Have you felt the draw to get into app development, but didn't really know how to get started? Google wants to make things a little easier with a brand new guidebook that's meant to get developers on the right path. The Secrets to App Success on Google Play is an 81-page eBook that outlines the process and best practices for developing and submitting your software to the Play Store, and hopefully make some money on it. You won't get anything in-depth about writing code or managing a software business, but there are some good tips and tricks.

The book covers a range of topics across these three common themes: getting set up on Google Play, developing a high quality and engaging app, and making money on it. There are pages dedicated to Material Design, targeting different form factors (including watches and TVs), translating for a global audience, testing and staged rollouts, Google Play policies, and much more.

Most of the advice is broken up into bullet points for simplicity, and it actually feels more like a super-dense slideshow presentation than a book, including QR codes (wtf?), a list of products each page applies to, and iconography to convey which skills are required (i.e. Android development or Play Store management). There are also a lot of buzzwords and marketing speak – I mean, a lot. It's not too bad to read, but it feels like it went through some creative editing after the Developer Relations team wrote it.

Seasoned app developers probably aren't going to find much value in these pages. Most of the content is geared towards relative newcomers. That's not to say there isn't some valuable information for even long-time experts, but quickly skimming over a couple of sections would be sufficient. After all, if you're concerned with things like globalization (i.e. language translations), analytics, and monetization, you've long since tracked down the necessary resources.

Anybody who is currently developing Android apps, or thinking about it in the future, should at least skim over the information available here. The eBook is available for free on Google Play and as a PDF, and you can even request a hard copy if you're a registered developer (US and UK only).

Source: Android Developer Blog