TurnHere Video Gets the Book Marketing Party Started: EXCLUSIVE
Brad Inman, Founder & CEO of TurnHere online video production and distribution service, is having a good time “revolutionizing” the marketing of books on the Web with his ”authentic, mini-docs” of authors’ “back stories.” A really, good time!
Last evening, Inman brought together Manhattan publishing execs with TurnHere’s filmmakers to share an authentic New York City experience: Dining, dancing and drinking at the one and only “Sammy’s Roumanian Steak House.”
Why did an Irish Catholic choose a Lower East Side institution famous for old world style Jewish food and humor for his celebration? Because Sammy’s old fashioned authenticity relfects the TurnHere video production style of real world, heart felt story telling, Inman told his guests. What’s more, one of the first TurnHere videos ever produced told the Sammy’s story.
Can video make reading sexy? I headlined in May, announcing bookvideos.tv, an online book channel developed by TurnHere and sponsored by CBS Corporations’s Simon & Schuster publishing arm.
“Videos will humanize authors,” Sue Fleming, VP, Online & Consumer Marketing for the Adult Publishing Group told me:
Now readers will have a way to view and share compelling content about our authors, available on a 24/7 basis. BookVideos.tv will allow readers to easily use the internet to replicate, for the digital age, the critical and time tested word of mouth excitement that comes from talking about a good read. Tapping this huge potential audience is an exciting new way of marketing for us, and we expect to find legions of new readers while at the same time giving a new experience to dedicated fans of our authors.
Now the question is: Can online video help sell books? YES, according to last evening’s chatter. Lovers of the written word are using the power of the spoken word to pitch their books. Taking a cue from Oprah Winfrey, book publishers are embracing personal, direct-to-readers communication between authors and their fans, via video.
In other TurnHere bookvideos.tv words, “watch the story behind the story.”
So far, so good, for Simon & Schuster and TurnHere. Fleming told me in May she was starting with a 40 TurnHere video trial; Now, there are 100 more author videos in the works, Inman told me last evening. What’s more, additional publishers are on board to join the bookvideos.tv lineup.
What is the bookvideos.tv appeal to publishers? The Turnhere value propostion:
TurnHere produces professional digital videos, accessible on the Internet, for clients across the globe. Each TurnHere digital video is driven by an individual filmmaker’s vision in lockstep with client goals, translated into compelling storytelling, authentic perspective and high entertainment value. TurnHere clients all have one thing in common – they each have recognized the power of quality filmmaking to convey important messages both externally and internally. And they have been able to accomplish this quickly and inexpensively.
The bookvideos.tv network offers readers and book clubs a one-stop shop for videos and other content and functionality to learn about all their favorite authors and purchase all their favorite books onlline. It is the place where favorite books and authors come to life, and it’s also where readers engage with the literary community on a whole new level. Using the site’s variety of social media tools, author videos can be embedded on Web sites and blogs, emailed to friends, or shared with book clubs. Readers are also encouraged to subscribe to to the videos with RSS, as well as adding them to del.icio.us and Digging favorite new titles.
The book marketing party was in full swing last evening in the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. TurnHere aims to foster an ongoing social celebration of books at bookvideos.tv.
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