I read an article about mobile phone novelists in Japan. Apparently the mobile phone novel is a publishing boom which is set to hit Britain soon. Of last year's 10 best-selling novels in Japan, 5 were Keitai Shousetsou (mobile phone novel.)

Ryu, a Japanese barman, blogged his novel, Tokyo Real, every night to his friends. It was subsequently downloaded by more than 3 million people, made into a film, and inspired an anti drugs march through the streets of Tokyo.

Similarly Tadashi Izumi, who has a PhD in Victorian Literaturefrom Cambridge University, is the author of Cross Road, which more than 2 million people downloaded within a week.

He said that the keitai novel is democratising publishing because novelists can now acquire a fan base before publishers even know who they are, similar to high profile bloggers such as Belle du Jour and Petite Anglais. The language needs to be conscise and simple with far fewer adjectives. So instead of describing a sunset, he simply writes that the sun is setting.

Also, publishers Indigo launched a digital book service in 120 countries. Most customers used their phones for e-reading.

I guess that it may materialise into an alternative for, rather than a replacement to, a conventional book.