Now that I have two apps listed in the Android Market, I thought I would write up something about the publication process to let folks know what to expect when they to go publish their own Android apps.
The first step in preparing your app for publication is to digitally sign your app with a certificate. There is an entire page on the topic of signing on Google's Android Developer site, but if you're using the ADT (Android Developer Tools) plugin for Eclipse to develop your apps, the process is pretty darn simple: you right-click on your app project name in the Package Explorer view, choose "Android Tools" from the context menu, then choose "Export Signed Application Package." That will activate a signing wizard that will take you through the steps, and it's simply a matter of filling in the form fields with the appropriate information (which is when the documentation on signing really comes in handy). Once the process is complete, you'll end up with a keystore file for your app and the signed .apk installer file. I would suggest keeping your app keystore files in one place (each keystore file shares the same name as the app it belongs to) because you'll need the keystore file any time you sign an updated version of your app.
Once you've got your signed .apk file, you should figure out what you want to do for the screenshots for your app that will appear in the Market listing. The Android Market allows you to upload only two screenshots of your application, so you need to figure out which screens best capture the essence of what your app does and look reasonable readable even if shrunk to half the size: the images are shrunk when viewed in the app description on the Android Market app, and while users can tap a screenshot to see it at full-size I don't know how many people realize that they have that option.
You have two options for capturing the screenshots: either take the screenshots using the Android device emulator that comes with the Eclipse plugins for Android, or root your Android device and run a screen capture program like drocap2 (UPDATE: actually, there is a tool in the SDK that will allow you to take screenshots without rooting). The Android Market only accepts screenshots that are either 320x480 pixels or 480x854 pixels, so make sure your screenshots conform to one or the other set of dimensions.
You will also need to provide a title for your app as well as a brief description. Your app title can be as long as 30 characters, but be aware that the label beneath the launcher icon for your app on an Android homescreen will only display first eight or nine letters of the title. The description for your app can only be 325 characters long: I have no idea why Google picked that particular length, but it means you have to choose your words carefully. Make sure you choose words that you think users will likely search on in the Android Market app on their phones in order to find apps like yours.
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