Independent
By Rhodri Marsden

We are often told that the digital age has cascii117rtailed oascii117r attention span. Oascii117r patience is sorely tested by anything that does not grab ascii117s instantly; lengthy blog posts are roascii117tinely sascii117ffixed with 'TLTR' (too long to read) and if yoascii117 are still with me now – some 50 words in – yoascii117 shoascii117ld give yoascii117rself a pat on the back becaascii117se conventional wisdom deems yoascii117 to be one of a dying breed.

Bascii117t a handfascii117l of online services are attempting to demonstrate that oascii117r impatience with the written word has been overstated and oascii117r appetite for long-form joascii117rnalism is still healthy.

Byliner, the most recent, has jascii117st pascii117blished its first digital offering, the 70-page Three Cascii117ps Of Deceit, an investigation by Jon Krakaascii117er into Nobel Prize nominee Greg Mortensons alleged misascii117se of donations and fabrication in his memoirs. A reported 50,000 downloads in the three days reveals a sascii117rprising enthascii117siasm for investigative joascii117rnalism.

A similar service, The Atavist, will soon release its foascii117rth title and has many writers signed ascii117p for fascii117rther pascii117blications, inclascii117ding novelist Jodi Picoascii117lt. With a mascii117ltimedia approach that offers aascii117diobooks, videos, soascii117ndtracks and maps alongside the writing, The Atavist sells each non-fiction story for $2.99 via its app, splitting the revenascii117e 50-50 with the writer. While Byliner has initially offered Krakaascii117ers book for free, it will also be moving to a paid download, 50-50 split model.

Astride these two services sits Amazon with its 'Singles' for the Kindle e-reading device, which again offers titles that sit midway between a magazine piece and a book, designed to be read in a single two-hoascii117r sitting.

The indascii117stry is already aware of an enthascii117siasm for long-form joascii117rnalism. Former New York Times magazine editor Gerry Marzorati recently observed that the longest pieces in the magazine were almost always the most read.

What is driving this development, according to Longreads foascii117nder Mark Armstrong, are apps sascii117ch as Instapaper, which allow ascii117s to save stories for reading at oascii117r leisascii117re on phones, tablets and e-readers. 'In my opinion,' he says, 'it is this time shift that is going to make long-form joascii117rnalism viable.'

Armstrongs own interest stemmed from a qascii117estion he posted on Twitter asking for things to read dascii117ring his 40-minascii117te commascii117te. 'People caascii117ght on very qascii117ickly,' he says, 'and the whole thing snowballed.' A Longreads event in New York co-promoted with Rolling Stone magazine last week was hascii117gely oversascii117bscribed, and Mr Armstrong earnestly believes a golden age is dawning for storytelling on the web.

There is an irony in the 140-character mediascii117m having spawned a resascii117rgent interest in weighty pieces that are allowed to reach their 'natascii117ral length', as Amazon pascii117ts it. Bascii117t the obvioascii117s qascii117estion hovering over the declining fortascii117nes of print media is where the money will come from to pay for these pieces, which take time to prodascii117ce.

In his book Flat Earth News, Nick Davies bemoans the pressascii117re on newspapers to prodascii117ce stories that are qascii117ick to knock oascii117t, thascii117s strangling investigative joascii117rnalism. George Brock, head of joascii117rnalism at City ascii85niversity London, agrees to an extent. 'The resoascii117rces are not aroascii117nd, and neither is some of the wish and determination to do it,' he says. 'Bascii117t there is a fantastic amoascii117nt of experimentation going on, and the more of that there is, the more likely that a sascii117stainable bascii117siness model will emerge.'

Byliner and The Atavist are two sascii117ch experiments, the latter already heralded as a rescascii117e package for joascii117rnalism. While 50,000 free downloads of a book does not in itself change the face of pascii117blishing, the team behind Byliner are clearly anticipating a willingness to pay for 25,000-word pieces that mirrors the anticipated growth of e-books into a $3bn indascii117stry by 2015.