Textnovel Lets Writers Publish Via Cellphone

By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 6/3/2009 1:04:00 PM

Dorchester Publishing announced this week it is partnering with serialized fiction service Textnovel on a writing competition for aspiring novelists. The winner of America’s Next Best Celler will land a $2,000 advance and will be published by Dorchester next year. The partnership is the latest development in Textnovel’s year-long life: founded by a literary agent as a way for unknown writers to find readers, it is also turning out to be a sort of feeder for publishers. Earlier this year, writer Saoirse Redgrave, winner of Textnovel’s 2008 Writing Contest, signed a three-book deal with St. Martin’s. 

Literary agent Stan Soper quietly founded Textnovel in June 2008. Close to 2,000 authors and readers have used the site in the past year. Writers create and add to their stories via e-mail or text, and readers receive stories—in chapter-length installments—on their cell phones, with the option to get notifications as new chapters are added. Stories can be private or public, and people can rate and review stories, which the site says increases a highly-rated story’s likelihood of getting published by a traditional publisher. There’s currently no fee to post or read content, and Textnovel also offers cash prizes to winners.

Soper said he created Textnovel to “help authors take their writing to the next level and to help publishers validate the market potential of new fiction.” He currently only makes money on the site through agency fees, selling the Textnovel contest winner’s book to a traditional publisher. Author Redgrave recently a signed a three-book deal with St. Martin’s after her story, “13 to Life: A Werewolf’s Tale,” which she wrote on Textnovel in serial form over the course of five weeks with interactive reader input, won Textnovel’s 2008 prize. This year’s Textnovel contest ends July 31, and Soper said, “We’ll try to get [the winner] published by a major publisher. If we can’t find somebody we may publish it ourselves.”

Textnovel is similar to SMS serialization site Daily Lit, but is oriented more toward new, undiscovered writers, Soper said. He is considering adding premium features that would require a monthly fee, but for now, posting and reading content is free. Soper works in Park City, Utah, and has a software team in California.

For the Dorchester contest, writers must publish at least 20 chapters (preferably in increments of 500 words each) by November 1. Brooke Borneman, Dorchester’s sales and marketing director, was drawn to Textnovel’s business model. “[It] could revolutionize the entire publishing industry,” she said, citing the Japanese mobile novel portal Magic Island, which has six million registered users. “The potential to build name recognition for authors is simply staggering.” At this point, Dorchester has no plans to coordinate another contest, although Borneman said the house is open “to reviewing other serials on the site for publication.”