BookFusion: An Alternate E-Reader for iOS, Android, and the Web | How To

This is a sponsored article and was made possible by BookFusion. The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of the author who maintains editorial independence, even when a post is sponsored.

Ebooks have opened up a whole new world to us, with there being so many different ways to view them and read them, whether it's just a short pamphlet, an in-depth tutorial, or a novel. The most popular format became Amazon's Kindle, but with other options in other formats, apps, software, and websites, it makes it difficult to have everything you want to read in several different locations.

That's where an alternate e-reader service like BookFusion can help. It imports most ebook formats so that you can collect all your ebooks in one place. While you can't import a Kindle book into BookFusion, you can import your BookFusion content into Kindle, so that you can still have all your reading in one place, one that you prefer and that is more comfortable to you.

Different Formats

Perhaps one of the most appealing features of BookFusion is that you can access and read your content on every format, no matter your device. It has both an iOS and an Android app, and if you're accessing it on a computer, it has a convenient web app. This means you can start reading a book on your computer, close it for whatever reason, and pick up reading again on your phone when you're waiting at the bus stop or on your lunch break.

Importing Books

Just about any format of ebook can be imported into BookFusion. Again, books cannot be exported from your Kindle, and there's one other instance I found where books can't be exported. I have a collection of books in the Books app in iOS. (What was previously iBooks will now be Books in iOS 12.) I tried but could find no way to export these books. I suspect this is because Apple may be using a proprietary format, or DRM, for their books.

Importing the files is as easy as dragging and dropping. Or, if you prefer, you can click “Upload” and migrate to the file in your file system and upload that way. However, books can only be uploaded in the web app and not through the mobile app.

If you want unlimited storage for your ebooks, you can subscribe with a lifetime discount of $39.99/year or $4.99 monthly to become a premium reader.

Book Store

Not that imported books are your only choice of reading material on BookFusion. It also has a store with more than 50,000 ebooks, and that list is growing. Additionally, the store includes magazines, journals, and bundles as well as a selection of free ebooks.

I chose to download a book on Curacao. Because BookFusion got its start in the Caribbean, there's a healthy dose of books in the store that originate from the area. I was just in Curacao for my first time this year while on a Caribbean cruise and loved it, so this title interested me immediately.

It was an easy, quick download and went straight into my library alongside the book that I uploaded.

Exporting to Kindle

If you prefer to read books on your Kindle, like perhaps if you're going on vacation and want all your beach-reading material in one spot, you can just export your books from BookFusion to your Kindle. With the book open, just click on the button in the lower-right that says “Send to Kindle,” provide your kindle.com email address, and click “Send.”

However, it should be noted that if you have never sent books to your Kindle before, you need to learn the correct email. Log into your Amazon account, and migrate to “Your Content and Devices.” Click on the “Settings” tab, followed by “Personal Document Settings” from the list. Find your Kindle device in the list and copy the email address for that particular device.

Calibre Users

You may already be using the Calibre web service to manage your ebook library. However, this service doesn't offer a store. If you'd like to import your Calibre library into the BookFusion service to read them as well as purchase new books, BookFusion offers a handy plugin.

Libraries

In addition to single ebooks, BookFusion also includes libraries from companies/groups, such as book clubs, schools, churches. Once you join a group's library, then you'll be allowed to download and read all of the materials in their collection.

Reading

Reading a book on BookFusion works very much the same as most e-readers with the basic functions of swiping to turn a page, listed table of contents, changing the size of type/background, bookmarking, and highlighting and annotating excerpts.

You can also offer your own review of a book by clicking “My Take,” and on the mobile app only you can offer a rating.

“My Take”

So here's “my take” on BookFusion. It may have started out to be an e-reader manager just for the Caribbean region, but it's now branching out and taking on the rest of the world.

Yes, it's a basic e-reader and won't replace your Kindle; however, it can replace Calibre. It does more than Calibre does, as it offers you a store as well as the libraries from selected companies/groups.

And there's one more exciting feature. The folks at BookFusion are working on adding a loan and borrow feature so that you will be able to loan your eBooks to others or borrow one of theirs, just as you can do with a physical book.

However, if you have a lot of money tied up in an Apple Books library, this app won't be for you, as you won't be able to migrate books from that format.

Let's face it: we read more than ever in the digital age because everything is so readily available in written format with just a simple Google search. It helps to have a way to collect everything in one spot, and it also helps to have a way to export to your Kindle to read your choice of books there.

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