Readino: six months in

Nikolay Pultsin//27th May 2026

We launched Readino almost quietly in late November 2025 — an independent EPUB ebook store built on open standards, for readers who don't want to be locked into a single ecosystem. If you've been following FBReader, you've probably seen the name.

Six months in feels like a small milestone, and I want to take stock — so here's what's happened since launch.

Expanding beyond the UK

The original launch was UK-only. In the months since, we've opened Readino to readers in the United States and Australia — bringing the catalogue to two of the largest English-language markets.

Improvements

There were a lot of small changes and fixes over these six months — some invisible to end users, others revised repeatedly before they were good enough. I want to mention two that I think matter:

• We've added book previews for many popular titles — thanks to JellyBooks — so you can sample before buying.
• We've also implemented OPDS 2.0 access to the catalogue — an open standard API that allows ebook reading apps to browse and access a store directly, and the foundation for integrating FBReader and other compatible readers.

First customers

But the most important thing for me personally is this: even without advertising, we’ve gained 200+ real customers since launch — and some have already returned for new purchases over the months. I find that more important than any other metric.

Stepping out a bit more

That’s encouraging enough to take the next step. Readino is on Product Hunt today, and this is our first proper public update about the project.

After six months spent mostly inside the engineering cave, this feels like a good moment to step outside a bit — and if you’d like to support the project, I’d really appreciate your vote on Product Hunt.

What's next

The most requested thing from FBReader users: buy directly from the app, have your library sync automatically. We're working on it.

We're also expanding to more countries, adding new formats — PDF support is next in the queue — and extending the catalogue to non-English titles.

I know we’re only at the beginning of a long journey — but for the first six months, the start is not so bad.