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access_fandomkestrell explains how we can make more books readable.
Bookshare.org provides ebooks to folks who have official status as print-impaired. Unlimited access is free for students and US$50 per year for adults.
Many writers and publishers still don't know about Bookshare, so in my emails I usually include a link to the Bookshare page describing how authors can get their books added to the library
https://www.bookshare.org/cms/partners/authors
(no subject)
Date: 2019-04-11 11:19 pm (UTC)I can't begin to say how Bookshare has transformed the life of me and other visually impaired readers. When Bookshare started, only about 1% of books were available in formats for print-impaired readers. Bookshare changed that.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-04-19 11:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-04-20 03:09 am (UTC)Good question!
The ebooks distributed by Bookshare are in several formats, including braille and DAISY. Bookshare offers electronic braille files, which can be read on a computer (through a braille display) or printed as a book. Like braille, DAISY is a format used only by print-impaired readers, and it has special features that are specifically designed for print-impaired readers.
Some of the ebooks at Amazon are accessible to print-impaired readers, but most of the ebooks published by major presses have DRM, an anti-theft device. DRM locks out many print-impaired readers from using the special software those readers need in order to read the ebooks by audio or braille. For that reason, hundreds of publishers and authors have been donating their ebooks to Bookshare, without DRM. Bookshare then adds a special form of DRM that doesn't interfere with print-impaired readers' ability to read the ebooks.
Many small presses and self-publishers make sure that their retail ebooks don't have DRM, and that means their retail ebooks are accessible electronically (though the retail ebooks aren't in braille or DAISY). I'd certainly recommend this practice to all publishers and indie authors. However, that doesn't fully resolve the issue of accessibility, because most retail ebooks have to be bought. I don't know what the latest unemployment figures are for the blind, but I seem to recall that they're something horrendous, like 80%. That's another reason why many blind readers depend heavily on special libraries such as Bookshare for their reading matter. Those readers simply don't have the money to buy all their ebooks, and most public libraries have only a small selection of ebooks.
Back in 2001, when I became partially sighted, I had only a small amount of money, and I hadn't yet figured out a way to work for more money. There were a few ebooks out at that time, but chances were good that they had DRM, and even if some of them didn't, I couldn't have afforded to buy them. So I read a small selection of braille books until Bookshare came along, allowing me to read a much larger collection of ebooks by text-to-speech and very large font. As more and more publishers and authors have donated their ebooks to Bookshare, I now have access to a large portion of the U.S. books recently published, whereas in 2001, I had access to very few books at all.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-04-20 04:13 pm (UTC)Will be uploading at least some of my books soon (depends how time-consuming it is, I might do them all)
Do you mind if I link to your explanation on Facebook? I want to share with other authors :)
(no subject)
Date: 2019-04-20 09:14 pm (UTC)"Do you mind if I link to your explanation on Facebook?"
By all means! Thank you for being so generous in your offerings to Bookshare.
"I always opt out of DRM when I publish on Amazon"
Yay!
"I didn't realise they wouldn't be accessible through braille displays"
Braille displays I can't speak about from experience, because I've never been able to afford one. (Braille displays cost four figures to buy.) Back when I wanted to emboss - i.e. print - e-texts into braille books, I had to go through a complicated software process to do so. Just having an electronic braille file to start with would have been a lot easier, which is why Bookshare's braille files are so handy. You can even send the braille file to a third-party company and have them emboss the book for you.
"I thought libraries could buy ebooks on request (well, most are meant to, at least) to bridge that gap."
I read at least one book a week; having to handle that many requests would strain my librarians' patience, I think. Especially if they have more than one visually impaired patron. :)
(Checks to see whether e-books borrowed through my public library's OverDrive collection are accessible to iPhone's built-in screen reader. Nope, they sure aren't. There may be DRM-free e-books at OverDrive, but there's no way to identify them through the app.)
(Correction: It depends on what app one uses, apparently.)
I don't want to give the impression that print-impaired readers never buy e-books. I certainly have. But books and e-books in a public library tend to be less accessible to print-impaired readers, so print-impaired readers have their own libraries to supplement public libraries.
I look at it this way (switching to my author hat). If most American print-impaired readers are going to this particular library - Bookshare - to borrow e-books, then by golly, I want to reach that large population with my e-books, rather than risk missing all those readers.
(Bumps up my own plans to donate my e-books to Bookshare.)
(no subject)
Date: 2019-04-22 09:16 am (UTC)This also depends on what country you are in, and which publisher is involved. Tor, for example, have started heavily windowing their library ebooks, with at least a four month delay (sometimes much longer). Some publishers, such as Penguin Australia, have spent long periods outright refusing to allow any ebook borrowing at all.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-04-22 01:12 pm (UTC)From this side of the operation, library sales pays really well--but I have yet to get any orders from libraries at all, so not quite sure if borrowing would be the same. In any case, when I have remembered to check, I haven't seen my books available through their catalogues so I see your point, there's a lot that isn't accessible...
Anyway, glad Bookshare exists, anyone know of similar services that work internationally/in other countries?
The US has multiple, overlapping accessible-format systems
Date: 2019-04-22 04:40 pm (UTC)Some of the very first wax cylinder recordings were "Talking Books." In the U.S., the National Library Service of the Library of Congress (NLS) has been providing accessible formats—audio and braille—since 1931. The establishing legislation mandated free services to US residents. Because copyright is part of the Library of Congress's business, individual author permission is not required for the NLS to create alternative formats.
https://www.loc.gov/nls/
As personal computers became accessible to ordinary folks in the 1990s, Bookshare and Learning Ally (established as Recordings for the Blind) proved that file-based audio and braille worked. The NLS got on board in 2010 with BARD. Its copy-protection scheme works with smartphones and Amazon Fire, as well as purpose-built devices.
Many other national library services provide similar services—check with your friendly librarian about "accessible formats for print disabled (aka print impaired) people."
The Marrakesh Treaty recently provided a global mechanism to prevent copyright from interfering with the production of accessible formats at the national level.
I nerd out about this topic because I published a newsletter as word processor files on 5.25" floppy disks back in the 1980s.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-04-12 02:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-04-12 03:19 am (UTC)