Mobile phone novel

Cell phone or mobile phone novels are meant to be read in 1,000 to 2,000-word (in China) or 70-word (in Japan) chapters via text message on mobile phones. They are downloaded in short installments and run on handsets as Java-based applications on a mobile phone. Cell phone novels often appear in three different formats: WMLD, JAVA and TXT.

Five out of the ten best selling novels in Japan in 2007 were originally cell phone novels. [cite web
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html
title=Thumbs Race as Japan’s Best Sellers Go Cellular
first=Norimitsu
last=Onishi
publisher=The New York Times
date=2008-01-20]

History

The first cell phone novel was “published” in Japan in 2003 by a young online writer, Yoshi. His first cell phone novel was called "Deep Love", the story of a teenaged prostitute in Tokyo. It became so popular that it was published as an actual book, with 2.6 million copies sold in Japan, then spun off into a television series, a manga, and a movie. The cell phone novel became a hit mainly through word of mouth and gradually starting to gain traction in China and South Korea among young adults. In Japan, several sites offer large prizes to the winners (up to $100,000 US) and purchase the publishing rights to the novels.

The phenomenon has not yet spread to the United States or Europe, but it is inevitable that as cell phone and text message usage continues to increase, cell phone novels will become popular in these locales as well.

Reason for popularity

Although Japan was the original birthplace of the cell phone novel, the phenomenon soon moved to China, and many of the online writers are university students. These writers are young, lively, creative, and energetic, and they understand what narratives will attract young readers, incorporating emergent events or trendy elements from teen culture into their stories.

Cell phone novels create a virtual world for teenagers via mobile phone, or, more precisely, via text messages. As in virtual online computer games, readers can put themselves into first person in the story. Cell phone novels create a personal space for each individual reader. Paul Levinson, in "Information on the Move" (2004), says "...nowadays, a writer can write just about as easily, anywhere, as a reader can read" and they are "not only personal but portable".

The cell phone novel is changing reading habits; readers no longer need to physically go to a bookshop and purchase a book. They can go online using their cell phone, download their favorite novel, and read it on their personal mobile phone anywhere, any time they wish. Similar to the e-book, its mobility and convenience brings advantages such as time-saving and privacy, and it is environmentally friendly.

Conclusion

Howard Rheingold, in "How to Recognize the Future When it Lands on You" (2002), states that the cell phone is a "handheld communication media" and a "convergence of technologies", descriptions also apt for the cell phone novel. It is not only changing reading habits, it is also changing other media. The cell phone novel "Deep Love", for example, was first “published” via text message, then it was published as an actual book, filmed as a movie, and made into a television show and a Japanese-style comic book. It hasn't simply created a new medium; it has affected other media at the same time.

References

* Howard Rheingold (2002) "Smart Mobs: the Next Social Revolution", Perseus, Cambridge, massachusetts, pp.xi-xxii, 157-182
* Paul Levinson (2004) "Cellphone", Palgrave/St. Martin's, New York, pp, 15-33

Citations

External links

* [http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2005/03/novels_on_your_phone.html Novels on your phone] futureofthebook.org
* [http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2005/03/66950 Cell phones put to novel use] Wired.com
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html New York Times article on cell phone novels] New York Times
* [http://www.textnovelblog.com Blog about textnovel.com] Blog about U.S. mobile phone novel site
* [http://www.textnovel.com U.S. mobile phone novel website] Recently launched as beta site
* [http://www.quillpill.com iPhone & mobile novel website] Currently in private beta. [http://www.apple.com/webapps/productivity/quillpill.html] [http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Top-Web-Productivity-Apps-for-iPhone/10/] [http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/13/quillpill-a-twitter-for-cell-phone-novelists-500-invites/]