The Growing Popularity of the Cell Phone Novel

In Japan, where cell phones are even more integrated into people's lives than here in the U.S., the popularity of the cell phone novel is huge, and it is beginning to grow in other countries. This media format can lead to real success for budding authors in Japan. CNN reports on a 22-year old author who began a novel mainly by blogging the chapters. Eventually, publishers caught on and offered to release the book in print. The book has become a best-seller in Japan. While there is question regarding the ability to characterize these novels as literature, there is no denying their popularity and the opportunity for traditional book publishers. As the print publishing world is facing serious profitability issues and is looking for the next Harry Potter to provide sustainable revenue, mobile publishing could be an interesting model to explore. As CNN reports about Japan,
"By 2007, half of the country's 10 best-selling novels were written on cell phones, according to book distributor Tohan while last year mobile novels and comics were a $240 million market in Japan, which is over 5 percent of the country's $4.5 billion total mobile content market, according to Japan's Mobile Content Forum."
It will be interesting to see how sweeping an initiative this is and how long it will take to get to the U.S.

- Jennifer Rogers