How India's smartphone revolution is creating a new generation of readers and writers | Chiki Sarkar

翻译人员: Carol Wang 校对人员: jacks peng

Look all around you.

环顾一下四周。

Whether you're in a subway, a park, an airport, a restaurant,

无论是在地铁、公园、机场、餐馆，

even at this conference,

甚至现在这个会议上，

all of you have a phone in your hands or maybe in your pockets.

每人手里都有一部手机， 或者身上揣着手机。

How many of you have a book?

你们有多少人带着一本书呢？

Very few, right?

几乎没有， 对吧？

This is the sight that used to greet me

这正是我走出办公楼时，

every time I walked out of my office block.

每每映入眼帘的景象。

I was surrounded by a sea of 20-something professionals

我周围是一大群20几岁的专业人士，

glued to their phones.

他们都手机不离手，

And not a single one had a book in their hands.

没有一个人手里拿的是书。

And this used to make me very, very frustrated.

这点曾让我非常、非常沮丧。

I was a bookworm all my life.

我一生都是个书虫，

Books formed the milestones of my life.

书籍构成了我生命中的里程碑。

The first man I fell in love with was Mr. Darcy.

我爱的第一个男人是Mr. Darcy (注：《傲慢与偏见》的男主角)，

I first read "Harry Potter" when I was 21, on a summer break from college.

21岁那年的大学暑假里， 我第一次读了《哈利波特》，

And I remember the first night I spent in a little flat I bought in my mid-20s,

我还记得在25岁左右时买的 一套小公寓里度过的第一个晚上，

very proudly,

我对此非常自豪，

and I spent the whole night reading "The Da Vinci Code."

我通宵读了《达芬奇密码》。

And then I'm going to make a terrible confession:

接下来，我还要坦白告诉各位：

even today, when I'm low, I get into bed with "War and Peace."

即使在今天，当我心情不好时， 我还会让《战争与和平》陪伴我入睡。

Don't laugh.

请别笑。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But I was also like all those people I saw around me:

但我也和周围的人一样：

I, too, lived on my phone.

离不开手机。

I ordered my groceries online,

我在网上买食品和日用品，

and soon my app knew that I needed a monthly dose of diapers.

很快，我的应用程序就知道 我每月都要购买一次尿布。

I booked my cinemas on my phone.

我在手机上订电影票，

I booked planes on my phone.

在手机上订飞机票。

And when I did the long commute back home like most urban Indians,

和多数印度城里人一样， 我下班的通勤时间很长，

and was stuck in traffic,

当堵在路上时，

I passed the time on WhatsApp, video-chatting my twin.

我会通过在WhatsApp上和 双胞胎姐姐视频聊天来打发时光，

I was part of an extraordinary revolution that was happening in India.

我也亲历了发生在印度的伟大革命。

Indians are the second-largest users of smartphones in the world.

印度的智能手机用户数量位列全球第二，

And data prices have been slashed so radically

数据流量价格的持续大幅下降，

that half of urban India and even a part of rural India

让印度一半的城市人， 甚至还有一部分农村人

now have a smartphone with a data connection in their hands.

用上了能上网的智能手机。

And if you know anything about India,

如果你对印度略知一二的话，

就会知道“印度城市人口的一半” 几乎相当于整个美国的人口，

you'll know that "half" means, like, all of America or something.

You know, it's large numbers.

是的，很多人。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And these numbers are just growing and growing and growing.

智能手机用户的数量还一直在上涨，

They're exploding.

确切来说，是暴涨。

And what they're doing is empowering Indians

他们从各个不同方面

in all kinds of extraordinary ways.

正赋予印度新的活力。

And yet, none of these changes that I was seeing around me

然而，我看到的周围这些变化， 对我的世界，书的世界

were reflected in my world, my world of books.

却没有产生任何的影响和改变。

I live in a country the size of Europe,

我生活的国家和整个欧洲差不多大，

and it only has 50 decent bookshops.

却仅有50家像样的书店，

And Indians just didn't seem to want to read for fun.

印度人好像对读书并不感兴趣。

So if you look at all the best-seller lists in India,

如果你看一下印度的畅销书排行，

what you'll always find in the best-seller list

上榜的总是一些

考试和专业技术指南类书籍。

is exam and professional guides.

Imagine if you found the SAT guides as the "New York Times" number one seller,

就好比“纽约时报”排名第一的 畅销书总是SAT考试指南一样，

month after month.

如此日复一日，年复一年。

And yet, the smartphone revolution was creating readers and writers

然而，这场智能手机革命 却催生了一个不同类别的

of a different kind.

读者和撰稿人。

Whether it was on Facebook or WhatsApp,

不管在脸书上，还是WhatsApp上，

Indians were writing and sharing and reading all kinds of things:

印度人都在创作，分享和 阅读各种各样的题材：

terrible jokes, spurious pop history,

低俗笑话、虚假流行历史、

long, emotional confessions,

长篇情感告白、

diatribes against the government.

抨击政府的檄文。

And as I read and shared these things, I wondered to myself,

我阅读和转发这些东西时， 常常暗自思忖道：

"Could I get these writers and these readers,

“我能找到这些撰稿人和读者，

could I turn them into my readers?"

把他们变成我的读者吗？”

And so I left my plush corner office

于是，我离开自己宽敞舒适的办公室，

and my job as the publisher of India's top publishing company,

辞去了印度顶尖出版公司的发行人工作，

and I set up on my own.

开始自己创业。

我搬到了位于德里市房租便宜的 波西米亚区的一个大房间，

I moved into a single large room in a cheap bohemian district of Delhi,

with a small team.

建立了个小团队，

And there, I set up a new kind of publishing house.

在那里，我创办了一个新型出版社，

A new kind of publishing house needs a new kind of reader

一个需要新型读者

and a new kind of book.

和新颖出版物的新型出版社。

And so I asked myself, "What would this new reader want?

所以我问自己：“新型读者想读什么呢？”

Would they prize urgency, relevance,

他们会注重紧迫性、相关性、

timeliness, directness --

及时性、直接性——

这些看似是他们想从 网上服务中获取的品质，

the very qualities they seem to want from their online services,

indeed, the qualities they seem to want from life today?"

是眼下生活中他们想要的品质吗？

I knew that my readers were always on the go.

我深知，我的读者们总是忙个不停，

I'd have to fit into their lifestyle and schedules.

我必须去迎合他们的 生活方式和时间安排。

Would they actually want to read a 200-page book?

他们会想阅读一本200页的书吗？

Or would they want something a little bit more digestible?

或者，他们想读一些更简单易懂的读物？

Indians are incredibly value-conscious,

印度人具有令人难以置信的价值意识 ，

especially when it comes to their online reading.

尤其是在网上阅读方面。

I knew I had to give them books under a dollar.

我知道，给他们的书必须低于 1 美元。

And so my company was formed, and it was born.

于是，我的公司正式成立了。

It was a platform where we created a list of stories designed for the smartphone,

这是一个平台，我们在平台上创建了 一个为智能手机设计的故事列表，

but it also allowed amateur writers to upload their own stories,

同时，也允许业余作家将 自己创作的故事上传到平台，

so they could be showcased along with the very writers

这样一来，他们的作品就可以和

they read and admired.

自己所仰慕的作家的 作品一同展示出来。

And we could also enter into other people's digital platforms.

而且，我们和其它 数字平台也建立了联系。

So, imagine this:

试想一下这样的场景：

imagine you're a receptionist, you've had a long day at work,

设想自己是一名前台接待员， 在工作中度过了漫长的一天，

你在打车软件上叫了车，

you book your cab in your ride-hailing app,

it shows up,

车来了，

你上了车，靠在椅背上，

and you get into your car, and you lie back on your seat,

and you put on your app.

打开手机上的应用软件。

And you find a set of stories waiting for you, timed to your journey.

这时你会发现一组故事已经准备好了， 就像为你的旅程而定制一样。

Imagine you're a gay young woman,

设想自己是一位年轻的女同，

in a relatively conservative city like Lucknow, which lies near Delhi.

住在德里附近类似勒克瑙 这样一个相对保守的城市，

There's no way your parents know about your sexuality.

父母不可能知道你的性取向，

They'd completely freak out.

否则他们肯定会崩溃。

Would you like lesbian love stories written in Hindi, priced under a dollar,

你是否喜欢在手机上 秘密阅读印地语写的，

to be read in the privacy of your phone?

售价低于 1 美元的女同爱情故事？

我能否为读者匹配

And could I match readers

to the events that were taking place around them in real time?

他们周围实时发生的事情？

So we published biographies of very famous politicians

那么在著名政治家赢得重大选举后，

after they won big elections.

我们就出版了他们的传记。

When the supreme court decriminalized homosexuality,

当高级法院判同性恋合法化时，

an LGBTQ collection was waiting on our home page.

我们应用的主页就是一份LGBTQ （同性恋、双性恋和变性人请愿书）。

And when India's Toni Morrison, the great writer Mahasweta Devi died,

当被称为印度Toni Morrisaon(美国作家)的 伟大女作家Mahasweta Devi去世时，

our readers found a short story by her as soon as news hit.

消息刚出来，我们的读者就会 同时读到她写的短篇小说。

The idea was to be relevant to every moment of a reader's life.

我们平台的主旨，就是与读者 生活的每一刻都息息相关。

Who are our readers?

我们的读者是谁呢？

They're mostly young men under the age of 30.

他们大多是30岁以下的年轻男性，

There's someone like Salil,

有位叫Salil的读者，

who lives in a city where there isn't a modern bookshop.

他生活在一个没有一家 现代书店的城市里，

And he comes to our app almost every day.

他几乎每天都访问我们的手机应用。

There's someone like Manoj,

另一位叫Manoj,

who mostly reads us during the long commute back home.

他一般在下班乘车回家的 路上读我们推送的内容。

And there's someone like Ahmed, who loves our nonfiction

还有一位叫Ahmed，他喜欢定价低、

that he can read in a single sitting, and that's priced very low.

一口气就能读完的非虚构类读物。

Imagine if you're like a young, techie boy

设想你是一名科技青年，

in India's Silicon Valley city of Bangalore.

在印度“硅谷”城市班加罗尔工作。

And one day, you get an in-app notification

一天， 你收到应用里的一个通知，

and it says that your favorite actress has written a sexy short story

说你最喜欢的女演员 写了一篇性感的小故事，

and it's waiting for you.

已经为你准备好了。

That's how we launched Juggernaut.

我们的数字出版平台 Juggernaut就这样应运而生了。

We got a very famous ex-adult star, called Sunny Leone.

我们有一个很有名的前成人明星， 名字叫Sunny Leone。

She's India's most Googled person, as it happens.

在印度，碰巧她的谷歌搜索量排第一。

And we got her to write us a collection of sexy short stories

我们请她写了一个性感的短篇故事集，

that we published every night for a week.

连续一周，我们每晚推出一期，

And it was a sensation.

这一举措大获成功。

I mean, no one could believe that we'd asked Sunny Leone to write.

要知道，没人相信我们 会请Sunny Leone写故事。

But she did,

但是，她的确写了，

and she proved everyone wrong,

她证明大家都错了，

and she found this immense readership.

而且还找到了自己的巨大读者群体。

And just as we've redefined what a book is and how a reader behaves,

正如我们重新定义了什么是书， 以及读者会有什么样的行为一样,

we're rethinking who an author is.

我们正在重新思考 什么样的人可以成为撰稿人。

In our amateur writing platform,

在我们的业余写作平台，

we have writers that range from teenagers to housewives.

从青少年到家庭主妇， 他们都是我们的撰稿人。

And they're writing all kinds of things.

而且他们写的东西也五花八门。

It starts as small as a poem, an essay, a single short story ...

从小到一首诗、 一篇文章， 一个短篇小说....开始写起，

Fifty percent of them are returning to the app to write again.

他们中有50%的人会再次回到 我们的应用平台，继续写作。

Take someone like Neeraj.

以Neeraj为例，

他是个中年高管，有妻子、 两个孩子，和一份好工作，

He's a middle-aged executive, wife, two kids, a good job.

Neeraj热爱读书，

And Neeraj loves to read.

But every time Neeraj read a book that he loved,

但每当他读了一本自己喜欢的书，

he was also filled with regret.

内心都会充满遗憾。

He wondered to himself if he could write, too.

他暗自想， 自己是否也能写作。

He was convinced he had stories in his mind.

他确信自己心里有故事。

But time and real life had happened, and he couldn't really manage it.

但现实是残酷的， 他真的做不到。

And then he heard about the Juggernaut writer's platform.

后来，他听说了我们的 数字出版平台Juggernaut，

And what he loved about it was that he felt this was a place

而他最喜欢的是，在这里，

where he could stand head and shoulders, equally,

他觉得自己可以和最钦佩的作家

with the very writers that he most admired.

平起平坐。

And so he began to write.

于是，他开始了创作。

And he snatched a minute here, an hour there,

他这里挤 1 分钟，那里凑1 个小时，

在机场等候转机的间隙，或者深夜，

in between flights in airports,

late at night, when he had a little bit of time on his hands.

但凡他手头有一点时间，都用来写作，

And he wrote this extraordinary story for us.

最终，他为我们写了一个超级棒的故事。

He wrote a story about a family of assassins

这个故事是围绕一个刺客家庭展开，

这一家人都住在老德里蜿蜒的小巷里。

who lived in the winding lanes of Old Delhi.

We loved it, it was so fresh and original.

我们很喜欢这个故事， 它是如此鲜活和新颖。

And before Neeraj knew it, he'd not only scored a film deal

很快， Neeraj不但 有机会将故事拍成电影，

but also a second contract to write another story.

还签了第二个故事的合约。

Neeraj's story is one of the most read stories on our app.

Neeraj 的故事是我们平台上 阅读量最多的故事之一。

My journey is very, very young.

我的创业旅程非常、非常短，

We're a two-year-old company, and we have a long way to go.

公司成立才两年，我们还有很长的路要走。

But we already, and we will by the end of this year,

不过我们会在今年年底前，

have about half a million stories, many priced at under a dollar.

拥有大约 50 万个故事， 很多售价不足 1 美元。

我们的大多数读者喜爱阅读，

Most of our readers love reading

and trying out authors they've never, ever heard of before.

并且会尝试阅读那些他们 以前从未听过的作者的作品，

Thirty percent of our home page reads

我们 30% 的主页阅读

comes out of the writing that comes from our writer's platform.

来自于我们平台上撰稿人的作品。

凭借无处不在，

By being everywhere,

by being accessible and relevant,

唾手可得，和与读者生活息息相关的优势，

I hope to make reading a daily habit,

我希望让阅读成为一种日常习惯，

as easy and effortless as checking your email,

就像查看电子邮件一样容易和轻松，

as booking a ticket online

像在网上订票

or ordering your groceries.

或订购日用品一样顺手。

And as for me,

对我而言，

I've discovered that as I entered the six-inch world of the smartphone,

我发现，当我进入 智能手机方寸的世界中时，

my own world just got very, very big.

自己的世界就会变得无限大。

Thank you.

谢谢大家！

(Applause)

（掌声）