Last year I published six books on Kindle. While Amazon promoted them, there were some sales, and now that I have to promote them, the sales are nill. So I decided to republish them as Android apps. Since they were already ready for publication, how difficult could that be, I thought!? It turned out that it was more difficult than it should be. The first of these apps took me two full days of cutting and pasting text from one large HTML file that is required for Kindle, into smaller files for the app. It also took me quite a lot of time to create the menus, submenus and so on. To complicate things even further, in each of my apps I have three standard submenus, Share This App, Download Our Other Apps, and App Policies. I used to use the JSON Snippet Keeper to transfer the submenus from app to app, but recently that plugin stopped working. I also wanted the list of my apps to be always up to date without me manually having to reenter the data for the new apps in the store. Two full days for something that was already printed elsewhere forced me to be creative. Being a programmer since 1976, I took to creating some PHP that will automate the process of creating the apps. I also use CakePHP framework which helps me make the skeleton of an app some fifteen minutes or so after I define the mySQL tables that are needed. Using tools helped me think only about the essence of a Buzztouch app -- JSON. If I could make JSON for the menus automatically, that would mean that half of the battle would be won in advance. I searched for the material on PHP and JSON and there was an excellent video by David Book about apps, PHP and connecting them to MySQL. After watching it two or three time, things started to sink in and after a day or two, I had a prototype ready. You feed it the large HTML file that is created for Amazon Kindle ebooks market, it finds the H1 tags, chops them into corresponding files, and creates the menu as well as the HTML Doc options for reading the files. I then delved even deeper and found a way of creating submenus automatically, with special JSON files for them. My program runs locally on the WAMP stack, produces the HTML files, the JSON files and even takes care of the images. You then feed it all into a folder on your Buzztouch server, and that's it. The whole process takes 3 or 4 minutes at the most. Best of all, the app that is created in the control panel of my self hosted Buzztcouh server, is very simple. It has one Menu Simple with the URL pointing to the JSON file for the main menu, and the Layout option points to that screen. That's it, that's the entire app! If I need to change something, I just repeat the entire process. It is so fast that it allows for many changes and finetunings in the original HTML file, if needed. My Share, Download, and Policies menus now point to separate PHP scripts. The only thing that I have to do is to add the data about the new apps, as the need arises. The new data is shown automatically when the data is refreshed, or when the app is downloaded for the first time. It took me five days to write the program and in the end, I was able to publish two apps yesterday and three apps today. The last app took me less then one hour and a quater from the HTML file to the working app in the store, together with creation of all the images needed for the Google Play store. The only downside of this approach is that when the user opens the pages in the app for the first time, they are a bit slow to appear. Once they are in, they are cached and then appear without problem or delay. That makes a total of 17 apps for me at the moment. You can see them at https://play.google.com/store/search?q=dusko+savic The apps created with my new system are Teething, Baby Colics, Perfect Food, Perfect Diet, and Eczema in Children. The first app, that started it all, is Cure Otitis Media and Glue Ear. If there is interest, I might make the system public i.e. create a site where you could come, enter your large HTML file and images, and return with a full app a couple of minutes later. This shows the enormous power of open source software. Also, the enormous power of David Book's vision and the ability of Buzztouch system to grow with you, in most unexpected directions and ways. Thank you David Book!

Hi Dusko, Indeed! I have at book at amazon and another one ready to go (both kindle). Haven´t published them as apps yet because what you just described. The nightmarish cut html, create small PDF, etc. etc. So I would be very much interested in your system. I´d be your first client! Very nicely done Sir!!

Congratulations Dusko! I will download some of the apps a little later. Screenshots look good. Mike

@Pancho Thank you for your interest! Send me a PM if you want to. I would like to have a look at various kinds of HTML in order to finetune my program. Currently it works with HTML generated by OpenOffice and/or LibreOffice since that is what I used for the Kindle books last year. I forgot to say that my system produces apps both for Android and for iOS, since it only deals with HTML that you have to prepare for the Kindle anyway, and turns it into JSON. You would then create an app with Eclipse in case of Android and publish it as you would normally do. By the way, I republished this on my blog with some additional images and links. http://duskosavic.com/blog/programming/from-kindle-to-android-or-how-i-published-five-android-apps-in-two-days/

@Dusko: You rock! It's rare that someone in our community goes to the lengths necessary to fully embrace the power, flexibility, and usefullness of the approach to app making that I envisioned a few years ago. This post validates some of the ideas I've thought about, engineered, practiced, and promoted since the Buzztouch began. I think the biggest take away here is that a little forward thinking and some tedious work in the beginning (it took you a few weeks to work this out) pays huge dividends down the road as you continue to publish more apps. The .PHP scripts and backend processes you put together will likely serve you for a long time. You're welcome and I appreciate you taking the time to detail your journey through this Amazon to Android journey. Lots more folks will benefit from OUR work now (yours and ours). Recovering from a long trip home after an awesome visit to the UK. d.

I think your idea to create a site where people could come, enter a large HTML file and images, and return with a full app a couple of minutes later would be brilliant - and profitable.

@David Thank you very much for your kind words. It did take me a couple of weeks to get started but now I do not want to stop! @Shenry Let us hope that it is so. I am setting the site right now. In the meanwhile, I can do this as a service and I invite you and all others with "large HTML files and images" to send me material for one app. I will do it for free so that I can improve my software to be able to handle anything that can come up once the conversion site is up and running. I will also test the app on my device and -- since I would be doing it manually -- you would get a fully signed APK file with which you could go to Google Play and install it. (Fully signed app means that you are the actual owner of the app, that you could change it in the future regardles of me.) No need for Eclipse nor for any kind of Android hardware at all, just an app published on Google Play from the book you already have. This, of course, is a limited offer, open on the first come first served basis.

@David >Lots more folks will benefit from OUR work now (yours and ours). Yes. One of the goals of this would be to "draw in" people that could be using Buzztouch but are not, for various reasons. Since they would be total newcomers to the world of apps in general and to Buzztouch in particular, when I set the conversion site up, I would probably offer one conversion for free and point them to acquire a free account at Buzztouch. The goal is to be useful as well as to move them further "down the sales funnel", as the Internet marketers would like to say. Once they are a free member of Buzztouch, it shoudn't be all that difficult to make them pay for the membership. Everybody wins or at least that is the vision and goal that I have right now.

Hi Dusko, I am excited to know that you are setting up a site that will facilitate most of the buzztouch users in their apps creation. I see that you have published quite a number of android apps. I am really interested to learn apps promotion from you. Well, I don't think I should talk it right here since this thread is not about that. I really want to succeed with android apps. However, I am almost clueless on how to promote my apps. If your site is ready, I will recommend all my friends whom are interested in apps building to give it a try. Anyway, thanks for sharing this thread. The information is very useful for us here. Thank you.

@Dusko that's quite generous of you. I'd love to take advantage of your offer. Should we send you a link to our html file for your consideration?

@shenry Send me a PM here or use this address http://duskosavic.com/blog/contact-dusko-savic/ to reach me through my site directly. Once we get to direct contact you will able to send the link to download the HTML file and images for turning them into an app automatically.

Here is the Kindle to Android conversion process explained: http://duskosavic.com/blog/programming/the-kindle-to-android-conversion-process-explained/

Did you get the file link I sent? Anthony

Yes I have. I have successfully converted your MOBI file into a HTML file.

The free offer mentioned earlier in this post, is discontinued from the 10th of December 2013.