While most of New York was sleeping off Saturday night this past Sunday morning, Vook was answering a call from Diversion Books.

Diversion had an issue. They’d been working with billionaire businessman, investor and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to produce an eBook out of his blog content. But they had a sudden deadline: 5 AM Monday morning.

In the past, having to produce an eBook in hours and distribute it to the marketplaces would have required someone building the file, testing it, and then creating the right output formats. Diversion might have been out of luck.

But Diversion’s Scott Waxman has been working with Vook since our launch. He knew what our platform could do and made the call for help. We were able to get Diversion logged in, set up with an account, and hours later, presto!, they had a finished, sharp-looking eBook they were uploading to the markets.

The next morning, Mark Cuban had an eBook for sale and Jeffrey Trachtenberg had an article on Cuban’s groundbreaking publishing effort in the WSJ.

We couldn’t have asked for a better book, author, and publishing company for a gotcha test of Vook. And it worked. In fact, it’s the first eBook someone else has built and put on sale using Vook. We’re thrilled to be making the formerly impossible, or at least ridiculously difficult, possible — and maybe even pleasant.

Get the Cuban eBook — and see what you can build with Vook for yourself. And sign up for the beta at Vook.com!

The Vook Team is pleased to announce today the launch of our first vooks, all published in partnership with Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. These four titles—Promises, a romance by Jude Deveraux, The 90 Second Fitness Solution, a fitness book by Pete Cerqua, Embassy, a thriller by Richard Doetsch and Return to Beauty, a health book by Narine Nikogosian—elegantly realize Vook’s mission: to blend a book with videos into one complete, instructive and entertaining story.

As you will see from experiencing one yourself, a vook is an entirely new innovation—there’s nothing else like it available. A vook lets you read books and watch videos that enhance the reading experience, either by illustrating key moments in works of fiction or demonstrating important techniques and concepts for non-fiction. With a vook, you can read, watch and connect all in one place, without the hassle of switching between a book, your computer and your TV.

To see why we’re so excited, please check out our launch titles on our product page. There, you can get a vook and find out for yourself why Vook is both a vital innovation for books and a powerful new way for readers to engage with them. Try a vook on your computer or download one to your iPhone or iPod Touch at the Apple iTunes Store.

We’re not the only ones convinced that Vook is the future of reading. We are pleased to join forces with Simon & Schuster, one of the world’s leading publishing houses, to release these initial titles. These four titles are a true joint venture—Simon and Schuster represents the best of publishing’s editorial expertise while Vook contributes the understanding of engaging visual content, the power of video production and technological expertise.

Simon & Schuster’s authors—Jude Deveraux, Richard Doetsch, Pete Cerqua and Narine Nikogosian—have all been strong champions of the Vook platform. Their understanding of books, video and the Internet have made them the perfect partners for our filmmakers. And Vook’s filmmakers have risen to the challenge of crafting a visual story to complement these author’s narratives. Filmmakers Michael Franchetti, Adad Warda, Christopher Chambers, Mario de la Vega, Chris Cassidy and Robert Sobul all contributed their visions to create videos that raise the quality of our vooks above any other offering on the market.

You can expect to see many more vooks coming soon. But right now, we’d love it if you would check out one of our inaugural titles and let us know what you think. We’re thrilled to share our hard work. If you’ve been following our story from the beginning, then you know that we’re committed to revolutionizing books and helping devoted readers — readers like ourselves — get more out of every moment they spend with a great book. If we have our way, you’re soon going to pick up a great book and wonder what it would be like if it was a great vook.

Thank you for all your support. Please check out one of our launch titles and let us know what you think by emailing the team at info@vook.com.

PROMISES by Jude Deveraux ($6.99) – a novella set in 19th century South Carolina, from the beloved author of 36 New York Times bestsellers.

THE 90-SECOND FITNESS SOLUTION by Pete Cerqua ($6.99) – an innovative new fitness program from one of New York’s most respected trainers that can be practiced at home, in the office, or using Vook’s mobile application, at the gym.

EMBASSY by Richard Doetsch ($6.99) – a suspenseful thriller from the bestselling author of THE THIEVES OF HEAVEN

RETURN TO BEAUTY by Narine Nikogosian ($6.99) – natural, old-World, time tested skin care recipes from a well-known Hollywood aesthetician.