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Japan: Novel on Mobile Phone Enables Outreach to Drug Addicts

Five of last year's top ten fiction bestsellers in Japan started out as works for mobile phones, and in the U.K., The Independent newspaper takes a look at keitai novels. One author used his earnings to reach out to readers in an unusual way:

Ryu, age 24, the author of Tokyo Real, a gritty tale inspired by his friend's addiction to the drug MDMA, agrees that the accessibility of mobile phone novels is crucial. "My novel is very dark. I think readers reacted to it, and I hope that, for a few, it may have helped them to stop taking drugs," he says.

He wrote his book on his mobile phone at night before going to sleep. It was first published online, with download figures so high that Ryu was approached by a conventional publisher within 48 hours.

More than three million people have now read the book on their phone, and last year Real readers organised a march through the Tokyo streets to raise awareness of the dangers of drugs.

Ryu used the profits from the novel to buy a bar, where people not only come for a drink, but also to visit the author to talk about their experiences with drugs or for ad-hoc counselling. "It's only been so effective because people would read it on their mobiles, so it was accessible to people who may be into drugs," he says.

Colombia: Christian Organization Prepares Youth Curriculum

In a country where there are "incredibly high rates of violence, sexual promiscuity and suicide attempts among youth," a Christian ministry has the opportunity to help.  Robert Hoskins, director of OneHope (formerly Book of Hope) explains:

"We are working with the department of education to create a curriculum that has value education in it that will be used in the school system to address some of these issues from a Biblical worldview perspective. So it really allows the Word of God to be implanted into the hearts of children and young people at the youngest possible age, and in cooperation with the government

... God's Word and the message found in His Word--the hope of Jesus Christ--is really the only way to overcome these systemic issues that are facing the country."

Beyond Pink Bibles

Christian publishers have offered customized versions of the Bible for specific audiences for some time. The practice is so well-established that Zondervan is even releasing a Wild About Horses Bible aimed at 9 to 12-year-old girls this May.

Now, Islamic publishers are adopting similar strategies to promote the Koran, according to The  Jakarta Post, which notes that

"In the last three years, the sales of Islamic books, especially the Koran, have contributed to almost 50 percent of revenue in every city's bookstore," said Afrizal Sinaro, head of Ikapi Jakarta.

Ara, a marketing officer at PT Sygma Examedia Arkanleema, the publisher of the Koran for Women series, said the company launched the holy book series early this year to tap into the women's market.

"We have highlighted verses explaining women-related topics, like marriages and families, in pink or brown," Ara told the Post.

Sri Lanka: Christian-Buddhist Collaboration Disseminates Bible Quotations

The Union of Catholic Asian News tells of an effort by "Home of Good News, [a non-governmental organization that works] with Christian priests and Buddhist monks to offer moral guidance to society" by disseminating quotations from their religions.

In preparation for the school year starting this month, in December Home of Good News published an 80-page, lined student workbook including 84 Bible verses. The initial print run of 10,000 units sold out in just a few days, and now Home of Good News is going back to press for 10,000 more and plans to design a 120-page book as well.

Hebrews 4:12 says, "The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."  May the students exposed to God's word through this effort find faith in the Christ that Scripture proclaims!

Reaching the YouTube Generation

The Digitalist, from PanMacmillan.com, observes that:

There is often a perception that digital text is somehow different to print. It hyperlinks, is easy to update and is, according to the argument, filled with pointless invective and ephemera. It doesn’t allow for deep and considered reading, catering as it does for the atrophied attention spans of the YouTube generation. Despite their recreation of print, ebooks are often included in this category.

However the YouTube generation isn’t even reading online. It’s, er, watching YouTube. In “Is YouTube the Next Google” read/write web outlined a growing trend--rather than looking for a search term in Google, kids will type into it YouTube and see what turns up.

How well are your authors represented on YouTube, GodTube, and similar sites? Do you have at least one video for each of the authors in your publishing roster? Video segments do not have to be long, or even professionally produced, to make an impact. They do not even have to feature the author, if he or she is not available (as is often the case with translations or classic reprints). So ask yourself: do you make it a practice to make video recordings of your authors' speaking engagements and live readings? Do you post them online? Where will the next generation find out about your titles?

Altar Gives Way to Allergic in New Edition of English Dictionary

A Catholic News Agency report:

Words associated with Christianity have been removed from an Oxford University Press children’s dictionary for the United Kingdom. Editors justified the changes by citing declining church attendance and multiculturalism.

Lisa Saunders, a mother of four from Northern Ireland, compared various editions of the Oxford Junior Dictionary [and] discovered that many words associated with Christianity had been removed, in addition to words associated with the monarchy and the natural world.

...deleted Christian words include abbey, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, and vicar.

New words were inserted based on word frequency and included the words allergic, curriculum, celebrity, and MP3 player.

Read the rest of the article here.

Know the Vision God Gave You, Guard It, and Pour Your Heart Into It

Dante Gebel, an Argentinean radio and television evangelist, youth pastor, and best-selling author in Zondervan's Spanish imprint, Editorial Vida, spoke to Corazón Porteño/Diaro Buenos Aires about his success:

Each one knows the vision that God entrusted to him, and must guard it ... 

... I do not know exactly how [I became the best-selling Hispanic author for Vida.] I suppose it is God's grace. I was never a good writer, but God is merciful and Vida has done an excellent job. Even I am surprised at how well my books have been received. I only know that I poured my heart into each of them; I never conceived of them as products in a catalog.

[In 2009, Vida is launching] the Heroes Bible, three new ... audio books, a dvd on courtship, and three new books...

The executives [at Vida] proposed an open contract, that we could publish as much as possible next year, and we got to work. It is always good to have abundant material for youth.

Philippines: Young People Need Bibles

AsiaNews.it reports that the Philippine Bible Society is launching Youth Explode, a new initiative to reach Filipino youth:

Research by the Philippine Bible Society (PBS) has shown most Filipinos do not have a Bible. Although the country is 80 per cent Catholic, 60 per cent of the population has no Bible, a percentage that rises to 70 per cent among young people.

... The PBS survey shows that among young people who belong to local communities and parishes there is widespread ignorance about the Holy Scriptures.

A large number of them acknowledged that they do not know how to read the book.

Anne Frank's Diary for Cambodians

What happens when literature crosses borders, and people from one culture learn what others faced? How do readers feel when they recognize the grief, fears, and joys felt by others in similar circumstances?

The Jewish Journal describes the extraordinary impact of Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl on Cambodians who survived genocide. Youk Chhang,  a child survivor and genocide researcher whose organization published the Khmer translation, says:

"If we Cambodians had read her diary a long time ago ... perhaps there could have been a way for us to prevent the Cambodian genocide from happening.”

Anne Frank's message, he adds, remains as potent as ever.

"Genocide continues to happen in the world around us even today,”Youk says. "Her diary can still play an important role in prevention.”

Read more here.

Novel or Video Game? Both

Are video games the future of reading? The New York Times describes efforts to pair novels with video games to get youth to read:

“You can’t just make a book anymore,” said [PJ] Haarsma, a former advertising consultant [and the author of a science fiction series]. Pairing a video game with a novel for young readers, he added, “brings the book into their world, as opposed to going the other way around.”

... A recent poll by the Pew Internet & American Life project found that 97 percent of children 12 to 17 play games on computers, consoles and handheld devices. But while video games may seem to have little in common with books, some see a clear connection.

“I think gamers and readers are looking for the same thing,” said Rick Riordan, author of the popular “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” novels, who has written the first book in Scholastic’s “39 Clues” series. “They are looking to be dropped into an intriguing story and to become a character in the story.”