Nan, you do bring up a number of valid issues. That's one reason why it is
so disappointing that the Author's Guild have been so stubborn about
granting rights for the Kindle screen reader. The authors themselves are
acting as spoiled gatekeepers in my opinion based on an incomplete
understanding of the issues combined with greed. This is not to dispute your
point, just an amplification of the issues involved.
If I may, there are also other resources to bring to bear, and other
considerations.
First off, though I certainly grasp the desire to get a book quickly, I do
not entirely agree that quantity trumps quality, at least not always. Many
people do read books using synthetic speech. Yet, repeatedly when asked,
blind consumers overwhelmingly prefer human voice to synthetic. I know I
sure do. I use the synthetic speech when I must, but will always choose
human voice in preference when possible.
That said, the publishers themselves do produce many audio books. However,
just like NLS, they do not produce them all, and they are also not priced
competitively. So, again, a gate keeper is in place. Why should I as a
consumer have to pay more for an audio book when in fact, it is less
expensive to produce an audio book than it is to produce a printed hard
cover book?
One final note: though it is very limited in selection, one additional
source for brand new books in audio form is radio reading services. These
are produced much more quickly than NLS books, are usually very well done,
and are often available at the same time the print book is released. The
limitation is though they can only produce a tiny number as it must be
broadcast.
In conclusion, I agree with you that being active consumers is preferable to
being passive clients. However, for that to be really possible, we have to
be given the same power to read at will as sighted people have. This has not
happened even through the Kindle.
Regards,
Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nan Hawthorne
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011 4:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VICUG-L] : Re: [VICUG-L] BAED
Dorene,
I should have been more precise with my question. Here are the details:
I read Candace M. Robb's wonderful Owen Archer mysteries on cassettes from
the national Library Service. I looked today to see if a particular book,
The Lady Chapel, had made it to NLS Bard's digital library yet. The answer
is no.. only one of the series is there at this point. I could read it
again on cassette and may have to, but I am pretty burnt with the broken
tapes etc.
I actually had checked the book on Amazon to see if it was available for the
Kindle 3. It is not. I have been wallowing in all the books not on NLS in
any format that I can read on my Kindle 3... it's been a gas, so many I
never thought I would be able to read without scanning a book...
which is time consuming and the initial outlay expensive... otherwise.
You kind of bring up the central issue of this whole matter of NLS and book
choices. They have a limited budget, true, but there is something to be
said for quantity over quality. Getting books into text so they can be read
on something like a Kindle or a Stream might be the way to get more books
into readers' hands might be the way to go.
I've delved into this general topic for sometime, principally on my That's
All She Read blog about books and accessibility. I recognize and admire the
accomplishment of NLS in do ing what they do so well. I am far more
inclined however to try to be an active consumer than a recipient of
services for the blind.. I just feel that inevitably one has more ppower
when the almighty dollar is concerned. I am seeing this very much the case
in books that can be read on readers like the Kindle.
I happen to be a founding member of the Independent Author's Guild so am
concerned that we are not not just stuck with what marketing departments and
other gatekeepers tell us what we can read.
Here is what I was told by the NLS about their book choice process...
this is beyond bestsellers and favorite authors. They take suggestions from
the state libraries for about a year. Then they think long and hard about
what books to have narrated. Then the months it takes to produce the books
goes by.
In the meantime, my colleagues and friends have all long ago read Sharon Kay
Penman's latest and are waiting for her next... and I am out of luck.
So ofter when I bring up this disparity, this separate and unequal, I get
unpleasant reactions from other blind people, boiling down to how I don't
understand, and don't I know how hard they work and how tight resources are,
and in essence shut up and be grateful. To me that sounds like second class
citizenship.
So I have taken the abuse for being such a fan of Kindle 3 because as both a
reader and author I want books as soon as I can after they come out, and not
just the ones with garish covers at the checkout stand. I do a site called
medieval-novels.com www.medieval-novels.com with over 1200 books on it.. a
fraction of which are available "for the blind" but a growing number which
are making their way to Kindle.
So how's that? Lots to ponder.. I hope this group is less kneejerk about
the whole issue of services for as opposed to consumer activism.
I, by the way, will have a download book on BARD sometime this year.. a
medieval novel of course, called "An Involuntary King". It took some heavy
duty education and convincing of my local library for the blind to get it
recorded.. and it took a couple years too.
With respect,
Nan Hawthorne
medieval-novels.com
Over 1200 Novels set in the Middle Ages and Renaissance!
www.medieval-novels.com
Add your favorites now!
, books I thought I might never have the chance to read, but alas, Owen
Archer is not one of them.
You
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