Simon & Schuster has turned to YouTube to promote its new books, with a series of videos showcasing their authors and sneak-previews of new releases.

The videos will be featured on a Simon & Schuster-branded YouTube platform and on Bookvideos.tv, a new online video channel dedicated to books and author personalities. The latest videos will also be available via RSS.

The move is a good example of a traditional company realizing the promotional value of releasing free content via the Internet.

Here’s an example of one the videos:

The videos do a good job of giving you a taste of the content without weighing it down with excessive advertising or hard-sell.

A few of the authors participating in the initial launch are Sandra Brown, Jennifer Chiaverini, Philippa Gregory, James Loewen, Santa Montefiore, Kathy Reichs, Blair Underwood, Jeannette Walls, Marianne Wiggins and Zane, and the Newbery Medal winning children’s author Susan Patron. Authors featured in upcoming videos include President Jimmy Carter, Carol Higgins Clark, Mary Higgins Clark, Vince Flynn, Ursula Hegi, Jennifer Weiner, and children’s authors Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, John Lithgow, and Scott Westerfeld.

“By incorporating online video into our marketing efforts at Bookvideos.tv and elsewhere, we are able to provide our readers with unprecedented access to their favorite authors, foster lasting emotional connections and create dedicated fans,” said Sue Fleming, Vice President, Online and Consumer Marketing for the Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group. “Working with TurnHere broadens our reach across the Web, taps into new audiences and provides an experience for readers that is just plain fun.”

The Bookvideos.tv channel will include social media features to encourage collaboration among its users:

• A user community feature powered by MyBlogLog, which brings together like-minded readers to converse about their favorite books and authors;
• Video of The Week ‚Äì Readers can sign up to receive a featured video through email on a regular basis;
• A comments feature so users can post feedback about the latest videos;
• An ‚Äúemail a friend‚Äù viral marketing capability;
• RSS capability so readers can subscribe to the latest videos via an RSS feed.