It’s time for you to stop making excuses and start exercising, because Vook is offering all four of our 15 Minute Everyday Pilates Vooks in all formats for $.99. That should be reason enough to start working out — but in case you need more encouragement, here are:

The Top Five Reasons to Buy the Everyday Pilates Vooks for $.99 This Weekend

5. Halloween is Sunday. You will tell yourself you’re not going to eat candy, but you will. Start burning off those mini Snickers bars, 15 minutes at a time.

4. Pilates helps you stand up straighter. Those extra few inches of height will help you see over everyone’s head if you’re watching the World Series in a crowded room.

3. Unlike most products that cost $.99, our Everyday Pilates series is not a low-quality generic version of a name-brand product. (In fact, it brings Alycea Ungaro, one of New York City’s most renowned and exclusive Pilates teachers, right to your home or office!)

2.  Thanksgiving is only three weeks away. If you do 15 minutes of Everyday Pilates for the next three weeks, you can put whipped cream on your pumpkin pie, and not feel guilty about it.

1. You can get all four apps for under $5. This is such a good deal, it’s not even funny.

***

Get the Everyday Pilates Vooks for iPhone here, for iPad here and for iBooks here.

As Democrats and Republicans, Tea Party patriots, left-wing liberals and Americans of every other political stripe head to the polls on Election Day, Vook  celebrates the mid-term elections with special deals on four Vooks that spotlight the diversity of American politicians and political thought, yesterday and today.

Special Election Day Vooks available beginning today include:

• “Visions of America: Photographing Democracy,” by Joseph Sohm. This epic photojournal spans Sohm’s 30-year quest to capture an image of democracy. It contains hundreds of photographs and several videos featuring the author discussing his passion for both his art and country.  Vook price: $6.99.  Available from iTunes here, or, for iPad users, at iBooks here.

• “Wingnuts: How The Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America,” by author, political columnist and CNN commentator John Avlon (published in book form by Beast Books, a co-publishing venture with the Perseus Books Group).  Twelve chapters of text and a dozen videos offer insight into how far-left and far-right political extremists have come to dominate the country’s political dialogue and provide Avlon’s perspective on what can be done to return to a saner, smarter national conversation.  Available for $6.99 in all formats here.

• “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin,” which can be downloaded for free (until the last vote is counted) here.

• “Lincoln Letters,” also available for free for a limited time only here. This rare compilation of four very personal letters penned by Abraham Lincoln provides powerful insight into the man himself.

“People tend to think of political expression in terms of words, but I tend to see and express democracy and politics in visual terms,” said Joseph Sohm.  “A Vook provides another image-rich medium through which writers and visual artists can express themselves or capture the magic of ideas.”

We are thrilled to share this mixed media mosaic of ideas with you this Election Day.

Nate Hoffelder, editor, The Digital Reader, wrote us today with this question,

“What the heck is Digital Serial Rights? Your press release never explains it.”

Our answer. (And we apologize for obfuscating.)

“Digital serial rights are a new way to think about the serialization rights that agents used to sell to magazines. These serialized portions of books would appear as a nice article styled piece of writing in the magazine, giving the magazine a great story, and provide the author with marketing exposure. Our version of this allows us to release a high quality experience of a portion of the book as a digital product that gives readers a taste of the final work, insight from the creator and links to buy the complete work.  Think of it as the ultimate marketing experience for books–not only are you giving people a sample, you’re providing a lot of additional content to put the work in a real context.”

Vook is excited to announce that Rahim Amiani has joined our executive team as Chief Product and Marketing Officer. Rahim brings more than a dozen years of experience building technology platforms and products in publishing and ecommerce. He was previously VP of Commercial Initiatives at NBC Universal, VP of Product Development at Weight Watchers, VP of Product Development at Orbitz and Director of Product Management at SideStep.

Welcome Rahim!

If you want to give Rahim your ideas on the Vook product or just wish him well, email him at rahim@vook.com.

Just a few weeks ago, we celebrated our one year anniversary and took stock of how much has changed since our launch in October, 2009. Things have moved faster than we could have anticipated, and it seems like every day marks a new development.

Today, we hit another great milestone with the release of our first title for the Amazon Kindle app, Anne Rice’s The Master of Rampling Gate. It took lots of hard work and dedication from the whole team at Vook, and we could not be more excited to be working with Amazon and sharing our content on this platform.

One thing that hasn’t changed in the past year is our mission: to light up the world’s content and connect people around the stories and ideas they love. Each new distribution channel enables us to share more great stories with more people – and we are continually working to expand on to new platforms so that soon everyone will be able to share in this exciting (r)evolution of the written word.

We’re honored to announce that Vook CEO Brad Inman has been invited to speak at the West Coast’s first digital book symposium: All About eBooks. This unique symposium will bring together a dynamic group of innovators from the digital publishing world. Get all the details from this guest post by event organizer, literary agent Laurie McLean:

The San Francisco Bay Area…It’s the second largest publishing center in America and the number one technology innovator in the world. It’s a magnet for change and a leader in new ways of thinking.  Why is this important? Because technology is evolving the publishing industry at the fastest pace since Gutenberg invented the printing press. And New York heads are spinning.

Considering the powerful emergence of eBooks and enhanced books, the agency pricing model, efficiencies of digital publishing and the opportunities of localized print on demand, the publishing world is simultaneously horrified and inspired to greatness. Everyone wants to know what to do.

How does this affect you as a writer, editor, publisher, content creator, agent, librarian or bookseller? I know a place where you can find out.

Come to the first digital publishing symposium of its kind on the West Coast: All About eBooks. Industry leaders Brad Inman of Vook, Mark Coker of Smashwords, Rob MacDonald of Scribd, Mark Wolf of GigaOM, Philippa Burgess of Studio Mythopoeia/Creative Convergence, David Marshall of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Jay Hartman of Untreed Reads, online marketing expert Stephanie Chandler and many others are going to join me at this one-day intensive mind-meld that will cover all aspects of the eBook phenomenon.

You’ll learn how to create and distribute your own eBooks for free and how to market them online. You’ll hear about the future of enhanced eBooks and transmedia.  Authors who’ve successfully sold eBooks will share their tales.  And industry professionals will give their perspectives. In one day you’ll dive deep into the pool of everything eBooks.

Here are the facts:
All About eBooks Symposium
Friday November 12th from 9 am to 6 pm
At the San Francisco Hilton-Financial: 750 Kearney at Washington
Cost: $199 (including all sessions, lunch and a cocktail reception)
Limited to 75 seats for an immersive learning experience

To learn more,  go to allaboutebooks.us. To register go to: sfwritingforchange.org and then click on ‘Register for All About eBooks’. Hope to see you there.

Laurie McLean is a literary agent with Larsen Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco and Dean of the new San Francisco Writers University. She has been immersing herself in digital publishing news, trends and perspectives since 2008.

Just over a year ago we launched our first four titles with Simon and Schuster (tip o’ the pin to Atria’s marvelous Judith Curr), an undertaking that landed us on the front page of the New York Times and smack dab on the radar of critics and visionaries in publishing and beyond. Since then, we’ve released more than 80 titles—making us one of the world’s largest enhanced publishers. Every one of those titles has been the product of resourceful and diligent negotiations with publishers, authors and agents to secure great content, figure out a smart format, and build an excellent experience.

One of the keys to our success has been our acquisitions effort. Though it’s been exciting to work out inventive deals with a small, scrappy team, the company we’re becoming requires serious resources and individuals 100% devoted to landing great opportunities. To that end, we’re expanding our New York office on the business development front and staffing our acquisitions team to meet the challenge of turning every book (or at least every book that really wants it) into a Vook.

With that mission in mind, we’re extending a big welcome to our latest addition to the team, our new Acquisitions Manager Margaret Harrison. Margaret joins us from OverDrive, where she managed publisher relations and content acquisition. In her role there, Margaret oversaw relationships with hundreds of content suppliers. She also negotiated and closed deals with Random House, Macmillan, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Penguin Group and TOKYOPOP. In her own words, Margaret “brings a particular passion for rich narrative” to our endeavor. We think she’s a star on the rise—and we’re looking for other bright spots like her who want to join forces and turn our digital publishing galaxy into an enhanced universe.

Margaret will be working under Matthew Cavnar, who will be heading up the acquisitions efforts at Vook, seeking to close large deals and build on the success of the great authors and titles we’ve secured so far.

If you’re interested in being a part of this adventure, write Matthew at Matthew@vook.com

Are you interested in the many health benefits of yoga but don’t have the time or know how to start?

You can gain flexibility, build strength and ease stress without leaving your house– in fact, you don’t even have to get out of bed.

Our latest Vook, Yoga in Bed, guides you through a rich and rewarding yoga practice that takes only 15 minutes. It focuses on incorporating Yoga into your normal activities and can be done right from your home.

With 10 instructional videos, helpful photographs and essential insight from yoga teacher Naomi Call, Yoga in Bed will change your body and mind–without forcing to you change your schedule.

Start your transformation now! Get Yoga in Bed for your iPhone or iPad here.
And as an iBook here.

We’re on a hiring roll at Vook — and now we’re looking for someone who loves numbers, data, analysis and detail. We’re growing fast and we need someone to wrangle all the information pouring into the company, organize it, analyze it and figure out the best way to move into an incredible future. Details below.

A Vook Opportunity
Financial Analyst
Vook is looking for a financial professional who is passionate about being on the cutting edge of emerging platforms and rapidly changing industries while working with a talented and motivated team who can’t wait to come to work every day in a fun and fast paced environment.

About Vook
Vook is a Digital Producer with a platform that enables GREAT authors, creators, evangelists, gurus and teachers around the world to create new and exciting work. Our mission is to light up the world’s content, create new media experiences and connect people around stories and ideas they are passionate about. The opportunity is very large as ebooks take over the $24 billion physical book world, creating a big market for the leader in enhanced ebooks.

Vook is working with world-class authors such as Seth Godin, Tom Peters and Stephen Covey and our latest Vook is “Buy In” by Harvard Professor John Kotter in partnership with Harvard Business Review Press.

Vook is backed by a “Whos Who” of investors including Ron Conway, Mike Maples, Chris Dixon, Ken Lerer, Eric Paley and Steve Anderson, amongst others.

About the Job
Vook is seeking a financial analyst to own the company’s financial model, do forecasting and manage the company’s day to day dashboard. This is an exciting position at a fast growing start up based in New York City.

Duties include:

• Build budgets
• Manage the company’s financial model
• Forecasting
• Manage company dash board
• Data management

Skills and Experience

• High-level spread sheet skills (Excel)
• Understanding of financial modeling
• Experience with forecasting and budgets
• Research skills
• Understanding of metric dash boards

Education & Qualifications

• 2-3 years years banking, financial or consulting  experience
• BA required in finance or economics, MBA preferred

Send your inquiries to amy.wong@vook.com

Tired of people shooting down your ideas? Learn how to get your point across to naysayers and your toughest critics.

In our latest Vook, Buy-In, John Kotter and Lorne Whitehead reveal the generic attack strategies that opponents deploy. Then, you’ll learn foolproof counter-attacks to ensure your idea is heard–and implemented.

Tap into their proven strategies for communicating effectively, getting people’s attention, and getting their buy-in for your project.

Save your good idea now–get Buy-In today on your iphone or ipad.