Interactive E-book Introduces World’s First Instant Collaboration, WeJIT Connects Readers and Authors Inside the eBook
August 20, 2012; Santa Rosa, CA – Democrasoft, Inc. (OTC: Pinksheets: DEMO) and VOOK ePublishing in San Francisco, today announced the arrival ofthe world’s first two-way interactive e-book, which features a new technologythat allows real-time author and reader-to-reader dialog and collaboration frominside an e-book.
The newly-released book grabbing all the attention, 11 Days in May, published by Waterfront Press, will offer readers the opportunity tocommunicate directly with both author JD Messinger, and also with otherreaders, from right inside the e-book. This groundbreaking discussion capability is made possible by a newcloud-based collaboration technology developed by Democrasoft, which links anyreader with a book’s author, other readers or any other person with access tothe Internet. The new technology is called “WeJIT,” and it promises to foreverchange the way authors, their books and their readers come together.
According to Democrasoft Chairman & CEO Richard Lang,WeJIT is a new approach to collaboration that allows instant communities toform around any topic of common interest. With a few clicks, an individualWeJIT is formed by any individual wanting to enable an instant, collaborativecommunity. In essence, the WeJIT is a one-page website, with a unique URL,dedicated to a particular topic of discussion, debate or even decision-making,in a multitude of engagement models. It can be formed in a matter of seconds,free of charge for individual use (www.MyWeJIT.com). In thecase of 11 Days in May, author JD Messinger has created and embedded 32 WeJITs inside his newebook, on an assortment of topics covered in the book.
“This is an amazing way for me to communicate with myreaders, while they’re actually reading the book,” said Messinger. “It createsthe opportunity for readers to have vibrant dialog and exchanges on themultiple ideas contained inside the book. In a way, it creates an instant bookclub around any subject that readers care to participate in and to involveothers in.”
William Gladstone, founder and CEO of Waterfront Press, thepublisher of both the ebook and printededitions of 11 Days in May, also points out that readers of the new e-book can actually forward theURL for any embedded WeJIT to anyone, even those who don’t have the book andmay have never heard of it.
“What’s amazing is that readers are actually poised toincrease book sales by inviting others to join in specific discussions launchedfrom within the e-book” said Gladstone. “That’s a first in the publishing worldand when you combine it with the other interactive features offered on the VOOKepublishing platform, we think you’re looking at a watershed event for authorsand publishers around the world.”
Matthew Cavnar, VP of Business Development at Vook, saidthat the Vook ePublishing platform combined with the WeJit capabilitiesperfectly compliment the interactive features already embedded within 11 Days in May. These other features include images and videos; speciallycomposed music; Messinger’s CNN radio interviews with famous guests, andoriginal artwork.
“The combination of VOOK’s publishing platform andDemocrasoft’s WeJIT capabilities is something that we believe is going tocompletely redefine e-book publishing,” said Cavnar. “We are very excited aboutthe possibilities going forward and believe that this combination is about totake what was already a terrific e-book and turn it into a real game-changer.”
Lang says that the inclusion of WeJIT capability in e-books,beginning with 11 Days in May, is evidence of one of the coreadvantages that WeJITs bring to online collaboration: “portability.” He points to the fact that everyself-contained WeJIT discussion or collaboration is associated with a uniqueURL (web address), which can then be shared with anyone, using existing socialnetworking platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, to name a few. Hesaid that in future e-books, readers themselves would be able to instantlycreate and share WeJITs around any topic they are reading about in an e-Book.
“WeJIT is not a competing social network,” said Lang.“Instead, WeJIT is a way to enable an instant community to form around anyindividual topic, comprised only of people with an interest in that particulartopic. There’s no need to join, manage or moderate yet another platform. WeJITis to collaboration what Google is to search.”
Lang said that anyone wanting to create their own WeJIT toinstantly engage any group, large or small, on any topic, can do so byvisiting: www.MyWeJIT.comand creating a WeJIT for free. According to Lang, the WeJIT platform isavailable to larger groups and organization under a variety of licensingarrangements, including white-label.
11 Days in May is available forhardcover pre-release at www.Amazon.comand www.BarnesAndNoble.com. The eBook is available now from Vookat http://vook.com/storefronts/book/11-days-in-may.html.
About JD Messinger. JD Messinger is the former CEO of Ernst & Young Consulting(Singapore), one of 37 distinguished graduates from Annapolis (1981), a formerfireman, nuclear submarine officer, and former radio and television showcreator, producer and host. In the world of business, JD helped supervise theValdez Oil spill cleanup and is an advisor to Fortune 100 clients andgovernments on five continents. He lives in Texas with his wife and their threechildren. For more information please visit www.JDMessinger.com.
About WaterfrontPress and Waterside Productions, Inc. WaterfrontPress is a wholly -owned subsidiary of Waterside Productions, Inc. afull-service literary agency founded in 1982 in Cardiff, California. As theworld’s premier literary agency for computer and technology authors, WatersideProductions’ agents have successfully represented more than 5,000 books to over50 publishers, generating more than $200 Million for authors. Waterfront hasworked with some of the top authors in the world including Eckhart Tolle,Deepak Chopra, and Neale Donald Walsh. For more information please visit www.Waterfrontdigitalpress.com or www.Waterside.com.
About Vook. Founded in 2009, Vook has created an innovative technology platformthat allows anyone to create great eBooks, add video, audio and images, publishthe eBooks to their own Webpage and to the major e-Tailers and track theirsales. Vook works with a range of content partners including NBC, Simon &Schuster, Franklin Covey and Hay House and most major distribution channelsincluding Apple, Amazon, Google and Barnes & Noble. For more information,please visit www.Vook.com.
About Democrasoft. Democrasoft, Inc. is an innovation and licensing company with ahistory of pioneering technology. It is the creator of the Collaborize platformand Collaborize Classroom (www.CollaborizeClassroom.com), the award-winningblended-learning platform for grades K-20. It is also the creator of WeJIT (http://www.mywejit.com), a new model for self-contained, topic-based online collaborationthat stretches across various platforms and communities. Democrasoft isdedicated to facilitating a vision of online “social networking with purpose.” For more information, please visit www.Democrasoft.com.
For inquiries ormore information, please contact Imal Wagner at ImalWagner@gmail.com.