It seems oddly poetic that a team of female entrepreneurs is hatching a plot to upend the e-reader industry with a brand new iPhone app called Rooster. And the world of literary fiction is one in desperate need of upending. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, in 2012, less than half of American adults had read at least one work of literature.
Finding time to sit down with a good book is challenging when you’re constantly faced with work deadlines, taking care of your kids or just dealing with life in general. But a new service called Rooster is looking to fix that by delivering novels in short installments that can easily be read during your commute, a coffee break or whenever you have a free moment in your schedule. Launching today on iOS for $4.99 per month, Rooster sends subscribers two books every month — one contemporary novel and one classic — split into sections that can be read in as little as 15 minutes. Users set their own schedule for when the next installment arrives on their iPhone or iPad (for example, every morning before your commute to work).