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

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Carol Wang

Look all around you.

看看你們的周圍。

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

不論你是在地鐵、公園、機場、

餐廳，甚至在這場研討會中，

even at this conference,

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

每個人手上都有一支手機， 或是放在口袋裡。

How many of you have a book?

誰身上有一本書？

Very few, right?

很少人，對吧？

This is the sight that used to greet me

每當我走出我的辦公大樓， 迎接我的就是這樣的景象。

every time I walked out of my office block.

I was surrounded by a sea of 20-something professionals

我被一大群年約二十 出頭的專業人士圍著，

glued to their phones.

每個人都黏著手機。

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

沒有一個人手上有一本書。

And this used to make me very, very frustrated.

以前，這讓我感到非常非常挫折。

I was a bookworm all my life.

我一生都是個書蟲。

Books formed the milestones of my life.

我人生中的里程碑 都和書脫不了關係。

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

我第一個愛上的男人是達西先生。 （備註：《傲慢與偏見》小說人物）

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

我二十一歲時，在大學的暑假 初次讀到《哈利波特》。

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

我還記得我在約二十五歲時， 住進我買一間小公寓的第一晚，

very proudly,

我非常自豪，

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

我整晚都在讀《達文西密碼》。

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

接著，我要坦白一件很糟糕的事：

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

到現在，心情低落時，我還是會 帶著《戰爭與和平》入睡。

Don't laugh.

不要笑。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

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

但我也和我周遭的那些人一樣：

I, too, lived on my phone.

我也要靠手機過日子。

I ordered my groceries online,

我在線上訂購雜貨，

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

很快的，我的應用程式就知道 我每個月都需要一定量的尿布。

I booked my cinemas on my phone.

我用手機訂電影票。

I booked planes on my phone.

我用手機訂機票。

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

當我和大部分城市印度人 一樣長程通勤回家

and was stuck in traffic,

卻卡在塞車的車陣中時，

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

我會用 WhatsApp 和我的 雙胞胎手足視訊聊天打發時間。

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

印度正在發生一場很不凡的 革命，而我是其中一部分。

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

印度的手機使用者 人數排名世界第二。

And data prices have been slashed so radically

伴隨上網費率的急遽下降，

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

讓印度都市區有一半的人， 甚至鄉村區也有一部分的人，

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

現在手上都有一支 有數據連線的手機。

And if you know anything about India,

如果你對印度有點了解，

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

就會知道「一半」的意思， 大概就等於全美國的人之類的。

You know, it's large numbers.

那是個很大的數目。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And these numbers are just growing and growing and growing.

這些在不斷不斷不斷地 成長，爆炸性的成長。

They're exploding.

And what they're doing is empowering Indians

而這些手機的功能，是讓印度人

in all kinds of extraordinary ways.

在各個非凡的面向上 都有更強的能力。

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

但，我在我周圍看到的這些改變

were reflected in my world, my world of books.

沒有反映在我的世界裡， 我的書的世界裡。

I live in a country the size of Europe,

我的國家，大小和歐洲一樣大，

and it only has 50 decent bookshops.

卻只有五十間像樣的書店。

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

印度人似乎並沒有想要 為了樂趣而閱讀。

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

如果你去看印度的暢銷書排行，

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

你在排行榜上總會找到 考試指南和專業指南。

is exam and professional guides.

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

想像你在紐約時報的排行榜上 看到 SAT 考試指南，

month after month.

每個月都上榜。

And yet, the smartphone revolution was creating readers and writers

但，智慧手機革命

正在創造出不同型的讀者和作家。

of a different kind.

Whether it was on Facebook or WhatsApp,

不論是在臉書上或 WhatsApp 上，

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

印度人會撰寫、分享、 閱讀各種東西：

terrible jokes, spurious pop history,

爛笑話、假的流行歷史、

long, emotional confessions,

冗長的情緒抒發、

diatribes against the government.

對政府的譴責。

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

當我閱讀、分享這些 內容時，我會納悶：

"Could I get these writers and these readers,

「我能夠把這些作家和讀者

could I turn them into my readers?"

變成我的讀者嗎？」

And so I left my plush corner office

所以我離開了我那 豪華的角落辦公室，

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

辭掉在印度最頂尖的 出版社當發行者的工作，

and I set up on my own.

我決定自己來。

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

我搬到德里便宜的藝術區，

找了一間大房間，

with a small team.

帶著一個小團隊。

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

在那裡，我創立了 一種新的出版商。

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

這種新的出版商需要新型的讀者

and a new kind of book.

和新型的書。

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

所以，我問我自己： 「這種新的讀者想要什麼？

Would they prize urgency, relevance,

他們是否會珍視急迫性、

timeliness, directness --

重要性、及時性、直接性——

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

這些似乎就是他們從 線上服務想要找到的特性，

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

也否正是他們想要從 現今的生活中找到的特性？」

I knew that my readers were always on the go.

我知道我的讀者們 一直都在活躍忙碌著。

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

我得要配合他們的 生活方式和時程表。

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

他們真的會想要 讀一本兩百頁的書嗎？

Or would they want something a little bit more digestible?

還是他們會想要 比較好消化的東西？

Indians are incredibly value-conscious,

印度人對於價值非常有意識，

especially when it comes to their online reading.

特別是在線上閱讀的時候。

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

我知道我得要提供他們 一美元以下的書。

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

於是，我的公司就這麼誕生了。

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

它是個平台，我們會建立清單，

列出為智慧手機設計的故事，

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

但它也允許業餘作家 上傳他們自己的故事，

so they could be showcased along with the very writers

他們就能夠

和他們過去閱讀 且欣賞的作家一起亮相。

they read and admired.

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

我們也能夠進入 其他人的數位平台。

So, imagine this:

所以，想像一下：

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

想想你是位接待員， 你工作了漫長的一整天，

you book your cab in your ride-hailing app,

你用叫車應用程式 訂了一台計程車，

it shows up,

它出現了，

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

你上了你的車， 你向後靠到座位上，

and you put on your app.

你打開你的應用程式。

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

你發現有一組故事在等著你， 根據你的旅程時間挑選的。

Imagine you're a gay young woman,

想像你是年輕的女同志，

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

在相對比較保守的城市， 比如德里附近的勒克瑙。

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

絕對不能讓你的父母 知道你的性向。

They'd completely freak out.

他們肯定會抓狂。

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

你會不會希望能從私人的手機上，

閱讀用印度語寫的女同志故事，

to be read in the privacy of your phone?

且價格不到一美元？

And could I match readers

我能不能幫讀者做配對，

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

找到他們周圍即時 正在發生中的活動？

So we published biographies of very famous politicians

所以，在非常著名的 政治人物贏得大選之後，

after they won big elections.

我們會出版他們的自傳。

When the supreme court decriminalized homosexuality,

當最高法庭讓同性戀合法化時，

an LGBTQ collection was waiting on our home page.

我們的首頁就放著 LGBTQ 選集等讀者來看。

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

當印度的托妮莫里森，即 偉大的作家瑪哈絲維塔黛維過世時，

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

新聞一出來，我們的讀者 就能看到她所寫的短篇故事。

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

出發點是要和讀者人生中的 每個時刻都有相關性。

Who are our readers?

我們的讀者是誰？

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

大部分是三十歲以下的年輕人。

There's someone like Salil,

有像瑟里這樣的人，

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

他所住的城市裡沒有現代的書店。

And he comes to our app almost every day.

他幾乎每天都會上 我們的應用程式。

There's someone like Manoj,

還有像摩諾吉的人，

who mostly reads us during the long commute back home.

他在通勤回家的漫長路上 都會閱讀我們的書。

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

還有像阿梅的人， 他喜歡我們提供的那些

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

價格低且一次就能 讀完的非小說類書籍。

Imagine if you're like a young, techie boy

想像你是個迷科技的年輕人，

in India's Silicon Valley city of Bangalore.

在印度的矽谷班加羅爾工作。

And one day, you get an in-app notification

有一天，你在應用程式中 收到一則通知，

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

通知說你最喜歡的女演員 寫了一本性感小說

and it's waiting for you.

正在等著你去閱讀。

That's how we launched Juggernaut.

我們就是這樣推出 Juggernaut 的。

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

我們有個非常有名的 前色情明星，叫做珊妮里昂。

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

是印度 Google 搜尋 最熱門的名字。

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

我們請她幫我們寫了 一系列性感短篇小說，

that we published every night for a week.

我們每天晚上出版，持續一週。

And it was a sensation.

造成大轟動。

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

我是指，沒有人相信 我們能讓珊妮里昂寫作。

But she did,

但她寫了，

and she proved everyone wrong,

且她證明大家都錯了，

and she found this immense readership.

她找到了廣大的讀者群。

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

在我們重新定義書籍是什麼，

以及讀者的行為時，

we're rethinking who an author is.

我們也在重新思考作家是什麼人。

In our amateur writing platform,

在我們的業餘寫作平台上，

we have writers that range from teenagers to housewives.

我們的作家從青少年 到家庭主婦都有。

And they're writing all kinds of things.

他們什麼題材都寫。

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

從一首詩這麼小的作品開始，

一段短文、一則短篇小說……

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

這些作家中有 50% 都會 再回來應用程式繼續寫作。

Take someone like Neeraj.

比如尼勒吉，他是位中年的主管，

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

有太太、兩個孩子、一份好工作。

And Neeraj loves to read.

尼勒吉很愛閱讀。

But every time Neeraj read a book that he loved,

但每當尼勒吉讀一本他愛的書時，

he was also filled with regret.

他也會充滿了悔恨。

He wondered to himself if he could write, too.

他會納悶，他是否也可以寫作。

He was convinced he had stories in his mind.

他深信他腦中有故事可以說。

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

但因為時間和現實生活， 讓他無法真的去做。

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

接著，他聽說了 Juggernaut 作家平台。

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

這個地方讓他很喜歡的一點是，

他覺得他能夠在這個地方

where he could stand head and shoulders, equally,

和他最欣賞的作家並駕齊驅。

with the very writers that he most admired.

And so he began to write.

於是他開始寫作。

And he snatched a minute here, an hour there,

他到處找空檔來寫， 這裡一分鐘，那裡一小時，

in between flights in airports,

在機場候機的時候，

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

深夜手頭上還有一點時間時。

And he wrote this extraordinary story for us.

他為我們寫出了很不凡的故事。

He wrote a story about a family of assassins

他寫了一個關於刺客家庭的故事，

who lived in the winding lanes of Old Delhi.

住在舊德里的彎曲巷弄中。

We loved it, it was so fresh and original.

我們很愛這個故事， 又新鮮又有原創性。

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

沒多久，尼勒吉不僅 簽下了翻拍電影的合約，

but also a second contract to write another story.

還拿到第二份合約， 撰寫另一個故事。

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

尼勒吉的故事是我們應用程式上 最多人閱讀的故事之一。

My journey is very, very young.

我的旅程才在初期。

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

我們的公司才兩歲， 我們還有很長的路要走。

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

但，到今年年底，

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

我們會有大約五十萬個故事， 當中許多的價格還不到一美元。

我們的讀者大多喜歡閱讀，

Most of our readers love reading

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

也喜歡嘗試他們 從來沒有聽過的作家。

Thirty percent of our home page reads

來造訪我們首頁的人，

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

有 30%是從我們 作家平台上的作品連過來的。

By being everywhere,

透過無所不在、

by being accessible and relevant,

可以取得，且有相關性等特性，

I hope to make reading a daily habit,

我希望我們能讓閱讀 成為日常習慣，

as easy and effortless as checking your email,

輕鬆不費力，就如同查看郵件、

as booking a ticket online

在線上訂票或是購買雜貨。

or ordering your groceries.

And as for me,

對我而言，

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

當我進入了智慧手機的 六英吋世界時，

my own world just got very, very big.

我發現自己的世界變得非常非常大。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）