"Mobile phone novels" (or "keitai shosetsu") have been gaining widespread popularity recently through portal sites like Mahou no iRando. Many of them have been later published in book form, and several have been selling extremely well.

Publishing distributor NIPPAN revealed its tankoubon fiction ranking for the first half of 2007, and four mobile novels appeared in the top ten, including the #1 spot. "Akai Ito" by author Mei was first released online last July, and the series has been accessed more than 10 million times since then. Not only is the book version the top seller in fiction, but it is also 4th overall.

Other mobile novels on the fiction chart were Rin's "Moshimo Kimi ga" (#2), Haruka Inamori's "Junai" (#5), and Towa's "Clearness" (#9). The last on that list was the winner of the 1st Mobile Phone Novel Awards held last November.

NIPPAN's complete charts can be seen here.