The Vook Blog Vook: Read it, Watch it.

I’ve been doing some initial market testing with Facebook ads to figure out how to get people excited about Vook. I’ve run a bunch of different headlines – “See the Future of Books” “The New Way to Read” – but the ad that’s grabbed far and away the most attention is simply titled “Too Busy to Read?” Sure, I carefully targeted my ads so they’ll reach an audience that I think will enjoy Vook (and, in one instance, are also fans of “The Mighty Boosh”), but even in that audience – a book loving one – people don’t seem to have enough time to read. But in the digital age reading is the one thing we’re doing more of: Most of our days are spent staring at computer screens, writing emails, reading replies and pouring through written information on the Internet. I’d say people are reading more than ever and reading more diversely. But we don’t think of that kind of reading as reading. We think of it as something else – parsing, perhaps, or even wasting time. Most of us probably still think of reading as holding a real, physical book. I’d go further and say most of envision the act of reading as a quiet, contemplative act that we need to take time out from the world to experience fully.

I’m definitely one of those readers. I’m one of the few people who still buys a boatload of contemporary fiction . . . and even poetry. Research reports probably aren’t exaggerating the decline of my type. But what my Facebook ad showed me, even if on an small scale, is that people still want to be immersed in a great story or an incredible book. The opportunity to do so is just hard to come by. Even when we’re alone in our apartments or living rooms there’s probably an email terminal in reach, an Ipod to flip through, a few episodes of “The Mighty Boosh” to catch on a laptop. We’re just more comfortable with glowing rectangles. Which is why I’m so determined to make Vook a success: It’s going to make it easier for me to read more. That’s my main goal at this company: to help develop a product that all the readers of the world, overwhelmed with video games, email, Facebook, and memes, will be able to use to enjoy digital books as much as, say, Lolcats or the latest Tumblr site.

What we’ve figured out is that Vook drags books out of the constraints of the real world and opens them up to the world we live in now. That doesn’t mean your book is going to be sitting on your desktop competing with live concert footage of early Roxy Music (or whatever you like to watch online)—a vook is immersive. It will take over your desktop or laptop screen if you want it to. But the important distinction is that it can make the contemplative, inward act of reading part of your daily experience. A vook is easy to read, not a pain on the eyes, and the design is so gorgeous and tempting that the text, while you’re reading it, actually entices you to keep reading. It sounds strange, but after playing around with some of our early tests, I can say that it’s true. I’d better stop before I start promising that it’s going to be more exciting than “Grand Theft Auto IV” – but for those of who love to read, that’s probably a foregone conclusion anyway.

Related posts:

1. Books in the post-PC world
2. Bringing you Vook: Read it, Watch it.
3. The Future of Digital Books?
4. Vooking in a Grand Tradition
5. Brad Inman presents at BISG’s Annual Meeting