An engrossing tale of
love and apocalypse

Moshimo Kimiga, a mobile phone novel (or "keitai shosetsu") about high school romance, was initially delivered in sections to thousands of mostly young females' phones.

Since its conversion to hard copy, it has sold 420,000 copies, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

The novel's 21-year-old writer, Rin, composed the work on her phone, explaining she got "quick with her thumbs," having been an avid texter since middle school.

But mobile novels are nothing new in Asia. Launched seven years ago, Maho no i-rando (Magic Island), a site that offers free tools to help readers create novels on their mobiles, hosts over 1 million works.

The novels are typically written by first-timers for a young female audience, and the stories play out like "After School Specials" or web operas.

Established novelists are also embracing the format.

China's Qian Fuzhang, who has been compared to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, published his 4,200 character-long "Out of Fortress" via the mobile phone, in bite-size 72-character snippets back in '04, according to The New York Times.