Brad Inman

Vook, a digital publishing and distribution platform, has acquired Booklr, a real-time data and analytics service for authors and publishers. The deal will combine Vook's e-book, app development and distribution platform with Booklr's ability to deliver real-time data on sales, retailer performance and customer behavior.

Booklr was founded in 2010 by Jesse Solomon and Josh Brody, who will also become Vook's chief operating officer in addition to joining the Vook board of directors. Booklr supplies data to a variety of publishers including Random House.

(Press Release) NEW YORK, NY, Marketwire, January 18, 2011—Vook, the leading digital publisher of mixed-media reading, announced it closed $5.25 million in Series A financing from investors including VantagePoint Venture Partners and Floodgate.

In late 2007, HarperCollins claimed to have published the first-ever e-book to include video. That e-book title, "Lady Amelia's Secret Lover," featured six embedded videos of the book's author.

Andy Plesser, Executive Producer of Beet.TV, interviews Vook CEO and founder Brad Inman recently about the company and the proceeds of the $2.5 million funding it has secured.

It's been all over the news the past few days that Vook, the startup venture that developed a multimedia platform for books that intregrates digital books with video, pictures and social media, has secured $2.5 million in funding. According to MediaBistro.com, the investors include "Silicon Valley uber-angel investor Ron Conway, Huffington Post chairman Kenneth Lerer, Maples Investments, Baseline Ventures, and Founder Collective."

The June release of British writer Ian McEwan’s “On Chesil Beach” was accompanied by screenings of a 28-minute film profiling the author at dozens of bookstores in the United States. According to producer Powell’s Books, the film aimed to go beyond the traditional author reading to inspire “spirited discussion about great new books and their impact on readers’ lives.” This was, perhaps, an innovative and effective tool for promoting McEwan. But if proponents of the emerging tool of webcasting are proven right, the logistical challenges accompanying such an operation (and those inherent in luring a finite set of audience members to bookstores to watch