eBook sales doubled in 2011, which is great for authors, but is it good for indies? Depending on what type of eReader you have, you can still buy eBooks from indie book stores. And indie bookstores are awesome because they are often the first stores to really get behind debut authors. While there are ways to buy Google eBooks from indies and port them onto a Kindle – buy being the operative word here, no piracy please! – it is much easier to buy and read eBooks from indies on an iPad if you’re using that as your eReader. You can also read them on Nooks or Android devices.

Here’s how.

1. Go to to the Web site of your favorite indie book store that offers Google eBooks, such as Liberty Bay Books, Keplers or Greenlight Bookstore.

2. Search for the book you want to buy.

3. Click buy. Go through the checkout process and pay for the book. The book then downloads to your Google eBooks library. But you don’t have to read it on your computer!

4. Grab the free app for Google Books on your iPhone, iPad, Android phone or other device and download that.

5. Open the Google Books app and voila! Your eBook is there!

This is so easy. I broke down the steps, but it doesn’t feel like a five-step process. You basically buy the book from the Web site of the indie you like, then go to the Google Books app on your device and start reading.

The Google Books app works extremely well and looks and feels like any other book app. I highly recommend buying eBooks from indies if you own an eReader that enables this process!