Hoping to shake up the world of online book marketing, today TurnHere unveils a new, expanded version of its BookVideos.tv site. And yet, while the promotional video platform has undergone many changes to presumably improve its functionality and overall consumer experience, only time will tell whether the bond forged between authors and readers through studio-quality shorts will actually result in higher book sales.
In the meantime, efforts have been made to maximize the site’s networking component. With a range of newly available social media tools, visitors will now be able to embed videos on their own blogs, email them to a friend, Digg them, or tag them in del.icious. Substantiating this “organic distribution,” TurnHere CEO Brad Inman says these features work particularly well with books because readers are such a passionate and verbal (duh!) bunch. And with book lover social sites such as goodreads and Library Thing (two of Bookvideos.tv distribution partners) ranking up to a hundred thousand registered users it’s a hard point to argue. Coupling these tactics with other strategic moves such as adding a Facebook page for the site’s fans and posting videos on TurnHere’s branded YouTube channel, the company has made a hard drive towards online ubiquity.
Making their goal that much easier, currently there’s only has a handful of contenders (ie Authorviews.com, bookwrap.com) vying to be readers’ one-stop shop for behind-the-book footage on the web. And with unique visitor numbers dwindling in the hundreds per month, according to compete.com, and only a few if any publisher partnerships (Authorviews has a deal with Gibbs Smith and a couple other small houses) it seems the time is right for TurnHere to make the most of a niche market. And with a line up of big wig partners, there’s a chance that they just may come out on top. While previously TurnHere partnered exclusively with Simon & Schuster, this time around the online video production company will showcase videos featuring authors from multiple publishers including Bantam Dell, Chronicle, Penguin Group (USA), Doubleday Broadway, Hachette Book Group, Loyola Press, Macmillan, Thomas Nelson and WW Norton.
