In the first collaboration between a book publisher and Amazon’s voice-activated "intelligent assistant" Alexa, HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP) is delivering daily inspiration through audio clips from its Devotionals Daily brand.
Originally an email newsletter and blog, Devotionals Daily content is now available on Amazon Echo, Amazon Tap, Echo Dot, Amazon Fire TV, and Fire tablet users through the Amazon Alexa app. The devotional skill will feature a new audio clip of varying length (up to seven minutes in length) selected by the publisher each day.
Amazon is not paying a licensing for use of the HCCP content, but the publisher hopes to monetize the arrangement by having listeners buy the book from which the excerpt is taken. According to an HCCP spokesperson, after people listen to the devotion, they can ask Alexa to add the book to their shopping cart by saying the title of the book, which is given before and after the devotional starts, and asking Alexa to add it to the cart. Customers can buy the book in any format, including audio.
“This is an unprecedented opportunity to gain new exposure and awareness around our authors’ great content, in short form, with a simple voice command,” says Sally Hofmann, senior v-p for direct-to-consumer sales and marketing for HCCP.
The voice-commanded audio content is pulled directly from audiobooks published by Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, both housed under HCCP. Devotionals from authors including Shauna Niequist, Judah Smith, Ann Voskamp, and Sarah Young will be available within 90 days of its Dec.12 launch.
