Video+Book=Vook. Do the cash math

A Vook is a digital kind of book that manages to interweave video, links to the internet and text into one application that’s available both on the Web and as a mobile application. It was interesting when it began in 2009 with some modest titles ranging from The 90 Second Fitness Solution to Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It. But it is really the addition of a literary heavy weight like Anne Rice choosing to adapt the format that seems like the potential game changer. The author of “Interview With a Vampire,” “The Vampire Lestat” and many other favorites has agreed to terms with the video book company Vook on a multimedia edition of “The Master of Rampling Gate,” a vampire story published in Redbook magazine in 1984 and set in an England mansion in the 19th century.

“Vook represents a very exciting combination of new technological elements, that I think is long overdo in publishing,” Rice said in a statement released recently by Vook. “I’m excited that ‘The Master of Rampling Gate’ is going to have new life in this form, and cannot wait to see the finished product. I’m not sure that my mind can conceive of all the possibilities of this new form. I’m learning. And it feels good.”

You can read your book, watch videos that enhance the story and connect with authors and your friends through social media all on one screen, without switching between platforms. It was the wine angle and @garyvee with Crush It that first brought the Vook to our attention and after spending time with it it was clear that this was indeed going to become something special.

It’s all pretty basic, you just link your way over to Vook, find a Vook title you want to buy, and make the call on whether or not to buy the web version or the iphone version. So far, I’ve only gotten into the iPhone version of Vook.

Matthew Cavnar is one of the many talented people at Vook. He produced a short Vimeo explanation for Vook which actually helps make a pretty strong, simple case for the format. Cavnar is a producer and writer who’s August 2008 piece for New York News and Features on How the global war on terror helped fund the expansion of a hipster-bar mini-empire totally blew me away with it’s honesty.