A novel way to spend an hour
The SMS is a story format made up of certain components, to create a new reading experience designed for digital reading devices like cellphones, computers, ultra-mobile netbooks and e-book readers, plus the iPhone and iPod touch.
Available as digital files, the SMS is perfect for commuters and people looking for short reading experiences. Sixty Minute Stories can be available across all genres.
To provide a book format standard and SMS quality mark for books with specific characteristics, designed and optimised for reading on digital devices.
To help writers by providing resources, tips and tools to help write and publish their Sixty Minute Story.
To provide readers with resources to find and download Sixty Minute Stories which are readable on cellphones, computers, e-book readers such as the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, as well as the iPhone and iPod touch.
To act as a resource of news and developments with the Sixty Minute Story.
When we want something, we create a technology for it.
First, music.
When vinyl music ruled and we wanted to take music with us, we created cassette tapes.
When we wanted clearer sound quality and the ability to skip straight to specific tracks, we created CDs as the format.
When we wanted to store more and make devices smaller, we created the MP3 format.
And when we wanted to be able to catalogue our tracks and buy them instantly, we created online downloads and iTunes.
The same happened with video.
When we wanted to store home videos, we created the VHS.
When these video tapes became a little clunky for our needs and we wanted better quality video and interactivity, we created the DVD format.
When we wanted high definition, we created the conditions for the rise of the BlueRay format.
Except, things stalled a little with ebooks.
The desire to read more, to be able to discover more books and to make our reading more mobile led to the creation of electronic readers.
We created technology like e-readers, ultra-mobile netbooks and cellphones. But the format wasn't revised. We tried to shoehorn the old format of old books into new technology without updating the form. What was missing was an upgrade to bring it in line.
A small, compact read designed for reading on small compact devices.
The human being needs to know the nature of the challege before embarking on the course. In today's rushed, stressful world, not knowing how long it may take to read a long novel may put some people off from starting.
How about if we asked you to take part in a process, where you knew exactly how long the process will take and the average time it will take to complete. Much easier to contemplate, much more satisfying.
We often talk ourselves out of starting a book because we don't know how long it might take us - and we don't like to start things we can't complete...
...so we often don't start at all.
Knowing that, even at the average reading speed of 250 words per minute, sitting down with an SMS, you will complete the process in less than an hour - is reassuring – and manageable within the busiest schedule. Able to be accommodated during the commute to work, or in a lunch break.
And whilst it takes the average reader an hour to complete an SMS, you can always aim to improve your reading speed so you can fit even more in.
You can even visit myreadspeed.com to calculate your reading speed so you can measure your reading commitment in advance. It's about taking control of your life.
And because the SMS is a book form designed for digital reading devices, it means you can find and download sixty minute stories much faster and easier - because they are all online - right at your fingertips.
