people’s insights volume 1, issue 14 : vook
DESCRIPTION
50+ thinkers and planners within MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring projects on corporate citizenship, crowdsourcing and storytelling on the MSLGROUP Insights Network. Every week, we pick up one project and do a deep dive into conversations around it -- on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself but also on the broader social web -- to distill insights and foresights. We share these insights and foresights with you on our People’s Insights blog and compile the best insights from the network and the blog in the iPad-friendly People’s Lab Quarterly Magazine, as a showcase of our capabilities. This week, our topic is Vook . For more, see:http://peopleslab.mslgroup.comTRANSCRIPT
crowdsourcing | storytelling | citizenship
People’s Insights: Volume 1, Issue 14
Vook
Vook
Source: http://vook.com
Vook is a public, cloud-based e-publishing platform that allows
authors to create great-looking digital books, distribute them on
e-bookstores and track sales for a fee.
Multimedia e-books
Source: http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/vook-launches-multimedia-books/,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ovHjsRlw68
Vook lets users create multimedia e-books with audio, video
and images that can be dragged and dropped into the documents,
creating an enhanced reading experience.
The origins
Source: http://vook.com ,
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jfk-50-days-ipad-edition/id402259732?mt=8
Vook launched in 2009 as a digital publishing specialist, with
four titles. Since then, it has worked with household names
in the media industry, publishing over 800 multimedia e-books.
Question marks about multimedia books
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com
Purists did not take well to multimedia e-books. They felt that reading
was all about setting the imagination free and not about images or
videos. The charm of a book lies in the reader's interpretation, they felt.
Publisher to e-book aggregator
Source: http:// http://www.teleread.com , http://thenextweb.com
Eventually, Vook decided to change from a publishing house to a
conversion service that enables people to make and share books. This
fitted well with its ambition of encompassing the full production cycle.
Revenue model
Source: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com
Vook changed its revenue stream to a licensing model by which users
paid monthly subscriptions. It stopped taking royalties on e-books sold
by authors, which meant that the business risk stayed with the author.
Stories created faster, easier
Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/tech-in-twenty/2012/03/22/tech-in-twenty
Vook makes it easy for authors to create and release their stories by
simply uploading a file and making changes to it. The key to it is that
authors can release e-books fast, without publishing lags.
Sales tracked in real-time
Source: http://vook.com/whats-vook/
After styling, authors enter meta data and pricing information. The
e-book can be distributed to Amazon, iBooks and BN.com or uploaded
to e-bookstores. Vook provides a sales-tracking dashboard.
Too expensive
Source: http://www.publishersweekly.com
Critics said that the platform doesn't do enough to justify its price
tag of $79/ month ($849/year) to $299/month ($3,199/year)
compared to Sigil, Bookbaby, CreateSpace, etc.
Vook works for non-fiction
Source: http://shelf-life.ew.com/ , http://facebook.com
Multimedia content has not worked for fiction as videos stop readers
from exercising their imaginations. Non-fiction work, like how-to books,
have done better as video can help explain complicated steps.
The future of publishing?
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/ , http://goodereader.com/
Experts say if the price can be controlled, and a need is created for
multimedia books, the deadly combination of self-publishing and
multimedia books could well become the future of publishing.
More People’s Insights Weekly reports
For more reports, visit: peopleslab.mslgroup.com/peoplesinsights/
Every week, we dive into one topic for discussion on the MSLGROUP
Insight’s Network and discuss insights and foresights, in three key
areas: crowdsourcing, storytelling and citizenship.
CrowdsourcingMahindra Spark the Rise
Storytelling:@MarsCuriosity
Citizenship#Kony2012
Read People’s Lab insights and foresights
The People’s Lab team shares the insights and foresights from the
MSLGROUP Insights Network on the People’s Insights weekly blog and
the People’s Insights Quarterly magazine.
MSLGROUP Insights
Network
50+ MSLGROUP planners
share and discuss inspiring
projects on corporate
citizenship, crowdsourcing and
storytelling.
People’s Insights
weekly blog
We deep dive into
conversations around one
project -- on the MSLGROUP
Insights Network itself but also
on the broader social web -- to
distill insights and foresights.
People’s Insights
Quarterly magazine
Every quarter, we will compile
the best insights from the
network and the blog in the
iPad-friendly magazine, as a
showcase of our capabilities.
For more, visit http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com
Coming soon: People’s Insights Annual
Report
In early January 2013 we will publish the People’s Insights Annual
Report, in which we synthesize our insights from throughout 2012 and
provide foresights for business leaders and change-makers for 2013.
People’s Lab: Crowdsourcing Insights &
Innovation
People’s Lab is MSLGROUP’s proprietary crowdsourcing platform and
approach that helps organizations tap into people’s insight for
innovation, storytelling and change.
For more, visit http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com
For People’s Lab
solutions, [email protected]