We’re very excited that Apple is featuring our new TextVook series on the front page of the iBookstore and also on the nonfiction category page. More than 50 TextVooks launched there this week, including 9 enhanced ebooks with our resident genius, Dr. Vook Ph.D. In celebration of this special promotion, we dropped the prices of our enhanced versions to $2.99 and ebooks to .99 cents. Rumor has it that you can also download Psychology 101 and World War II for free. Just type TextVook in the iBookstore to see how to get smart, quickly and become a genius like Dr. Vook, Ph.D with subjects such as jazz, astronomy and art history.

Yoga and pilates expert David Moreno has trained world-class athletes, coached the 2024/2008 Olympics U.S. Men’s Swim Team and has been featured in a number of notable publications, such as LA Yoga Magazine. Now, he has brought his concept of Deep Flow Yoga to life in his new Vook series.

“Yoga allows us to move outside of fear and anxiety and brings us fully into the present moment where everything is usually all right,” he said. “It can help take us out of our clinging to the past and our fantasies about the future and connect us to the peace, which is always present no matter how much is going on around or inside of us.”

His series features engaging text and instructional videos revolving around Deep Flow Yoga, which he said was developed out of a preference for a fluid asana practice without bringing up excessive heat in both body and mind — thus preventing dehydration, exhaustion and the ambitious nature that arises in aerobic-oriented yoga.

“Healthy Backs: Deep Flow Yoga” is available in the iTunes App Store. The other two titles in the series are available to download from inside the app.

The first Vook, “Healthy Backs,” shows different poses, such as Tortoise Pose, Animal Relaxation Pose and Himalayan Forward Bend throughout eight chapters. Readers can also learn about energy invocation and chanting.

“The greatest pose, the most favorite posture of position becomes the one I am doing,” he said. “Each posture has its own signature, both in feeling and in energy, and when I open to that experience within each pose then I fall in love with it, even when it’s challenging or mind boggling.”

For those who are new to practicing yoga, David said to have self-acceptance, patience and compassion. He said he started down his yoga path once he stopped dancing professionally.

“Finding a good teacher was challenging in the late 70s even in a city like Los Angeles, and when I did find one it was a commitment to driving up to an hour to study,” he said.

David now teaches yoga classes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Vook fans have spoken! We are very happy to announce that “Yoga in Bed” has been nominated as one of the Reader’s Choice Award Winners for About.com’s Best Mind/Body Apple iPhone App.

“Yoga has transformed my life, and I am deeply grateful that I cannot only do yoga, but also that I am able to share yoga with everyone through this book and now the creation of the Vook,” author Naomi Sophia Call said about her award.

We sat down with author Naomi for a couple of questions:

Q. What inspired your “Yoga In Bed” Vook?
A. I was inspired to create “Yoga In Bed” by comments from my students. I have taught yoga for more than 15 years and for years students would make comments like, “Once I get out of bed, I’m on the go and I don’t have time.” I also noticed how much I enjoy lingering in the soft warmth of my bed for a few extra moments and that conscious movement simply enhances my natural awakening. As a single parent, I felt a huge difference to my whole day when I began by first taking myself before everyone else. I am simply happier!

Q. What are your favorite yoga exercises?
A. Choosing a favorite yoga exercise is a tough question! The reason that I gravitated so deeply to Kripalu Yoga and became certified there was because I experienced their training as the most spiritual, and the style that enabled me to be in the moment in my body. What I would call experiencing the essence of yoga, or the true union of myself. Many other styles of yoga have very structured routines. I love listening to my body and in that moment doing the pose that comes to mind. Having said that, if I had to choose one from my Yoga In Bed Book it would be the single knee twist.

Q. How were you introduced to yoga?
A. I had vaguely heard about yoga for some time and finally decided to try it. I had no idea what to expect. I was living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the time and was a brand new mom searching for peace! I was able to get away to a class, the only class that was available at the time, in a church basement and I strongly disliked it! I had been so excited and was hugely disappointed. I went back a few more times and felt the same.

It wasn’t until I moved to New York, still desperately seeking, that I found a new style existed and I tried that. From that day forward I found myself able to fit in even 15 minutes a day and I was elated! I always encourage my new students to experience many styles, by dropping into as many classes as they can to really feel how different the different styles of yoga are. We are very blessed now to have so many choices. Decades ago it wasn’t like this!

You can read the full About.com article here and also watch a snippet. Remember to vote for us for the top spot, and happy “yoga-ing!”

Happy February!

We’ve successfully made it to the month of love, where new and old partnerships can continue to blossom. In the spirit of partnerships, I wanted to take a moment to outline the top five reasons you should work with us to light up your content and provide your audience with a powerful Vook multimedia experience:

1.            We are the leader in enhanced content. Vook has published the most enhanced titles in the iBookstore and on the Amazon Kindle App. Our JFK app was #1 in the iPad Paid Book Apps upon its release, and we were one of the first enhanced eBook on iTunes through our partnership with Simon & Schuster.

2.            We distribute to a wide range of platforms. Our titles are on iTunes, Kindle App, and the iBookstore. We are currently developing opportunities for a host of other platforms. All titles are turned around within weeks, delivered to market, and promoted to digital audiences, including Facebook and Twitter.

3.            We provide scalable solutions. Our global network of professional film producers allow us to quickly turn around video and audio production. Content is then added to our original MotherVook software and edited together to create unmatched, rich content—bringing text to life!

4.            We carefully promote all titles. Each title is positioned and named after we’ve researched what will make it marketable. We pick eye-catching cover art for increased marketability. Our careful account management team makes sure that our distribution partners are alerted to new titles and promotional opportunities.

5.            Maximized Revenue. Take advantage of backlist titles and transform them into a brand new content experience to revitalize sales.

If you have any questions or would like to get started in creating your very own Vook, please visit http://publish.vook.com/.

Shakespeare might be the gold standard of great, serious literature, but in his day, the bard was all about putting on plays that were boisterous, vivid and loud. He was also an innovator: Shakespeare invented words, dramatic devices and creative staging solutions.

It makes sense that he’d be in favor of the kind of innovation that would bring his works to life, says Alan Rinzler in an article for the Forbes blog. Rinzler argues that Shakespeare “knew his poetry needed to be heard aloud, to be read by actors who could understand and illuminate the meter, rhythm, and beat of his iambic pentameter.”

If the bard were around today, he’d probably want to make something exactly like the “Shakespeare: Love, Love, Love” Vook; 14 videos of Shakespeare’s sonnets performed on the streets of New York.

Rinzler says it is “one of the best examples of new-form publishing I’ve seen…the visual experience gives a whole new dimension to understanding and appreciating these perfect gems in verse.”

The best part is, you don’t have to travel to a theater to experience it, in fact, you don’t even to pay. The Shakespeare: Love, Love, Love app is free for the iPad. In this portable, dynamic format, all the world is definitely a stage.

You can also get Love, Love, Love for iPhone and web browser, or get a sneak peak at Sonnet 138 in the video below:

By now, you’ve probably gotten plenty of emails with the signature, “Sent from my iPad.” The iPad’s obviously here in a big way. Apple sold $150,000,000 in iPads over the weekend — which makes this, according to Seth Godin, “the biggest launch ever.”

So how did they do it? Your instinct might be to assume that Apple has the magic touch, and as a smaller business or individual, you could never pull off a similar feat. Not true, insists Godin. “In fact,” he says, “they work even better for smaller gigs and more focused markets.” In his blog post today, “Secrets of the biggest selling launch ever,” Godin distills the tactics, strategies and commitment employed by Apple that can be applied by everyone.

One of his suggestions was “Build A Platform for Others to Play in.” Godin himself has done some “playing” in the iPad platform with his Unleashing the SUPER Ideavirus iPad app. And even though it’s still “early days,” Godin’s Vook iPad application is climbing the iTunes paid iPad app charts in Books. The momentum is just building for both Vook and the iPad, and we can’t wait to see who else will come play.

When we last left off, we were eagerly counting down the hours to the release of iPad. We weren’t alone. People lined up hours in advance. Apple stores served breakfast. The twitter stream was abuzz with anticipation.

Finally, the doors opened. The release of the iPad this Saturday was not just a red letter moment for Silicon Valley, it marked a turning point for the publishing and film industries, and a great opportunity for those invested in the future of media. The team at Vook has been working hard for months to prepare apps for submission to Apple, and we are ecstatic that 19 of our Vooks are now for sale in the iTunes store as iPad apps.

The iPad has provided us with a platform to make our content even more compelling, dynamic and unique. In many ways, it seems like the iPad was literally made for us. As eBookNewser wrote, “This has got huge potential on the iPad, and Vook’s already off to a strong start.” To share our excitement with you, we’re giving away two titles for free: The Shakespeare “Love, Love, Love” app and The Sherlock Holmes Experience. With bigger screens and higher video quality, our iPad applications show off the expanded functionality of the new device and make for a truly enhanced reading experience.

We’ve gotten a wonderful response from authors, filmmakers and fans. Gary Vaynerchuck, author of Crush It told us he’s thrilled with his Vook, and so are his fans. We’ve also gotten great feedback on Seth Godin’s Unleashing the SUPERIdeavirus as readers recognize the incredible potential for Vooks on the iPad.

And this is just the beginning! We’ll be adding more titles to our iPad app page all the time, and continuing to explore the many possibilities of this new medium.

What are your feelings about the iPad? Leave us a note in the comments below!

We recently sent out a survey to members of the Vook community to find out what our readers thought of our Vooks. In 40 hours, we got a tremendous 367 responses expressing an incredible amount of enthusiasm for the Vook, mixed media and enhanced reading. Overall, 84 percent of people said they liked or loved their Vook. 75 percent said they would recommend the product to a friend.  Given the proven merit of word-of-mouth marketing, this kind of enthusiasm bodes well for both the product and the future of a thriving mixed media industry.

50 percent also said the Vook offered a better experience than an e-book and 42 percent said it was impossible to compare the two. Users felt the Vook experience could not be compared to the traditional e-book experience. There is a wide-open space ready to be occupied by a whole new product.

It seems that users are keen to spend their time and energy in that new space. Half of users replied that they would “definitely re-read” their Vook, and over 50 percent predicted they would “definitely” or “probably” purchase another Vook. It is obvious that the Vook is capable of engaging users, provoking conversation and getting attention. There is a prime market eager to receive this type of mixed media experience. In plain English: The people want this. There is a great future for devices and platforms that enable them to have it.

Tomorrow, the iPad comes out. Our apps are already available for it — and when you get your iPad you can try Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes for free! We’re thrilled to be on iPad and our survey results show that readers can’t wait either.

If you would like to know more about the Vook Community Survey, please email Matthew at Matthew@vook.com. We look forward to hearing from you!