HarperCollins Poised for FAIL with Jeff Jarvis Along for the Ride
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While I realize that the publishing industry is struggling in this digital age I just don’t see how HarperCollins is hoping to make things better with what they are calling “VBooks” or Video Books.
Basically, this entails an author sitting in front of a white wall giving one samples and highlights from their actual book.
A few problems I foresee:
1) This is not a promotional device. Their first offering, a Vbook by Jeff Jarvis, costs ten bucks and it isn’t even the whole book being read.
2) This format does not add anything of value to the actual book. Not only is there less information provided but it is impossible to notate, link, copy & paste or do any of the other things with like to do with books and E-books.
3) Few authors are truly compelling enough in this sort of setting to be much more than a cure for insomnia.
4) Maybe it’s just the combo of Jeff Jarvis and the white background but I keep thinking, while watching the sample, that this is just a big ad for E-Harmony.
All-in-all, I rate this as a big old waste of time and resources.
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Tags: Author, E-book, Google, HarperCollins, Insomnia, Jeff Jarvis, publishing, Vbook
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February 4, 2009 7:38 pm
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