Hello! A little under a year ago I posted about cell phone novels breaking into the American market from Japan: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148824&highlight=cell+phone+novels
Earlier this year, someone else posted on it, too: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171266&highlight=cell+phone+novels
Go ahead and check those threads out for more information, but basically, a cell phone novel is a novel written on a cell phone. At the time I wrote the first post, America had just discovered the cell-phone novel (originating in Japan, where the books were often publishes with loads of internet slang and emoticons) and trying to find ways to take advantage of the new storytelling form.
Aaand...it seems we have some success stories. 1) On textnovel.com, the highest-read books have tens of thousands of views. 2) The cell phone novel "13 to Life" by Shannon Delany is up on Amazon with positive reviews and an impressive ranking for a first novel that doesn't even go on sale until tomorrow, June 22nd. 3) A novel called Kontax, released in South Africa, was read by almost 70,000 people in two months, two thirds of them adults. 4) "The Warded Man", a British cell phone novel, is being made into a movie.
Tiny steps, but at the very least this seems to be a niche area of publishing. I think it's wonderful; technology moves on, but reading won't be a forgotten pastime, even if the format changes a little.
Most of the sources of the above come from the textnovel.com site; visit there to read about "Warded Man" and "Kontax" and their hits. The info about Delany's book is here: http://www.articlezap.com/article/9...iting_Cell_Phone_Novels_Arrive_in_America.htm
In this post, I first asked what everyone thinks, but let me rephrase: Where does everyone think this can go? With it catching on and showing such significant growth, what do you think the future holds? If you're not interested in these novels, that's cool; we all like to read different things, are entertained in different ways. But with electronics in general and cell phones in particular, more and more a part of everything, including publishing, do you think this will keep growing, stay viable for future readers raised on screens and monitors? How could cell phone novels be shaped and used to their fullest potential?
Earlier this year, someone else posted on it, too: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171266&highlight=cell+phone+novels
Go ahead and check those threads out for more information, but basically, a cell phone novel is a novel written on a cell phone. At the time I wrote the first post, America had just discovered the cell-phone novel (originating in Japan, where the books were often publishes with loads of internet slang and emoticons) and trying to find ways to take advantage of the new storytelling form.
Aaand...it seems we have some success stories. 1) On textnovel.com, the highest-read books have tens of thousands of views. 2) The cell phone novel "13 to Life" by Shannon Delany is up on Amazon with positive reviews and an impressive ranking for a first novel that doesn't even go on sale until tomorrow, June 22nd. 3) A novel called Kontax, released in South Africa, was read by almost 70,000 people in two months, two thirds of them adults. 4) "The Warded Man", a British cell phone novel, is being made into a movie.
Tiny steps, but at the very least this seems to be a niche area of publishing. I think it's wonderful; technology moves on, but reading won't be a forgotten pastime, even if the format changes a little.
Most of the sources of the above come from the textnovel.com site; visit there to read about "Warded Man" and "Kontax" and their hits. The info about Delany's book is here: http://www.articlezap.com/article/9...iting_Cell_Phone_Novels_Arrive_in_America.htm
In this post, I first asked what everyone thinks, but let me rephrase: Where does everyone think this can go? With it catching on and showing such significant growth, what do you think the future holds? If you're not interested in these novels, that's cool; we all like to read different things, are entertained in different ways. But with electronics in general and cell phones in particular, more and more a part of everything, including publishing, do you think this will keep growing, stay viable for future readers raised on screens and monitors? How could cell phone novels be shaped and used to their fullest potential?
Last edited: