Vook, A Positive Step For Digital Publishing, 6 Reasons

On October 1, 2009 the Atria imprint of Simon & Schuster launched four “Vooks,” a new digital book distribution concept that leverages technology to deliver text and video into a complete story.  Kudos to Ellie Hirschhorn, Sue Fleming, and their team.

Vook is a paid application allowing users to read text, watch videos, and collaborate with authors and other readers on any computer (no special software) or iPhone/iTouch.  To get the web version it will cost you $6.99 and to get the iPhone/iTouch version it will cost you $4.99.  Vook is a young start-up founded by the successful entrepreneur Bradley Inman, the founder of Turn-Here.  Its vision is to facilitate the appeal of books by uniting the disparate worlds of books and videos into one complete, blended story.

I like the concept and am glad to see trade publishers agree to invest resources to test the concept.  Just like the September 29th launch of Disney Digital Books, these are BIG steps into digital for trade book publishers.

Clearly, there needs to be some initial user adoption and feedback so the team at Vook can iron out the kinks and make the necessary improvements.  I’m sure we will hear from the naysayers that rebel against any form of non-linear text content distribution by trade publishers.  However, my hypothesis is that there is a customer segmentation model and a commercial need to appeal to the desires of many.  Motoko Rich from the NYTimes wrote a short piece on the the Vook launch.  I generally agree that Vook is a paradigm shift for traditional book readers not comfortable sitting at a computer reading books.  PaidContent.org also wrote a short piece on the Vook launch (with some initial testing) that pointed out how Vook lends itself to nonfiction.  Focusing on nonfiction is typically the same “low hanging fruit” thinking for all digital book extensions as it is challenging to contemplate a compelling digital product, aggregated audience, or compelling digital business model for fiction content.  I actually believe there are targeted opportunities for digital in fiction.  I will leave my commentary there for another post.

Below are six reasons the Vook launch is a good thing for trade publishers:

1. Diversified Revenue for Trade Publishers.  If you put the traditional physical trade book business under a microscope you will likely find it is riddled with challenges (delivery, operations, business models, distribution, etc.)  Furthermore, if that business’ only source of revenue was from the sale of hard good books through retailers you would see a much worse situation.  Fortunately, other diversified forms of revenue are in growth mode (audio-books, e-books, etc.) and publishers are identifying new ways to meet the needs of customers through the sale of their valuable IP.  This is good news for the industry.  From a data perspective, worldwide e-book reader shipments for 2008 totaled 1 million, but should grow to 30 million by 2013, according to In-Stat, while iSuppli estimates 18 million device sales by 2012.
2. Direct-to-Consumer. There are many vulnerabilities to being in a business in which the majority of revenue comes from a few large customers.  This is the case with trade book publishers that rely on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. to drive their sales.  I call it the “Walmart Effect” as it relates to consumer good manufacturers such as Procter and Gamble, etc.  Vook is another content distribution mechanism that allows trade publishers to develop direct-to-consumer relationships and associated business models.  It essentially cuts out the retail middleman.
3. Development of New Content.  No longer are publishers completely focused on working with authors to acquire manuscripts, deliver a finished book, and the associated marketing/PR support for launch.  They are now forced to become content development engines.  Whether that is video, audio, blogs, etc. they are identifying opportunities to develop deeper relationships with book lovers through the distribution of valuable content, in addition to the actual book.
4. Content Distribution Through Distributed Devices.  First there was one e-book device, then there were two, now there are several, and soon there will be lots.  No longer are consumers solely finding their content on their computers at a portal (Yahoo, etc.) or their favorite website.  They are engaging with content on mobile devices, TVs, refrigerators, etc. and I don’t expect that trend to change.  Trade publishers have a big opportunity to distribute their valuable digital IP where their customers want to consume that content and Vook is one of these places.
5. Younger Demographic.  If you have kids (like me) you can appreciate the many “screen” distractions your kids have with TV, Internet, Wii, Nintendo DS, etc.  Getting them to sit down and appreciate the value of reading non-interactive text content on a page can be a challenge.  This is a growing challenge for trade publishers as their hard-core target end customer gets older and younger customers don’t buy as many books. Vook provides trade publishers with a direct-to-consumer content packaging opportunity that younger (more interactive consumers) will appreciate.
6. Inbound Marketing. I am a believer in the future of inbound marketing (SEO, Social Media, etc.) as an effective means to deliver a message and scale an audience.  As trade book publishers implement inbound marketing capabilities, and scale their content and direct audiences, they will reap significant commercial benefits.  Vook is one such opportunity that provides publishers with technology to extend their content through links and social collaboration (extending the conversation) amongst readers and authors.

One contrarian point of view on Vook…  I’m not convinced a single “for-pay” digital business model is the right solution to achieve success in their hybrid (text/video) content distribution model.  Given my experience, I am a fan of hybrid business models based upon customer data.  Once scale is achieved, translating that into the right business model and revenue mix becomes a natural progression.  A paid wall sometimes kills a business belore it even gets off the ground.

What do you think?