In the fast-changing landscape of digital book publishing there is now something called a vook, a product and company which is a hybrid of text and video, delivered on the Web and as an iPhone download .
The multimedia products sell for $6.99 and are available on the Simon & Schuster and Vook sites and on the Apple iPhone application store. It is not yet available on Amazon. Vooks wont be available on the current crop of Kindles as they don't support video.
Vook was conceived and self-funded by Brad Inman, a former San Francisco Examiner business columnist who has created several digital media start-ups. His most recent company is TurnHere, an Emeryville, California company which creates and syndicates Web vidoes under contract to customers from hotels to local directories.
TurnHere has created a network of thousands of videographers who produce videos on assignment. The Vook videos were created by videographers in the TurnHere network.
The deal with Simon & Schuster is not exclusive and the company plans to work with other publishers.
In a statement, Ellie Hirschhorn, Executive VP and Chief Digital Officer of Simon & Schuster said, "Vook is a game-changing model for reading in the digital age of multimedia, the first viable combination of text and video that is user friendly and that addresses today's multitasking audience and how it absorbs information and entertainment."
Motoko Rich reports on the "bookbending experiment" in Thursday's New York Times. Here's the story by the Associated Press.
Andy Plesser, Executive Producer
You can find this post up on Beet.TVFollow Andy Plesser on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Beet_TV
