In an eBook Summit talk, Vook CEO Brad Inman and Perseus Books Group online marketing director Peter Costanzo explained the process for turning a print book into a multimedia product.
Vook partnered with NBC News to acquire several film reels chronicling the days of John F. Kennedy’s presidency and approached Perseus to collaborate on a project that eventually spawned the vook, JFK 50 Days. The video embedded above showcases the iPad app version.
They then acquired the multimedia rights to the title, JFK: Day by Day: A Chronicle of the 1,036 Days of John F. Kennedy’s Presidency by Terry Golway and Les Krantz. Multimedia rights cover the inclusion of multimedia content embedded in the text. Perseus picked 50 moments from the footage in celebration of the 50 years that have passed since Kennedy’s presidential election.
It took four months for the entire project to be completed. When asked about the reader’s experience, Costanzo replied: “The moment that you’re reading about is accompanied by the moment in video … It’s one thing to read about Jackie [Kennedy Onassis] giving a White House tour, it’s another thing to see her doing it.”