11 Days in May: The Conversation That Will Change Your Life Earns Publishing Innovation Award

Related: Non-Fiction

VOOK and first-time author Jonathan D. Messinger today jointly announced that Messinger's e-book 11 Days in May is the recipient of this year's Digital Book World Publishing Innovation Award in the category of best non-fiction ebook. The announcement was made today at the Digital Book World Conference + Expo at the Hilton Hotel in New York City. According to the Digital Book World website, the award honors "the most innovative ebooks, enhanced ebooks, and book apps in 14 categories. It is the mission of the PIAs to highlight excellent publishers/authors, encourage new thinking, and improve the reading experience in the digital age."

Messinger's ebook 11 Days in May: The Conversation That Will Change Your Life, published by Waterfront Digital Press and created by Vook, uses Democrasoft's unique new WeJIT technology to allow readers to communicate directly with the author and with each other, from topic-based discussions within the ebook. These discussions are made possible with author-embedded links in the ebook that connect readers and authors in an embedded online discussion space where they can engage with each other in various types of structured discussions.

The award-winning book was written over the course of eleven days in May 2012, hence the title 11 Days in May. When envisioning the ebook, "I was inspired to create a total immersion experience," says Messinger. "What that meant I wasn't exactly sure, I just knew that I needed to somehow make 11 Days in May not just an engaging book, but an interactive story."

Messinger's inspiration led him to a collaboration with Democrasoft and its brand new WeJIT collaboration tool, assembled by VOOK. Now, through the enhanced version of his ebook, readers can respond to Messinger when he asks questions like "who am I?" "why am I here?"and "where did I come from?" Thirty-two embedded WeJITs link readers to a collection of one-page online WeJITs, each dedicated to a particular topic or debate. William Gladstone, founder and CEO of Waterfront Digital Press, notes that readers of the ebook can forward the URL link for any embedded WeJIT to anyone, through social networks like Facebook or Twitter, even to those who don't yet have the book and might not have heard of it.

"What's amazing is that readers are actually poised to increase book sales by inviting others to join in specific discussions launched from within the ebook," said Gladstone. "That's a first in the publishing world and when you combine it with the other interactive features offered on the Vook e-publishing platform, we think you're looking at a watershed event for authors and publishers around the world."

"The combination of Vook's publishing platform and Democrasoft's WeJIT capabilities has redefined publishing, turning a terrific book into a real game-changer," says Matthew Cavnar, Vook's VP of Business Development.

According to Richard Lang, CEO of Democrasoft, "The opportunity that WeJITs represent for the publishing industry is to recognize that WeJITs can become a portal to new 'real estate' within an ebook, where publishers can participate in the benefits of multi-way collaborative discussions within their publications."

11 Days in May is available from Vook at http://vook.com/storefronts/book/11-days-in-may.html as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple's iBookstore.