Copyrights for another three text-message novels written by the same author, Qian Fuzhang, would also be up for auction, the report said.

Shenzhen held a manuscript auction in 1993, the first of its kind in China. Another auction of literary works at the First International Cultural Industry Fair Shenzhen in 2004 was also well received.

However, China did not yet have a designated market for cultural works, the report said.

The auction of manuscripts of Qian's four novels would hopefully serve as an example for the construction of a platform for mass sales of literature, said Zheng Xiaoxing, auctioneer of the text-message novels.

Qian, a businessman, published his first novel on tens of thousands of Chinese mobile phone screens Sept. 10, 2004.

Out of the Fortress is a text-message novel, a new literary genre, telling stories of the married masses in a society that seems to be redefining what it means to be married.

Weighing in at mere 4,200 characters, Out of the Fortress is like a marriage of haiku, a Japanese poem style featuring terse and lively language, and Hemingway and was published for its audience of mobile phone readers at 70 characters at a time -- including spaces and punctuation marks -- in two daily installments.

All this for a small fee, like any text message, charged directly to the readers' mobile phone accounts.

Qian had received an advance of 180,000 yuan, or more than US$20,000, for the book from its publisher, a text message distribution company.

(Shenzhen Daily February 5, 2005)