Can video make reading sexy? CBS to launch book channel online
CBS Corporation’s Simon & Schuster, however, is singing the praises of video to make books stars and is creating a new “book-centric” Internet video channel aimed at doing just that: BookVideos.tv!
Slated for a June launch, BookVideos.tv will “humanize authors,” Sue Fleming, Vice President, Online and Consumer Marketing for the Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, told me.
How will BookVideos.tv differ from Simon & Schuster’s existing SimonSays.com? What will BookVideos.tv do for authors represented by Simon & Schuster?
I spoke with Fleming to find out.
“Readers have long hungered for greater contact and more information about authors,” Fleming asserts. “Readers like to talk about books as much as read them,” Fleming told me.
Towards that end, BookVideos.tv hopes to inspire “water cooler chatter” about books, and their authors.
Simon & Schuster has turned to TurnHere video production service to create two-minute author-centric videos aimed at “strengthening the bond between readers and their favorite authors.” The TurnHere videos will differ in style from prior Simon & Schuster promotional video efforts.
While Simon & Schuster book videos have traditionally been single-title driven by targeting specific book content, personality profiles of authors will be the focus of the BookVideos.tv platform
Simon & Schuster wants to bring to the fore authors’ “back stories,” not commonly known by fans, Fleming told me. BookVideos.tv is an “extension of our efforts to find new and creative ways to talk about our authors to more people,” Fleming said.
To seed the new channel, Simon & Schuster has committed to creating at least 40 videos showcasing authors, including Sandra Brown, Mary Higgins Clark, Vince Flynn…
Initially, editorial focus will be on 1) Book Club style titles and 2) Self-Help/Fitness/Lifestyle type titles, Fleming said.
Bookvideos.tv will be positioned as a destination community site with an initial promotional push to coincide with the marketing of new Simon & Schuster releases in late summer and early fall, Fleming told me.
Simon & Schuster videos at BookVideos.tv will also be actively cross-promoted at video sharing sites across the Web with a target demographic age 25 years and older.
Fleming is very enthusiastic about the opportunity:
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.