Kate Shoaf, Marketing and Public Relations leader at PlayTales, is our guest blogger for this post.

PlayTales is a world leader in children’s bookstore apps, that has expanded internationally, with offices in the USA, UK, Spain, Romania, and China. Founded in 2010, PlayTales develops and distributes interactive playable storybooks for children within the world’s leading children’s bookstore app for smartphones and tablets.

International distribution has become a prominent part of PlayTales’ business plan as we’ve realized the international market can open the door to millions of downloads for our apps. Although we developed the app with the intention of mainly distributing in the USA, China and the UK have become some of our top downloaders. We´ve developed and localized our app to cater to the needs of our various international customers.

Based on our experiences, there are several things developers should consider as they prepare and launch their applications:

Language options

A unique feature of our app is the several language options users can choose. The selected language of the application is based on the settings of the user’s device, but within the application itself, you can choose to view the stories in a different language. For example, all of your menus and links are in English, but you can easily view all stories in their Spanish version, French version, Italian version, and so on. We know our target users are interested in exposing their children to various languages so we’ve developed our app to make this possibility easily attainable.

If you look at this screen shot, you’ll notice that all menu items are in English, while the books are available in Spanish; a unique feature that caters to our target user.

There is no substitute for a native speaker

Anyone can learn a new language, but when it comes to common phrases and appropriate expressions we’ve found that working with native speakers is the best method for localization. At PlayTales we translate our stories into eight different languages and there is no substitute for working with a native speaker. When translators become a part of your localization team, they understand the message and product quality you are trying to develop within your app.

Keep an eye on currency

With the current economic crises going on it seems that currencies all over the world are constantly on a roller coaster of changing value. Because our books are available in so many different countries, monitoring exchange rates has become an important pastime within the office. We deal with Dollars, Euros, Yuan, and Pounds and the constantly changing exchange rates have kept us on our toes. It is important to monitor the currencies you deal with because you can lose business if your prices are too high, and also miss opportunities to generate more revenue if your prices are too low. Monitor your money and don’t lose out on business because of this common mistake.

Direct contact with multilingual tech support

It’s almost impossible to release an app that is absolutely perfect. Listening to the comments of users can really help work out the kinks and improve your app. Within all PlayTales accounts, users have the option to directly contact our tech/localization team in whatever language they want. Because our translators work in-office, we are able to efficiently respond to everyone that contacts us in their native language. If you are going to have a multiple language app, make sure that your users can communicate with your tech team in their preferred language.

Adapt your app

Adapt your app so that it can be accessed by potentially everyone. PlayTales started out as an app only accessible through iOS devices. But as tablets like the Kindle Fire were released, it became obvious that adapting our apps to function on these devices was necessary. After teaming up with Amazon, we’ve seen a great increase in our number of downloads. Amazon’s submission module makes submitting localized features such as texts, graphics, and user interfaces a simple and quick process. Using Amazon as a distribution platform has made our app easily attainable for tablet users and has given us a chance to enter a market we hadn’t considered before. Remember that iTunes is not your only resource; you can develop and adapt your apps to function on almost any device and consequently tap into new markets.

Distributing internationally is becoming a necessity for many developers who want to stay on top of the market. Know your target users and develop your app accordingly, remember to use native speakers to help with localization, monitor exchange rates, offer tech support in various languages, and adapt your app to a changing market. Following this advice may help you find the international success we’ve experienced. New technologies are spreading to every part of the world, and along with it the newest applications. Take advantage of this opportunity and go global.