This is a really interesting discussion.
I do not know enough about the publishing business to know whether the
issue is only the Authors Guild. I know a couple people who have
recently published books and they complain that to distribute their
books through Amazon means extremely low return per copy sold. That's
kind of a big barrier probably for, say poetry books that are only
going to sell a few hundred or at best a few thousand copies. If the
author self-publishes and handles distribution themselves, they bypass
Amazon. Too bad for blind people but better for authors, and I
generally support authors being able to earn decent returns for their
efforts. Someone I know is doing a second edition of her poetry book
that includes a CD of her reading it.
I think Ana's point about print books being easily handed about,
shared, etc is interesting and I agree. Why SHOULDN'T blind people be
able to do something equivalent?
I suppose the out of print issue is another angle: if the world is a
brave new massive global databank, then theoretically "out of print"
might not have to exist. One could, say, pay some "archive access fee"
and get access to anyting in the databank, no matter how old. That
supposes a level of database maintenance that is different from the
individual copy preservation aspects of printed books, but it is an
interesting exercise to think about what this might look like.
I am trying to imagine some things about libraries under these
circumstances: would it be better with more universal service to ensure
that people have their own devices without having to go to libraries?
Enough ponderings for now.
DoreneC
Finally, the human vs machine speech: how many people read human speech
highly speeded up. I actually kind of like options for reading and
spelling out things at a word level. I am also not the best judge of
human vs machine reading: I have a slight predisposition for machine
speech, but I think that is partly because I have come into it pretty
late in the game when there are a number of decent options in the
machine speech area.
-----Original Message-----
From: Sun Sounds of Arizona <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thu, Jan 6, 2011 3:49 pm
Subject: Re: [VICUG-L] : Re: [VICUG-L] BAED
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.
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