ON CELLPHONE NOVELS IN JAPAN

FAST-FOOD OF READING

A must-read article in the Sunday New York Times on how "cellphone novels" are up-ending the traditional book publishing business in Japan:

"Until recently, cellphone novels —"composed on phone keypads by young women wielding dexterous thumbs and read by fans on their tiny screens — had been dismissed in Japan as a subgenre unworthy of the country that gave the world its first novel, “The Tale of Genji,” a millennium ago.

Then last month, the year-end best-seller tally showed that cellphone novels, republished in book form, have not only infiltrated the mainstream but have come to dominate it.

Of last year’s 10 best-selling novels, five were originally cellphone novels, mostly love stories written in the short sentences characteristic of text messaging but containing little of the plotting or character development found in traditional novels.

What is more, the top three spots were occupied by first-time cellphone novelists, touching off debates in the news media and blogosphere."

Pictured above is a 21 year old author Rin, whose first-time cellphone novel sold 400,000 copies in hard-cover.

The article goes onto describe the social, technology, cultural and business model drivers that have enabled this phenomena in Japan.  One of the factors apparently was the availability of mainstream priced unlimited wireless data packages made available by Japan's wireless operators.

Contrast this to the different state of affairs on electronic book publishing in the U.S. with innovative efforts by companies like Sony, with it's Reader and Amazon with it's Kindle (my personal favorite), have so far met with slow and limited success in the mainstream marketplace.

It was notable than in another New York Times interview this week by John Markoff, Apple's Steve Jobs had this to say about electronic books:

"...he had a wide range of observations on the industry, including the Amazon Kindle book reader, which he said would go nowhere largely because Americans have stopped reading.

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

Being an eternal optimist, I take that to mean that Apple will likely introduce something in this arena some-time soon, given how they introduced innovative products after pooh-poohing the prospects for everything from music players, to video players, to cellphones to media downloads.

As long as it isn't cellphone novels, I can't wait.  I don't think my aging eyes can handle the cellphone novel innovation anytime soon.

Comments

[avagee]

No need to wait - check out http://www.booksinmyphone.com they give away public domain classics and modern books packaged to run on cell phones. You can control the font size if it's really a problem for 'old eyes'.

[Brian Laesch]

That's awesome. I had no idea cell phone novels even existed...

[blink]

There's a US site that helps you actually write cell phone novels. http://www.quillpill.com

It's still in beta, you have to request an invitation.

[wireless cell phone business]

i have never heard of this either. So you get a whole novel on your phone. That is so cool.