Want to win a $25 gift card from Dr. Vook, Ph.D, star of our new TextVooks series? Make sure you follow us on Twitter @vooktv to answer questions about subjects from his new enhanced apps and ebooks starting tomorrow at 9 am EST with another round of trivia at 12 pm (M-F throughout the month of April). We’ll be giving away two $25 iTunes gift cards a day to 28 lucky winners and using the hashtag #TextVook throughout the contest. Click here for full contest rules and stay tuned to our blog for all of the latest Vook news.

It’s always great to hear a heartfelt “THANKS” from a business or brand that you love. It’s a great feeling when you know they really value your opinion, and your business. The reason is simple: we like to feel like we’re helping build and improve the products they create!

We want to build that at Vook. We’re putting our heart into it – from conceiving products that we think our fans will love, to feedback on our titles from our followers. And nothing tells the story of Vook like the ratings in the AppStore for our Vooks!

As our own way of saying “THANKS” to the customers we love, the team at Vook decided to reduce prices for more than 100 of our Vooks in the iTunes App Store. We’ve never done that before. The huge thank you party starts this afternoon and lasts until Monday at midnight. Our premium apps – from Reckless Road to How to Rock Climb – will be available for just 99 cents. And check out our new homepage during the promotion at thanks.vook.com.

Vook is now the largest digital publisher of enhanced eBooks in the AppStore, and as our press release this morning said, we could not have done it without a great group of fans, followers and devotees. We’ve been working hard to find new and exciting titles for them, and have really succeeded at persuading our partners that combining great video footage with an engaging text makes for a revolutionary reading experience.

Finally – what’s truly compelling about Vook is the great relationships we have with the authors of our Vooks – each of whom has a loyal following that just cannot get enough of their favorite authors. You need only to follow tweets to @vooktv for evidence. We regularly receive questions such as: “When are you turning such-and-such book into a Vook?”

This weekend – please take the time to explore the Vook catalog in the AppStore. Learn how to rock climb! And yes, you can actually do Yoga in Bed.

In other words – take advantage of our way of saying thanks to each of you!

And of course – please send any feedback you have on your reading experience to mike [] vook.com!

Today, Seth Godin announced that his newest Vook, Linchpin, is available as an iPad app, and on sale in the iTunes store. He also noted the challenges of promoting a book in the store when there are so many apps:

There are more than 24,000 apps listed in the iPad store, and yet the front window (equivalent to the window of a bookstore) shows the user six choices. The spotlight coverflow up top shows another sixteen, fairly randomly. Meaning there’s a little worse than a one in a thousand chance that your app will appear in front of someone interacting with the store at the first level.

Seth advocates that authors become the “gatekeeper” of their own content. They can’t rely on iTunes store promotions; it’s their job to reach out to their users. Social media and user engagement will dictate how purchases are made, just as they dictate the content that is consumed on the Web.

There are also apps that help you search for apps, such as Chomp. The Chomp iPhone app serves as a search engine for the iPhone app store that includes user reviews. It blends search, social media and shopping all into one.

There may be problems with iTunes store model, but there are also talented people ready to develop solutions.

We were thrilled to wake up this morning and see that we’re in the New and Noteworthy section on the front page of the iTunes App store. Apple has made our Promises vook a featured application. Written by Jude Deveraux, the Promises vook is a classic love story set on a plantation in the 19th century. The beautifully shot videos tease out the romance and mystery of the story with a graceful, impressionistic approach that reminded of us Terence Malick when we saw the first cuts. It’s this interplay of text and videos that makes Promises special—and it seems that Apple noticed the same thing.

We especially want to single out filmmaker Robert Sobul, who shot, directed and edited Promises, for his amazing work. Robert collaborated with Jude to produce an integrated, moving experience in which the text and videos enhance each other. Robert—congratulations! You did a great job. This recognition from Apple is a sure sign that one of the leading tastemakers in the digital space thinks what you pulled off is fantastic.

Thanks to Robert Sobul, Jude Deveraux—and of course, Apple. We really appreciate being singled out for this great vook!

We couldn’t be more pleased with our launch on Thursday – from a front page article in the New York Times to coverage in the Huffington Post, we had an excellent media response and we’ve been getting great input from a lot of readers. But to improve our product, we need to know what you think. We’ve put together a brief survey online and we’d appreciate it if you took a few minutes to answer the questions. Your responses will help us improve Vook and create vooks that will realize the full potential of this new medium. If you want to complain about Vook—or tell us we’re doing a good job—now is your chance to do it.

And to make it worth your time, we’re going to give away one $100 iTunes® gift card to one randomly chosen survey participant and ten $10 iTunes® gift cards to ten randomly chosen participants.

So take the survey now and maybe you’ll win an iTunes® gift card. We’d greatly appreciate it — if you can answer these quick questions, we’ll have a much better idea of what Vook should look like in the future.

Take the Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.co/s.aspx?sm=UOnBf2f_2bxPPIinc2HgZ8AVQ3d_3d

Official Rules Of VOOK Survey Sweepstakes

Below are the official rules for the Survey Sweepstakes we’re offering for those who fill out our survey on our launch vooks.

• No Purchase Necessary to Enter or Win. Void where prohibited.
• Eligibility: Open only to legal residents of the District of Columbia and the fifty United States who are 18 years of age or older. This Sweepstakes is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited or restricted.
• To Enter:  You (”Entrant”) may enter this Sweepstakes by filling out all required sections and successfully transmitting to Sponsor the online survey. Each Entrant who meets all eligibility requirements will be automatically entered in the Sweepstakes.  Alternate E-Mail Entry:  To enter without filling out the online survey, Entrant may send an email with the words “VOOK SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY” in the Subject Line and your complete name, address, home telephone number, and e-mail address to info@vook.com.  Limit one entry per person and/or email address. Incomplete entries are void and will be disqualified.  Sponsor is not responsible for malfunctions of electronic or telephone equipment, computer hardware, software, malfunctions of Entrant’s email provider or ISP, late, lost, incomplete misdirected entries or entries not received in time for the drawing.  Use of a street address is required and cannot include a PO Box, PMB, AP/FPO or similar address.
• Entries as well as answers to the online survey become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned.  Proof of mailing or transmission does not constitute proof of delivery.  Online entries will be deemed to have been submitted by the Entrant utilizing the e-mail address on file with Sponsor. The Sweepstakes begins October 5, 2024 and ends October 7, 2024. Only those entries submitted and received during the aforementioned dates are eligible to win.  In case of a dispute as to the identity of the Entrant using the Internet, the authorized account holder of the email address used to enter the Sweepstakes at the time of entry will be considered the entrant.
• Prizes and Timing : Grand Prize: One (1) Grand Prize Winner will receive a $100 iTunes® gift card.  Ten (10) Second Place Winners will receive a $10 iTunes® gift card.  Approximate Value: TOTAL PRIZE VALUE is $200.00.  Approximate retail value (ARV) of prizes is $200.00.  Odds of receiving a prize depend on the number of entries. One winner of the Grand Prize and ten Second Place Winners will be selected by random drawing from all eligible entries received.  To be eligible, entry must comply with these Official Rules and be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on October 7, 2024.  The drawing will be held on or about October 8, 2024. Winner will be notified by email and/or telephone.
• Miscellaneous: All federal, state and local taxes, and all income and any other taxes, fees and surcharges will be the sole responsibility of the winner.  No substitution, assignment or transfer of prize is permitted except by Sponsor due to unavailability, in which case a similar prize of equal or greater value will be provided. Sponsor is not responsible or liable for the acts of third parties.  Sponsor will not replace any lost or stolen items.  Only stated prizes will be awarded and prizes have no cash value.  The Sweepstakes is governed by the laws of the State of California, with venue and jurisdiction in San Francisco, California, and all claims must be resolved in the courts of San Francisco, California. By entering, Entrant agrees: (1) to release Sponsor from all liability, loss or damage arising out of his/her participation in the Sweepstakes and with respect to his/her acceptance and use/misuse of the prize; (2) to be bound by these Official Rules; and (3) that the decisions of the judges are final and binding on all matters relating to the Sweepstakes. In the event the Sweepstakes is compromised by a non-authorized human intervention or other causes beyond the control of Sponsor which, in the opinion of Sponsor, corrupt or impair the administration, security, fairness or proper play, or if the Sweepstakes cannot be operated, conducted or completed as planned, for any reason, Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to suspend, cancel, modify or terminate the Sweepstakes. Should the Sweepstakes be terminated prior to the stated expiration, notice will be posted at http://vook.com/blog.  Winners List: To receive a list of winners after October 8, 2024, mail a self-addressed stamped envelope to:  VOOK LLC, Attention: VOOK Survey SWEEPSTAKES, 1100 Marina Village Parkway, Ste. 102, Alameda, CA  94501. Please write info@vook.com for a copy of the official rules. © 2024.  VOOK LLC.  All Rights Reserved.
• Sponsor:  VOOK LLC, 1100 Marina Village Parkway, Ste. 102, Alameda, CA  94501.

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We were skeptical that we could trade the heft of a good book for reading on a mobile device, but once we exchanged William Vollmann’s massive Europe Central for the iPhone version, we became committed multi-platform readers. Mobile books let us fit more books into our lives and (for those who decry the collapse of literature) buy books we otherwise wouldn’t — which supports more authors. We knew that Vook had to have a mobile complement and it had to offer content and value.

We created mobile versions of each of our launch titles—Promises by Jude Deveraux, The 90 Second Fitness Solution by Pete Cerqua, Embassy by Richard Doetsch and Return to Beauty by Narine Nikogosian. The mobile versions have all the text and video content of the Web based vook – and they let you follow the author and the community associated with the book through social media.

Here are some of the key features of our mobile vooks:

•    Mobile vooks feature the same text and the same great video content, optimized for the for iPhone and iPod touch for a truly engaging on the go reading experience.
•    Videos download directly to your device so you can watch the videos anywhere, anytime you want.
•    On the mobile vook, you can choose to watch the videos with the “Watch” functionality or watch and read with the “Read” functionality. The “Connect” functionality lets you connect to social media outlets to follow the conversation about the vooks.
•    The videos play in high quality, high resolution, offering the same crispness and clarity as their counterparts on the browser.

For those of you who might be skeptical about reading on your iPhone, please try one of these vooks. We think the integration of video and text on the mobile platform makes us unique on the market—and we want to know what books could be adapted to this format to make the most of it. Right now, the mobile vooks are only available for the iPhone and iPod touch but as other devices adapt to video content, we’ll be working to release our vooks to them as well.

VOOK PROMOTION!

We’ve had a great response to our launch—and we want to make sure that everyone tries a vook as both a browser and mobile experience. We’ve got five free access codes for the iTunes app versions of each of our vooks. To get a free iTunes app, buy a browser based vook and have a friend buy a browser based vook, then send both purchase confirmations to Matthew@vook.com and we’ll send you an access code to download your free copy of the vook’s iTunes app. We’ve only got five access codes for each vook to give away, so get your vook—and have your friends get a vook—before they’re all gone!

GET YOUR VOOKS NOW!

Legal Terms:

1) Free APP giveaway limited to five (5) iTunes applications for one of Vook’s current titles.

2) Free application must be redeemed by October 31, 2024.

3) Free iTunes applications given away on a first come, first served basis to the first five paying customers whose email to matthew@vook.com contains two (2) fully-paid purchase confirmations for any two browser-based vooks.

4) Limit one free iTunes application per customer.

5) iTunes applications may not be substituted for cash or another item.

6) Void where prohibited.