Enhancing the E-book Business

In terms of increasing consumer awareness and adoption of vooks, Cavnar believes the slew of new e-reading devices and tablets are doing the job for them. "[Apple CEO] Steve Jobs standing up and holding the iPad [when the product launched] probably did more to explain the concept of what we do than we've ever done, and moments like that aren't going to stop," he says. "It's like that transition when computers came in and typewriters went out. In retrospect, it seems like overnight suddenly everyone had a computer. I'm not saying that everyone is going to have a digital book, but this kind of way of consuming media—it's already here, and it's only going to continue. … The more you do, and the more fun they are to use, the more demand there's going to be."

He likens the growth of Vook to hanging on to a rocket ship. "I've got e-mails coming in at a rate of one a minute … and that's just people who are trying to be a part of us," Cavnar says. BB