How long does it take to write and publish a book? A year, two years? How about trying to do it in 24 hours?

It may seem like an impossible task but one company has pulled together a small group of writers and a few literary organisations to write a book within 24 hours, set on the same day that it will be written! Led by acclaimed author Kate Pullinger, the writers will construct their story around a group of people at allotments in South London on Saturday October 3.

The 24hr book project is an experimental publishing project, which couples online collaboration tools with new advances in publishing to create a real time story that is written, edited and published in just 24 hours. Organisers CompletelyNovel are a self-publishing and print on-demand company that has turned the publishing industry on it’s head since launching in mid 2008. Marketed as a YouTube for books, users write and share books that can be easily published through the site’s on demand printing service.

CompletelyNovel has teamed up with if:book, The Society of Young Publishers and Spread the Word to organise a team of writers who’ll construct the final text and a team to get this published in print and online. Anna Lewis, COO of CompletelyNovel, has likened the project to the 2004 film Crash where different strands of seemingly disparate stories are woven together. The big difference here is that this story is going to be written and produced in real time.

The writers are going to need a lot of ideas and support to pull this off so the 24 hour book project wants budding authors to suggest story ideas, events happening in London, or local news on Saturday from 10am. To contribute, you can join their ning group to upload illustrations and video or tweet suggestions via the #24hrbook hashtag on Twitter.

For more information and to get involved with the project follow @24hrbook, organiser @anna_cn or lead writer @katepullinger – and don’t forget to use the #24hrbook to tweet your suggestions!

Followers if this blog will remember that this event is happening on the same day as the charity event LondonForLondon – let’s hope that gets a mention too!

The finished book will be available to read for free online and will link directly to Print-on-Demand printers so hard copies of the 24hr book will be available at the launch on Monday 5 October. Click here for your chance to register for a ticket to the event.