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HarperCollins' New "Video Books" Idea Seems Pretty Horrible

Posted 02/10/09 at 10:53:28 AM  by Paul Lilly

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The story of Old Yeller is about a dog who wins the heart of teenager Travis Coates tasked with helping manage the family farm while his father is away on a cattle drive. But by the time his father returns, Yeller becomes infected with rabies while fending off a rabid wolf. Travis is left with little recourse but to shoot the dog.

Now imagine the above summary in video form lasting for about 20 minutes. Would you pay $10 to watch it? HarperCollins thinks so, and has kicked off the concept by launching a video edition of Jeff Jarvis' "What Would Google Do?" that it's now selling through Amazon's digital-download store for $9.99.

"We're looking to create new revenue streams," said Brian Murray, chief executive of HarperCollins. "There is a tremendous amount of search and discovery of video on the Web. Some consumers won't spend the money or invest hours in reading a book, but they will watch a 23-minute video."

Depending on the interest the video book concept generates, HarperCollins said it could release up to six more before the end of the year, all of which would be produced in-house. Twenty-five percent of the net revenue would go towards the author.

Hit the jump and tell us what you think about the future of video books, but first a protip: HarperCollins has made available the entire text of "What Would Google Do?" for free right here. We'd summarize it for you, but then we'd have to charge you.

COMMENTS:7
TAGS: online, fail, video books, harpercollins
COMMENTS
avatarNO

Submitted by averageGrod on Wed, 02/11/2009 - 9:48am

I could see this selling if it were delivered by scantily clad atractive people. Otherwise this is just for students who are obviously not going to read the book and are too lazy to put in a couple hours watching the movie. You could probably pay another student $10 to wirte the paper for you.

If anything I would buy a kindle 2.0 and have it read the book to me. At least you get the entire edition that way. Being an avid reader of actual physical books I'm probably not in HaperCollin's target demographic so what do I know?

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avatarLike the guy below me said,

Submitted by atomaweapon on Wed, 02/11/2009 - 9:05am

Like the guy below me said, this could be a good idea for students or learning books. Im not too sure about novels though.

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avataryeah..

Submitted by BaggerX on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 2:22pm

So it's basically like video CliffsNotes?  Pass.  I don't really see what video brings to the table for something like that.

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avatarThis is Stupid Like

Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 11:08am

This is Stupid Like this:

Even if you win a race in the Special Olympics your still a Retard. 

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avatarIf we could vote you up

Submitted by jcollins on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 12:19pm

If we could vote you up here, I'd do so for that comment. :)

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avatarVideo Books

Submitted by SEALBoy on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 10:15am

Video books. An oxymoron if I ever saw one.

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avatarMaybe...

Submitted by brockalee on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 9:43am

If I was a visual learner and the video had subtitles I could use the video service to do a book report or catch up on the works of an author. It's not like this is a service they're going to have to put a ton of money on.

And if there were some kind of way they could make the experience interactive - like being able to switch him from wearing a sombrero to wearing a mustache with a background of a 70's porno movie - maybe then it would hold more interest. For educational purporses, of course...

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