By Natasha Elkington

TORONTO (Reuters) - An Italian writer decided to put his mobile phone to good use during his daily commute to and from work -- by writing a book.
Robert Bernocco, an IT professional took advantage of his travel time by writing a 384-page science fiction novel, Compagni di Viaggo (Fellow Travelers), on his Nokia using the phone's T9 typing system.

"It really was a time management issue. He had a book in him and really wanted to write it but found he just didn't have the time to sit and do it on a computer," said Gail Jordan, PR director at the book's publishers, Lulu.com.

Writing in standard Italian rather than text-message shorthand, Bernocco divided his manuscript into short paragraphs, saved them on his phone and then downloaded them onto his home computer for proofreading and editing.

"Only a few years ago I would have struggled to find both the time and the publisher to enable me to create this book," Bernocco said in a statement. "Thanks to my Nokia and Lulu, I am now proud to be a published author."

Lulu.com has more than a million registered members and was developed by Canadian businessman Bob Young to publish books, videos and multimedia on the Internet.

"The fact that this gentleman had this -- no pun intended -- novel idea to do it off his phone and found it so simple to then upload it on our site and create a book speaks exactly to what we do, we are time saving for people," Jordan told Reuters.

There are about 323,000 items published on lulu.com. Bernocco's book is currently ranked at 19,720 by sales and can be purchased for $17.38.
© Copyright 2007 Reuters.

Photo:
The book cover of Compagni di Viaggo (Fellow Travelers) is seen in an undated publicity image. An Italian writer decided to put his mobile phone to good use during his daily commute to and from work -- by writing a book. Robert Bernocco, an IT professional took advantage of his travel time by writing a 384-page science fiction novel, Compagni di Viaggo (Fellow Travelers), on his Nokia using the phone's T9 typing system. REUTERS/Lulu.com/Handout