The 'b' has been replaced by a 'v'. The vook allows you to 'watch' a book as you flip through its pages, with a new mixed-media application that's gaining popularity in America. Back home, publishers tell Janaki Viswanathan we are two years away from warming up to it, but when it arrives, it could change the way we read
The 'b' has been replaced by a 'v'. The vook allows you to 'watch' a book as you flip through its pages, with a new mixed-media application that's gaining popularity in America. Back home, publishers tell Janaki Viswanathan we are two years away from warming up to it, but when it arrives, it could change the way we read
In the Sherlock Holmes adventure The Man With The Twisted Lip, Dr Watson hurries late one night to an opium den, in pursuit of a friend's husband. Can you see him, walking down a dimly-lit street, hat, coat and stick in place? You can. Actually. If you are reading the vook, that is. A vook is an integrated multimedia form in which you can read a book on your iPhone, iPad or computer, while you watch a related video, alongside. The Holmes vook is a 15-video documentary that busts the myth about opium dens in Victorian London. Apparently, they weren't as rampant as novelists writing about the era made them out to be.u00a0 
In the Sherlock Holmes adventure, The Man With The Twisted Lip, Dr Watson
hurries late one night to an opium den. Can you see him, walking on a dimly-lit street?
You can. Literally. If you are reading the vook, that is. PIC/ Bipin Kokate
Two years ago, American online entrepreneur Bradley Inman decided to invent the vook. Surely, there's more one can do with text apart from words, he thought. "The vook is another step in the way we experience literature, just like sound was added to movies and colour to television," Inman says in an email interview.
Watch itu00a0 while you read it
To put it simply, reading a vook is about multi-tasking. You may be reading chapter three of Bram Stoker's Dracula on your iPad, when a video icon pops up. The video in this case, is about how 'Dracula's Guest' wasn't really the first chapter of the novel; apparently, the first 100 pages went missing. So you read some, watch some.
Website vook.com, features The Frog Prince and The Three Little Pigs among other fairy tales, novels like Phantom of The Opera, Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book, Treasure Island, The Velveteen Rabbit, and even Shakespeare's sonnets. Contemporary novels can be vooks too, Inman says. "We have added mixed media content to previously published books, and also created vooks that are launched simultaneously with new hardcover titles." The next vook to hit the market will be Indian-born American spiritual guru to stars like Madonna, Deepak Chopra's Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment, and Sages and Scientists.
Paper touch has its fans
Hardback loyalists needn't feel threatened, though, assures Inman. "I don't see the rise of new formats like the vook signaling the end of the printed word. People will always have their preferences," he says.u00a0
Award-winning British fantasy fiction writer China Mieville (https://www.chinamieville.co.uk/) calls the vook a gimmick. "I hover between a lack of interest and horror towards the vook," says the novelist who belongs to an informal group of writers referred to as New Weird, a bunch that consciously attempts to move fantasy away from commercial clich ufffds churned out by Tolkien's epigones. He sees the vook as a distraction; a book ought to be experienced as it is. Ironically, he says, he'd be open to the idea of converting his novels into vooks. "But my strong intuition is that the vook will not take off, nor will it replace books."
Some waiting, others watching
While Inman says vook.com has a presence in India, with readers having ordered vook titles online, prominent names in the Indian publishing business confess it's an alien concept; they are still trying to get readers hooked on to e-books. In fact, 2008 Man Booker winner Aravind Adiga and columnist-author Shobhaa De confessed to knowing 'very little' about the vook.
Gautam Padmanabhan, CEO, Westland Publishing, says the Indian vook is a good three years away. "Right now, most publishers are putting up their books out as e-books, on Kindle and the iPad, to make them more available to readers all over."u00a0
Thomas Abraham, managing director, Hachette India, doesn't have any immediate vook plans. He says, "We are working with our parent group towards a consolidated digital strategy and should be ready with our e-book content next year. This (the vook) is not a high speed segment in India yet -- it's going to take some time to catch on as long as the devices are expensive." It's too soon to comment on whether it will enhance the Indian reader's experience, he admits. "I'd liken this to the full two-disc DVD editions with special features. There will be few who like those, and there will be some who just want the no-frills edition."u00a0
Despite a division of their company -- Harper Studio -- being partners with vook, HarperCollins India is vague about bringing the invention to India. Lipika Bhushan, marketing manager, says, "It is an exciting space which we are watching closely but the technology and market will determine when it will arrive here."u00a0
It looks like Delhi-based publishers Rupa & Co. might just be the first to usher in the Indian vook. Kapish G Mehra, MD, reveals: "A couple of agencies have approached us to make vooks. We are still in talks." There is buzz in the industry about Disney India currently working on a vook, although a member of their books division denies it.
Those who've tried their hand at mixed media, say the vook has serious potential. Chennai-based Karadi Tales, pioneers in mixed-media reading in India (they launched audio books for kids in 1996) are set to launch video-books in the next two months. Video books feature text with matching static illustrations. Karadi Tales director CP Vishwanath says their video books will pan across a series of attractive illustrations, and zoom into each at relevant points in the story. "We have been told by parents that every child who started reading with our audio books, has become a reader," he says.
Manufacturing curious cats
While some avid readers like Rishi Alwani, 24, product manager in the marketing division of a Mumbai-based gaming company, says he'd rather stick to good old paper, others like Mita Kapur, a mother of three and book agent feels the mixed media format has a future. "My three teenage children can identify more closely with a book if it's accompanied by a movie," she says.u00a0
Padmanabhan of Westland sees the vook as a tool to expand the market. "It will increase readership, especially among those who may not be inclined to pick up a physical book, but are tech-savvy." Penguin India has plans of promoting e-books in a big way. "Penguin is trying to make its digital presence felt whether through SMSes or applications on the iPad (every iPad has Penguin's Winne The Pooh uploaded for free). All content we create in the next month, will be diversified for all digital media," shares Anantha Padmanabhan, vice president, marketing. The vook, whenever it does make an appearance in the Indian market, is sure to up readership and pick customer curiosity, he says.
The handbook > How to be a pro at tech-lit
e-book: An e-book is the electronic version of a printed book, which can be read on a computer or an e-reader or an e-book device. The earliest e-book was printed in 1971, and was written only for specific groups of readers. Today, most publishers agree to having e-versions of their printed books, except for JK Rowling who has refused to let any e-books of the Harry Potter series appear.
Kindle: The 'Kindle' is a device designed by Amazon, which displays e-books and other digital media. The latest version of the Kindle can hold up to 1,500 books, which can be downloaded in just about a minute. The Kindle also has a 'read aloud' facility for newspapers, magazines and books that permit it. At 1/3rd of an inch, the new Kindle reader is as thin as a magazine. It costs $259 on amazon.com
iPad: The 'iPad' is a tablet-computer created by Apple, which allows internet browsing, media (books and magazines) and gaming. Launched only earlier this month, the iPad falls between the smartphones and laptops. Magazines like GQ, Wired and Vanity Fair are available through subscriptions on iPads. iPad prices begin at $499.
'The toy story application is far more interesting'
Vishal Gondal, CEO, Indiagames, says he was one of the first people in the country to own an iPad. He downloaded the vook application and tried it out, but wasn't too impressed.
What did you think of the vook?
It's all right, it's not all that interesting. The Apple iStore has dozens of far more interesting applications. There's the Toy Story application that allows you to read the book, play a game, colour pictures, watch the movie. Marvel Comics are available on your e-reader too.u00a0
So you don't believe the vook will be popular?
It's not all that popular anyway. You can track which applications are doing well by checking whether they appear in the top 100 or 200 applications on your iPad. The vook doesn't.
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And when it comes to India?
Well, like I said before, the e-reader offers a lot more interactive applications. This doesn't stand out for me. It may for others.
Founder
The vook is another step in the way we experience literature, just like adding sound to movies and colour to television.
Bradley Inman, Internet entrepreneur
Publisher
It'll increase readership. People will have a more interesting approach to books, but the vook
will not cannibalise printed books.
Anantha Padmanabhan, VP, marketing, Penguin India
Reader
My three teenage children can identify more closely with a book if it's accompanied by a movie. Mixed media will work
Mita Kapur, Delhi-based book agent
Characters already on vook
Count Dracula and Sherlock Holmes
How the vook is the made
Brad Inman has a team that looks for titles that could make compelling vooks. Authors and publishers also approach them with ideas. Once the text is in place, they get in touch with partners, TurnHere (a film company founded by Inman). TurnHere creates the videos, which are then mixed with text and images.
As of now, vooks are distributed through their website vook.com, and the Apple iTunes store. They can all be viewed/read on your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and through the Internet browser.
How much the vook will cost you
A vook costs anything from $0.99 (Rs 43.9; if it's a classic or doesn't have as many chapters and videos) to $7.99 (Rs 354.5; if it's a brand new book that's scheduled to release simultaneously with the a vook).
What can be a vook?
Brad Inman
"Demo-based texts lend themselves more easily to vooks (cookbooks or workout and fitness books). Mostly, every written word can find itself in this enriched format."
Thomas Abraham of Hachette
"Vooks might be restricted to the non-fiction area including genres like diet, cookeryu00a0 and fitness -- the demo format in short."
To view a vook:
>>You need Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
>>Flash Player 10
>>Windows XP 2, Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista OR
>>An iPad or iPhoneu00a0 or iPod Touch
>>Visit https://www.vook.com/ and click on the vook you'd like to buy. You can buy it via iTunes.
>For a demo view, log on to https://www.youtube.com/vooktv#p/u/10/WYgzkXdK138
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