Project 4
Launched: Day 5
April 13, 2025
BiliBooks: beautifully designed dual-language books
Beautifully designed dual-language books with side-by-side text, perfect for young readers exploring new languages and adults enhancing their language skills.
books
language-learning
education
publishing
Project Timeline
9.0h
Work Sessions
Day 9
April 17, 2025
Working on natural translation for bilibooks.app
28m
Day 5
April 13, 2025
Making a launch post for bilibooks.app
37m
Polishing bilibooks.app website
1h 12m
Typesetting the first ed dual language Alice in wonderland bilibooks.app
2h 4m
Day 4
April 12, 2025
Setting up bilibooks.app website, experimenting with book generation
3h 46m
Choosing a name for dual language books publisher! bilibooks.app
48m
Launch Day
Day 5Backstory
I've been dreaming about this project since 2021 or 2022 - it's been on my mind for years. I'm passionate about language learning tools (maybe even more than language learning itself, to be honest). My theory is that if I build a tool good enough, I'll actually use it myself to learn languages.
I've always wanted to make it easier for people to learn languages through reading, which I believe is one of the most effective ways to gain exposure to natural language in a concentrated form. Books contain carefully chosen words and expressions that you don't typically encounter in everyday conversation.
There are some publishers that offer dual-language books and interlinear formats for different languages, but I haven't seen anything quite like what I envision - beautifully typeset parallel text with paragraphs perfectly aligned and customizable translation styles.
The current state of AI tools now makes it possible to create hyper-specialized translations that can be tailored to different learning needs. I want to offer both natural-sounding translations for advanced learners and more literal translations that help beginners understand sentence structure in the language they're trying to learn.
I've actually done experiments with typesetting and generation pipelines before, but now was the time to bring everything together into a real product that people can use.
The Challenge
Create a branded storefront for beautifully typeset bilingual books targeting both children and adult language learners. The main challenges included:
1. Sourcing text content - I'm focusing on public domain works initially because it's more straightforward than dealing with copyright licensing issues.
2. Ensuring high-quality translations - Currently I'm using AI with specialized prompts which is good enough for a first edition, but I'll need professional proofreading by native speakers to ensure accuracy and natural language flow.
3. Creating beautifully typeset books - This was particularly challenging as transforming parallel texts into a well-designed book format requires both technical skills and an eye for typography.
4. Supporting different translation styles - I want to offer both natural-sounding translations for advanced learners and more literal translations that help beginners understand sentence structure in the language they're learning.
5. Balancing the brand to appeal to both markets - The name and branding needed to work for both parents of bilingual children and adult language learners.
Future challenges will include getting physical books printed and potentially distributed to bookstores, which I'll likely approach through print-on-demand services initially.
Features
- Side-by-side parallel text with paragraphs perfectly aligned
- Multiple translation styles: natural-sounding for advanced learners and more literal for beginners
- Option to choose which language appears on which side of the page
- Free sample chapter downloads with email collection
- Digital PDF books available for immediate purchase
- Starting with Alice in Wonderland as the first available title
- Beautiful typography and professional layout that makes reading pleasant
Technical Implementation
The website is hosted on Cloudflare Pages with a custom Python static site generator. Payments and digital delivery are handled through Lemon Squeezy, a merchant of record for digital goods. When users request a free sample, their email gets sent to a webhook on Make.com that sends me a notification - which is really motivating to see people interested in the books.
For the book creation itself, I'm using specialized software for typesetting that helps align the paragraphs perfectly between languages. I've experimented with different typesetting approaches in the past, and now everything came together in this implementation. The translation process currently uses AI with customized prompts designed specifically for literary translation while maintaining the right balance between naturalness and fidelity to the original.
Monetization
The primary monetization is direct sales of digital books, with physical books planned for the future. The business model is straightforward - create high-quality, beautifully designed bilingual books and sell them directly to language learners and parents.
I'm using Lemon Squeezy as my merchant of record, which makes it super simple to sell digital goods online. I can upload the PDF, set the price, and they handle the payment processing and delivery.
Future revenue could come from custom books, educational partnerships, or subscription services for regular new content. I might also explore creating original content specifically for bilingual children, based on some ideas that Jordan has written.
The key to making this business successful is the quality and uniqueness of the offering - there's a real gap in the market for beautifully typeset bilingual books that truly enhance the language learning experience.
What I Learned
I learned that you can achieve remarkable progress in a single day if you've already done some thinking about a project beforehand. This idea had been in my mind for 3-4 years (since 2021 or 2022), and I had done experiments with typesetting and generation pipelines previously. Now everything came together quickly in a nice package with strong branding.
I learned that reading is an incredibly important part of language learning, as books provide concentrated, intentional language exposure with varied vocabulary that you don't usually encounter in conversation. This makes books a particularly valuable medium for language acquisition.
I also discovered that there's a surprising gap in the market - while there are some publishers offering dual-language books and interlinear formats, I haven't found anything with the level of typographical quality and alignment that I'm envisioning. The current state of AI translation tools also enables much more specialized, context-aware translations than were possible before.
Final Thoughts
I'm extremely excited about BiliBooks as a business with real potential. The branding perfectly balances appeal to both target markets - parents of bilingual children and adult language learners. I cannot imagine a better name than BiliBooks - it just hits the right balance and I'd be proud to see it printed on book covers.
I plan to expand beyond digital books to printed versions in the future, potentially using print-on-demand services initially. I'm not sure if it makes sense financially yet, but it's so difficult to find high-quality, beautiful bilingual books that I feel I have to do this. If nobody else is making them, I will.
This project is also personally meaningful to me as someone passionate about language learning tools. I'm planning to use these books myself to improve my Dutch and potentially other languages as well. I believe in learning from context, and I think these books will provide an effective way to do that with carefully aligned translations and beautiful design that makes the learning process enjoyable.