While talk about books being the new games in the App Store is misguided, there is another take-away from the App Store – Vooks and Video Books are thriving.
Disclosure: Vook.com have sent me free copies of each of their vooks. Had reviewed 4 of them earlier and might review Gary Vaynerchuk’s Vook later.
Here is the list of the only 10 books and book variations in the Top 100 paid Book Apps that are $5 or higher (excluding Bible Apps and iPhone/Camera manuals – there are 6 of those) -
Twilight Books – New Moon at 23, Eclipse at 32, Twilight at 37 ($11 each). Breaking Dawn at 41 for $20. 15th – DigiNovel 26 for $13. 25th – Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk Vook for $12. 51 st- 90 second Fitness Solution Vook for $5. Law of Attraction Cards for $4. Four Agreements Cards for $4. The Boy Scout Handbook for $10.
What’s really interesting is that 3 of the 10 are in effect Vooks i.e. Video+Book combinations. 2 from Vook.com and 1 from the creator of CSI.
At the moment there are tens of thousands of books and just a few video books (less than 10). So this is even more impressive.
Here’s the write-up for Level 26 from Anthony E. Zuiker -
… the world’s first digi-novel, Level 26: Dark Origins, a revolutionary, cross-platform, immersive storytelling experience. Combining the best features of books, film and interactive digital technologies.
That’s a Vook.
Vooks could be the differentiator and the way to charge a premium.
Look at the charts and interesting patterns show up –
- The average price of the three Video Books in the Top 100 is $10.
- The average price of the Top 100 Book Apps is probably around $2 to $3.
Why are Vooks priced 5 times higher than other book apps still selling well?
This is a point that Publishers should not miss. People are paying $5, $10, $12 for Vooks while they are reluctant to pay anything for books.
Here’s why people are paying more -
- It involves more senses.
- There’s video so there’s perception of value.
- There’s good quality control.
- It’s new and you can start off with a new pricing paradigm.
- It’s tougher to pirate Vooks. How do you maintain the formatting and the integration?
- Selling through the App Store avoids the Internet Entitlement Disease.
- You can leverage branding more effectively. Celebrities (even mini-celebrities) come across better in video.
Sure there are other reasons (like Gary V’s Vook being featured on the main page of the App Store).
The main thing is that people are parting with huge amounts of money (for the app store).
With Vooks you can create a new media type and make sure it doesn’t get polluted
Here’s what Vook.com should consider -
- Not let anyone use the term Vook for cheap video books.
- Push Vook as the name for Video Books.
- Become a platform where anyone can sell Vooks provided they are priced $5 or more.
- Never go below $5 and never do sales below $5.
- Spend money and push the notion that it takes a lot of work (it probably does) and anything below $5 is unsustainable.
- Hire some really big name authors (at a higher 30-40% cut) and build vooks around them.
- Keep adding solid Vooks.
- Get other successful video books (like Level 26) on to their platform.
Vook can basically be the Apple of the Book industry. We sell high quality stuff and that costs money.
If they trademark the term Vook and build a great platform for it they can ensure that no one else can come in and destroy the revenue stream.
Books and Vooks can exist in Harmony
Vooks have no reason to try and steal any of the book market.
Why would you want to take over books when books are endangered?
It’s much better to create a new market that can set its own paradigms and pricing and expectations.
Vooks will carve out a nice niche for themselves between books and movies. They’ll have a few clean channels – the App Store, Vook.com, perhaps a few more.
Vooks have a future, and it might be a bright one.
Filed under: books, evolution Tagged: | the evolution of books, vook
