Notable and Quotable
June 17, 2008 by Mary Ellen
“In 2007, 5 of the top 10 best-selling books in Japan were written on a mobile phone.”
–Brent Lewis, Director of digital commerce at publisher Harlequin
As seen in Fast Company, June 2008
Talk about inspiring comment. This little piece of information has haunted my waking and dream moments for a month. C’mon! Books written on a mobile phone?
Let me begin to identify the questions this brings to mind:
-
How large were these books? My thumb hurts from texting a page, let alone a book.
-
Who edits these books? I’ve seen email I’ve texted. It’s not pretty. My editor has enough trouble with my regular writing.
-
What kind of phone are we talking about? The Verizon 6900 battery would probably last through chapter one!
-
Where are these people that they have to write on a phone? Isn’t it worth taking the computer? What about pen and paper?
-
Are these best-selling books being compose on the subway? at a restaurant? in a company meeting?
-
Is Harlequin getting this kind of demand for romance fiction?
-
Are authors this inspired that they can pound it out with best-selling style on a mobile phone? Puh-leeeeeze.
-
What am I missing? Is this some kind of trend I need to watch?
I’ll grant you one thing: I’m looking at Fast Company July with a whole different attitude.
Comments
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Search
Recent Posts
Categories
Useful Links
Archives