ITSA launches Once: a novel co-written by 23 different people on social media across the globe

ITSA has released the world’s first co-written e-book. Called ONCE, it’s a fascinating story of a man who gives a lady a lift outside his house one morning. Written by 23 different people from different places including Singapore, Mumbai, Chennai, Paris and Orissa.

This was a social experiment – where friends and strangers came together to create a story.

Paul Kemp-Robertson, Co-founder & Editorial Director, Contagious Communications, London & New York has penned the foreword for this unique initiative.

Paul Kemp-Robertson says in his foreword, “…. I applaud the spirit and ambition of Once. I love the fact that a crowd-sourced novel has been written on a social media platform owned by a company whose mantra is ‘Move Fast and Break Things.’ I hope this is the start of many experiments with the written word, under the creative eye of the poetically named Emmanuel Upputuru.”

It began as an experiment which Emmanuel Upputuru, (pictured centre) Founder & Chief Innovation Officer, ITSA initiated last year – to begin a story and to build it as strangers contribute and take the story forward. Strangers, who are unaware whether the fiction they are penning would turn out to be a thriller, a comedy, a romantic novel or some other genre.

“The characters and the story remain frozen till a fellow netizen adds a passage or sentence. Then it is again surrendered to the next person who volunteers to come forward. All along, none of the authors know what will happen next,” says Upputuru.

“This also takes social media and networking to the next level. Co-creation of stories where each writer builds on where the last one left off. It is, we believe, the next step – not just sourcing of discrete ideas or opinions, or a collation of blogs, its one piece which is a sum of the parts”, says Anirban Mozumdar, Chief of Strategy, ITSA.

Seeing the idea being liked by so many people, ITSA is now launching a unique facebook app which allows for easier and a more efficient way of co-writing stories. It comes with tips for writing. Going ahead, the ambition is to create a platform where multiple stories can be created by different kinds of people. And in many languages. Hindi could be the next one.

Paul Kemp-Robertson makes a telling comment, “Why not? is the social media rule to live by. The politics of pixels is people power. And, as we say at Contagious, media that doesn’t include you isn’t worth sitting still for.”