Enhancing the E-book Business

One of Vook's original titles, Pete Cerqua's "The 90-Second Fitness Solution," "sells every single day," he adds. "You're looking at this limited device. It's a big market, but still, it's not like being in a [physical] bookstore. … The fact that the 'long tail' for guys like Pete is so compelling, and it keeps selling units every single day without hesitation—you just know there's something there."

Other genres that have translated well into vooks include how-to, motivational and history titles, says Cavnar. Popular titles in the latter category for Vook include "Reckless Road: Guns N' Roses and the Making of Appetite for Destruction," about the early days of the rock band, and "JFK: 50 Days," about the former president, which it released with NBC News and Perseus. "JFK: 50 Days" was the No. 1 paid book app on the iPad for about two-and-a-half weeks following its release.

"If I'm reading a bio of JFK and they're talking about his rhetorical style, it's great to read about, but then to actually see him talk right in front of you … without losing any sort of ease of transition with the text—that's unbeatable. I don't have to go to my computer to watch it on YouTube; it's right there," he says.

As far as what types of titles haven't been as successful: "We don't do a lot of fiction," notes Cavnar.

Establishing Itself as a Publisher

Vook considers itself a publisher and a publishing partner—"we're not looking to set ourselves up as a vendor," says Cavnar. Its partnerships typically include a split of the royalties and a sharing of the back-end. "We're not going out there trying to get a one-time fee to do this. We're looking to be a long-term player with our partners … ," he adds.