Update: Matthew from Vook stopped by and very patiently explained what they’re trying to do. It’s shifted my attitude from ‘this is crazy’ to ‘let’s give the first few vooks a chance – perhaps there’s more to it than I realize’.
Here’s an email that Vook (the new Book Evolution start-up) sent me -
Subject: Too Busy to Read? Vook will have the answer.
TELL US WHAT BOOK YOU’D LIKE TO SEE BECOME A VOOK, WIN AN IPOD TOUCH
Dear Reader …… Tell us what book you’d like to see become a vook — a digital book that integrates video, links to the Internet, and social media into the reading experience — and why. Don’t forget to add the hashtag #vook to enter the contest!
On September 15th, we’re going to pick at random one answer out of all the submissions and reward that writer with an iPod touch.
Vook’s email created the exact opposite effect they probably intended -
- Nah, not too busy to read. So the rest of the email doesn’t make sense. However, let’s continue.
- What book would i like to see turn into a vook? None.
- Win an iPod Touch. How about a Kindle?
This is a Catch-22 situation for Vook
Vook wants to turn books into vooks -
- However, book lovers probably don’t want movies and social media in their books.
- And other people probably don’t care about books.
Book purists are upset over ebooks – how does Vook think they’re going to react to video and social media being inserted into books?
And what exactly is the market for Vooks - Who’s asking for Vooks?
What Movies and Social Media in Vooks will look like (if they aren’t careful)
Here’s a trailer of the new Oliver Twist movie –
While this in itself is distracting, you get real art when you consider the ‘social media’ on its youtube video page -
ChaBreGri (4 hours ago) I was just in Oliver!
sagadrina (5 hours ago) do some one now whats the name of the song
richardklkl (4 days ago) oliver twist goes to my school hes going to year 9 and hes good at footballstaticdancefloor (1 week ago) OMG, nancy ( Leanne Rowe) has some big <censored> !!
MovieMakerJamilaaa (2 weeks ago) I readed the book..and I just wish theer is more..hehe..must watch the movie!
Littlemoonking (2 weeks ago) Dodger is soo cute haha i bet he’s all grown up now.
And the search results for ‘oliver twist’ on Twitter are pretty artistic too -
ckartik: I still remember this – Dickens rocks !!! “Oliver Twist wanted to vent out his pent-up emotions”
Rhonahhh: Finishing reading Oliver Twist. I started on Alice in Wondeland but it was kinda blase’. Maybe Tim Burton’s version in theaters’ better.
mattbuzz: @TheHuxCapacitor http://twitpic.com/btjqx – Oliver Twist ?
MsKiiaBabi: Oliver twist tho?! Wtf? Lmfaoooo
braghaggers: going to the theatre tonight to see Oliver Twist!
JaneAdelaine: oj dsuruh cri ringkasan oliver twist..u can do it j!:)
That’s exactly what Oliver Twist is missing – MsKiiaBabi tweeting lmfao and JaneAdelaine channeling spirits and talking in tongues.
Vook – My Thoughts
The video they have on their Vook home page is interesting and the Vook blog is pretty cool.
However, I think they’re fundamentally competing with three different concepts -
- The Book as a guide into an experience where your imagination takes centre-stage.
- The Movie as a guide into an experience where you lay back and just enjoy the ride.
- Social Media as a shared experience where everyone shares figments of their thoughts and imaginations.
Mixing these almost conflicting concepts together holds the danger of blowing up magnificently.
- Vook could end up creating a new form of media that makes MTV seem intellectual and artistic.
- Or they might create something of merit.
Can’t wait to see what the first few Vooks are like.
Filed under: kindle Tagged: | kindle vs vook, vook
Switch11,
I’m the person at Vook responsible for the email you’re commenting on. I really appreciate you taking the time to open, read it, and then post your thoughts. This kind of feedback is invaluable as we continue to build a truly great new reading experience.
But let me answer your main concerns point by point:
1) 1. Nah, not too busy to read.
You might not be too busy to read but many people are — Vook is going to reach readers like them (readers like me!) where they/we live now, which is often in front of a computer. Yes — I want to spend time reading away from the screen — but if books were gorgeously accessible to me while I was on the computer and not just displayed in a flat PDF interface . . . I would be overjoyed. That’s why I’m glad to be a part of Vook: we’re going to make books more easily accessible to people who want to find ways to read more than ever in the context in which they spend most of their time.
2. What book would i like to see turn into a vook? None.
C”mon — what about House of Leaves? The author basically wrote it as an attempted Vook before Vook existed. The colored text functions as hyperlinks — Vook would just save the confusion of paging back and forth through the text. My copy of the book was quickly dogeared and flayed when I was reading it back in, what, 2000.
3. Win an iPod Touch. How about a Kindle?
Well, we like the iPod Touch.
MOVING ON —
Vook wants to turn books into vooks -
1. However, book lovers probably don’t want movies and social media in their books.
Perhaps they might not — but they don’t have to constantly have social media disrupting their reading experience. Our vooks are being overseen by true, dedicated, hard core readers (I, for instance, am probably one of the few people still buying contemporary poetry — if that means anything) and we’re definitely making sure that the reading experience is not disrupted when it comes to integrating new media.
2. And other people probably don’t care about books.
EVERYONE cares about great stories. Vook is helping books tell stories in a way that’s going to be even more powerful — and that’s how we’re going to get people turned on to reading again.
Book purists are upset over ebooks – how does Vook think they’re going to react to video and social media being inserted into books?
Our research shows they’re not THAT upset. And our core team is made up of people who are extremely devoted when it comes to serious reading.
And what exactly is the market for Vooks – Who’s asking for Vooks?
I would say: Who was asking for movies?
MOVING ON:
However, I think they’re fundamentally competing with three different concepts -
1. The Book as a guide into an experience where your imagination takes centre-stage.
Not always what happens in a book. A book is an experience of language. Vook is helping language transition onto the web more elegantly and take advantage of the tools that exist there.
2. The Movie as a guide into an experience where you lay back and just enjoy the ride.
I don’t know about this either — lots of great movies require serious participation intellectually on the part of the viewer.
3. Social Media as a shared experience where everyone shares figments of their thoughts and imaginations.
Agreed.
Mixing these almost conflicting concepts together holds the danger of blowing up magnificently.
AGREED! But believe me, it will only blow up with magnificent success.
1. Vook could end up creating a new form of media that makes MTV seem intellectual and artistic.
MTV does have some great programming — but really, this is doubtful when you consider that Vook is not being run by easily distracted video game junkies but people deeply obsessed with books.
2. Or they might create something of merit.
YES
Anyway, I’m responding at length here — but please feel free to contact me at my email address to discuss this further. We really appreciate having a dialogue with readers because . . . we love books! We love talking about books. We love talking about reading. Keep in touch and let me know if you’d like me to enlarge on any points any further.
And for anyone else reading this post, you can contact me at
matthew [at] vook [dot] com
Thanks!
what the hell? pardon my french but this “vook” thing is about the stupidest fucking thing ive heard of in a long time. its giving me “dot-com-idiocy” flashbacks… and a major headache as i try in vain to determine just who exactly a vook-abomination-thing would appeal to?
this is another example of someone not learning from other’s mistakes. those of us old enough to have been active in the pc world back when cd-rom drives were just starting to become affordable will find this all very familiar. see, there was going to be this huge “multimedia revolution!!” that was going to change everything. lots of companies spent lots of money producing lots of disks across lots of subject matter areas… this was most evident in the music industry… soooo many “pc-enhanced” music cds, or special editions with cd-roms packed in, or even going to far as to bypass the traditional album release entirely and only release a multimedia disk for the pc/mac.
and no one bought them. not because the technology wasnt widespread enough, not because the tech wasnt advanced enough, but simply because *no one wanted them*. what the “multimedia revolution!!” pundits failed to realize was that by creating a mishmash of stuff, they alienated EVERYONE in the market. audiophiles didnt care about video/games/whatever with their music. pc enthusiasts wanted interactive content (read: games) and had no interest in a watered-down presentation tied to some musical theme. they were a massive flop.
same went for multimedia encyclopedias on disk, multimedia national geographic, multimedia mad magazine (yes really), etc… all failed. and so, the “multimedia revolution!!” quietly faded into obscurity.
or so i thought. seems someone is dead-set to repeat history with this goofy “vook” idea.
Matthew from Vook again — I was extremely excited about multimedia CD-ROMs back when they were first released. I even brought a few — particularly the excellent Poetry in Motion CDROM. But the reason I stopped buying them was that the entire experience was too clunky and slow and difficult and basically took forever. It wasn’t that I didn’t want the experience. I would take issue with that point, as well as the point that people don’t want more options in their books. Why read just an ebook when you have the option to link out to more content and scholarly papers while you’re reading it — for starters? We’re simply opening books up to all the awesome technology that exists and incorporating really excellent video. If you’re reading a how to book, why WOULDN’T you want to be able to watch a video instead of try to follow an illustration? I appreciate your point about CD-ROMs, Radio Babylon, but I think there’s a lot more potential here . . .
Matthew, thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Its interesting to get your perspective.
when will you have a few vooks up on the site?
no doubt theres a lot of potential, in the sense of “theres a lot of stuff i could potentially cram into a book”… ive been through this many many times before (ive been a professional software developer for 20 years, and a hobbyist before that), the “who WOULDNT want ‘x’ in their ‘y’???” syndrome. i went through it when the IVR (interactive voice response) systems first became affordable. who WOULDNT want to be able to call a phone number and play games over the phone, or get their horoscope, or yadda yadda yadda? i went through it at the birth of the multimedia revolution. who WOULDNT want a cd full of interactive eyecandy to go with their music (which incidentally wont play in your cd player)? i went through it with the birth of the world wide web. who WOULDNT want (too many failed ideas to list)? i went through it with the emergence and demise of more internet technologies than you can shake a stick at. (who WOULDNT want to wander aimlessly through a 3D representation of a database instead of typing a query in a box?? etc)… in every case, the question was followed by “we are going to be so freaking rich, man!!”…
problem was, the answer to the question was, in every case: NOBODY wants “x”…
i hate to be “that guy”… but the “vook” is almost guaranteed to be yet another thing on that heap of things that seem like great ideas on paper but are in truth things no one wants. i could be wrong, of course.
but im not.
i forgot to mention, “I was extremely excited about multimedia CD-ROMs back when they were first released.”
as a technology developer, the cardinal rule to keep at the front of your mind at all times is “I AM NOT THE TARGET AUDIENCE”…
Switch11,
I can’t comment on release dates at the moment — but we are going to have something to show you very soon. You’ve already signed up for our beta release at http://www.vook.com but anyone else who is interested should sign up there as well because we will be releasing info to people on that list as we have stuff to show you.
Anyway — really appreciate you taking the time to carefully read the email newsletter. There will be another one next week. I will try to keep it interesting for you!
And email whenever you’d like at
matthew [at] vook [dot] com
Take care!
Seems hard to reply to the comment from radio_babylon above so I will comment here:
I suppose the two things I’d say are that:
1) We’ll have to agree to disagree and prove you wrong.
2) I don’t think any of us are doing this because we want to get rich. We’re doing this because we love books and want to find a new way to make them accessible to this culture. That might be the critical distinction between us and the people you have worked for in the past.
Again, sign up for the beta — we’ll definitely be looking for your input as it is certainly spirited — and we are fans of that.
Thanks,
M
Can I suggest giving a vook or two away for free and getting some feedback on the experience? I just got an email from S&S asking me to buy a Vook and see if I like it. I am interested in seeing the experience, and as a reader and iPhone owner I think I’m your target audience. However, I’m not willing to pay even $6.99 on a complete unknown. The video is an OK start, but I still don’t know what to expect and until I do I’m not willing to spend money on it.
More importantly not being able to try it left me wondering what it is, and my mind immediately went to multimedia CD-ROMs from back in the day. And I thought the same thing Radio_Babylon thought, “Do book readers really want to watch part of a movie or have a Twitter feed?” And I already know movie watchers aren’t going to read a book. Then again, maybe he and I are too old and the 13 year olds of tomorrow won’t be able to imagine a book without a Twitter feed.
I’m not a fortune teller, but I’d suggest you let people try it and give you feedback before you hang a shingle, charge money, and as a by product create high expectations.