the same provider as you will change these elements. As a result, there is a possibility that the internet will have several similar eBook reader apps with only logos differentiating them from others.
As an eBook distribution services company, you must avoid that outcome. You must-
- Provide your readers with an environment that they can associate with
- Infuse your solution with brand identity elements that make a difference
- Keep the cost factor more or less intact
You can accomplish that goal by incorporating your brand image in the white-label app. Customize the certificates, if you offer any. Change the content to suit your brand tonality wherever you can. Choose a vendor and an ePublishing solution closest to what you want to offer to your readers.
What you can’t transform in design, make up for in expression.
2. Security risks
Most white-label app seller companies keep the source codes to themselves. While that proves to be a boon when we are talking about regular maintenance and dealing with technical glitches, it can just as quickly turn into a security nightmare.
After all, when you can not confirm the quality of a source code, how can you be sure it will protect your user data?
On the surface, complete source code ownership (as is possible if you get a custom app designed) seems the only viable solution. The workaround for a white label eBook platform, in this case, would be to only buy the said solution from a high-quality, high-standard service provider who provides some form of code control, just enough to secure your user’s data and provide you with timely updates on the same.
3. App store customization
Always, without fail, read the app store guidelines.
Most app stores, including Google and Apple, will remove your application if it qualifies as a ‘copycat app’- white-label or not.
Either don’t publish on such platforms if your app is a simple, template-based copy. Or, customize it to the best of your ability to make sure that it is not considered a copycat app.
That’s it. Go ahead. Launch your eBook reader!
Since the trend of online reading is on an all-time high and expected to ride that wave for quite a while, it is more than safe to invest in ePublishing solutions right now. As long as your white label eBook platform conforms to the rules and you play the customization game right, it should help your business achieve the intended targets.
