Harlequin, the world’s largest publisher of romance fiction, is keeping up with the times by offering all of its current titles as ebooks, holding readings in Second Life, and blogging about paranormal romance. According to Brent Lewis, Harlequin’s director of Internet and digital, five of the top 10 bestselling books in Japan were written on a mobile phone (mostly written for consumption on mobile devices and later published due to their popularity). For its own ebooks, Harlequin breaks stories down to 500 words chunks that are delivered daily via text message. We’re kind of wondering what happens when those 500 words end in the middle of an especially steamy scene — do they get you all worked up and then leave you hanging for 24 hours until the next 500 words arrive? [Fast Company and Harlequin]
