ABC News is out with a digital book about the death of Osama bin Laden. “TARGET: Bin Laden – The Death and Life of Public Enemy Number One” was written by a who’s who of ABC News journalists. The downloadable book includes archival ABC News video from 9/11 and video from the compound where bin Laden was killed.
“TARGET: Bin Laden – The Death and Life of Public Enemy Number One” is $7.99 and, according to its press release, is available on the major downloadable book sites.
The video introduction from Brian Ross is a modern take on a book’s introduction. (They didn’t need to add the “aged film and picture” effects, however.) The book is a play-by-play of what happened, along with contemporaneous ABC News reports.
It’s interesting to see traditional media organizations branch off into this new way of doing business.Whether it will be a significant revenue stream is still up in the air. Publishing an eBook (especially one with multimedia) is an excellent idea. However, eBooks are not social. It would be a plus if one could share an interesting article with a friend. I know publishers are afraid of piracy, but if anything it has been shown that sharing articles increases sales. (See: “Go the F*ck to Sleep“)
