Will India ever have free e-books like on the New York Subway?
Commuters can read short stories and novellas during their ride instead of scrolling obsessively through their newsfeed.
Now, riders of the New York City subway can read short stories, novellas, and excerpted chapters from novels during their commute.
A report in the New York Times says that Subway Reads, a web platform, has partnered with Penguin Random House to bring reading material to commuters. This can even be selected based on the length of one’s subway ride – a 10-minute-read for a 10-minute ride, a 20-minute-chapter for a 20-minute commute, and so on.
Subway Reads approached PRH after the mega publishing house did a similar promotion on the London Underground to celebrate Penguin’s 80th anniversary.
The feature will last for eight weeks, and is meant to promote the presence of Wi-Fi in 175 stations of the New York subway. In this time, riders can read short stories and novellas Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Alexander McCall Smith, F Scott Fitzgerald, and Edgar Allen Poe – all for free.
If only such a service came to the Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru or Kolkata metros. With so many on their phones in any case, there are sure to be many takers.
