MEDIA RELEASE - Emily and the Depths of Darkness

MEDIA RELEASE
March 2010

Launch of INTERACTIVE Mobile Book to encourage literacy and creativity amongst Teens

South Africa – MXit, the global social networking and instant messaging giant, after launching Africa’s first IM book in a bid to encourage literacy and a love of reading amongst youth, is now at the forefront of INTERACTIVE storytelling. From today, MXit users will be able to download the first three chapters of the next book in the Scroll of Seven Fantasy series by Karen Michelle Brooks, entitled Emily and the Depths of Darkness, and write the 4th Chapter themselves. The first two books in the series are available online at MXIT and at selected bookstores.

“The first two books, Emily and the Battle of the Veil, and Emily and the Sprites of light, have sold over 60000 chapters on MXIT in approximately 6 months, so we know we are reaching our target audience. We wanted to take it to the next level, and get the users, not just reading, but writing. We want them to be a part of creating Emily’s story,” says author, Karen Brooks.

The first two books in the series, and the first 3 chapters of Emily and the Depths of Darkness, can be read, at only 100moola (R1) a chapter, by downloading the contact Tradepost> MXit Mix> Entertainment> Mbooks. The 4th chapter (with a limit of 1000 words) will be written by the users, and they can upload their input via Mobile or by using the PC Version of Mxit EMO, for a fee of 500moola (R5), for a period of approximately 2 weeks. Splash screens (on logging on to MXit) should alert the users that the time has come for them to upload their chapter. The winning entry will be edited by the author and posted on Mxit, and will obviously form part of the ongoing Emily story on MXit.

“Our aim is to encourage participation, and we’ve set the entry fee at R5 because we are looking for serious story-tellers who want to be a part of the Emily series,” says author, Karen Brooks. “I can’t wait to see how creative our teens really are.”

About MXit

MXit is a free instant messaging program for both mobile phones and PCs. It allows members to chat to other MXit users anywhere in the world. It also allows users to send text messages to and from mobile phones and PCs using GPRS or 3G instead of using standard SMS technology, which is expensive.

The social networking element of the business is the cornerstone of its growth. MXit is a new generation company that boasts 15 million members and is growing by 18 000 users per day. It is in constant evolution to match the needs of its users and is set on becoming one of the biggest instant messaging mobile networks in the world and the preferred mobile social network for communicating with young people in Africa and globally.

To download MXit: Open your mobile browser, type in www.mxit.com/wap and simply follow the prompts.