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Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Free Chapter Download Program by Humanware and ReadHowYouWant
Thursday, July 9, 2009
ALA 2009 Conference Guide in Accessible Editions
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Chris Stephens' Paper on Making Libraries Accessible for an Aging Population
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Top 50 Bestselling Classic Authors
Here is the list. At the end of the list, I will add a few authors who should also be considered by librarians who are looking for popular fiction in large print. I apologize for not putting it into alphabetical order. This is more in the order that we re-typeset the books.
In some cases we have all of their works available. In others, we have not yet completed all of them. If you search by author on our web site, you can find them. If you would prefer a spreadsheet that you can sort, please let me know so I can email it to you.
Kenneth Grahame
R. D. Blackmore
*Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Tressell
*Victor Hugo
Wilkie Collins
Aesopus
Lucius Apuleius
John Arbuthnot
Honore de Balzac
Benito Perez Galdos
John Keats
*Bram Stoker
*Joseph Conrad
*Mark Twain
Aphra Behn
Anthony Trollope
Oscar Wilde
Charles Kingsley
*Charles Robert Maturin
Lewis Carroll
*Anne Bronte
*Arthur Conan Doyle
Samuel Butler
Ann Radcliffe
Alexander Pope
*Louisa May Alcott
Jules Verne
John Bunyan
*Thomas Hardy
*Jane Austen
*Charles Dickens
William Makepeace Thackeray
James Boswell
Henry Fielding
*Charlotte Brontë
Leo Tolstoy
*Alexandre Dumas
D. H. Lawrence
*Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Baring-Gould
Charlotte Lennox
Anna Sewell
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
George Eliot
Herman Melville
Jerome K. Jerome
Johanna Spyri
John Galsworthy
Horatio Alger
L. Frank Baum
Willa Cather
James Fennimore Cooper
Daniel de Foe
H. Rider Haggard
Bret Harte
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Henry James
Ring Lardner
Jack London
Captain Frederick Marryat
Guy de Maupassant
Sir Walter Scott
William Shakespeare
Friday, April 10, 2009
ReadHowYouWant featured in Australian Technology Showcase Newsletter
In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille’s birth, accessible publishing innovator and ATS Alumni member Accessible Publishing Systems has released its braille and DAISY bookshop at www.readhowyouwant.com/braille. Accessible Publishing Systems began in 2008 to publish, in partnership with international publishers, large print book formats ranging from 16 to 24 point fonts, and to make it easy for them to service the visually impaired. Blind readers now have access to thousands of titles in braille.
“We’ve developed an XML software program that can mark up a book into a number of different accessible formats. This allows us to quickly and efficiently create braille and DAISY files and literally produce hundreds of books in the time it has taken others to just do a few titles,” says Christopher Stephen, Accessible Publishing System’s founder.
In other news, the company has announced that it has begun partnering with Random House Australia and Murdoch Books to create accessible editions of their best-selling titles.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
New publishing partner, Demos Health
Demos Medical Publishing
DEMOS HEALTH
386 Park Avenue South
Suite 301 New York, NY 10016
(212) 683-0072
For more than 20 years, Demos has filled a unique educational need for physicians and other health care professionals as well as for people with disabilities and their families. The company publishes world-class texts in neurology, rehabilitation medicine, growing lists in oncology, pathology, and cardiovascular medicine, and acclaimed patient books in multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, epilepsy, stroke, spinal cord injury, and many others.
In October 2007, Demos Medical Publishing LLC. embarked on a new and exciting venture: the launch of its first health and wellness imprint, Demos Health. This imprint furthers the company’s mission of bridging the gap between consumers and the healthcare community, and help to fully distinguish between Demos’ existing professional and patient lines.
This move solidified Demos’ position among the leaders in patient health care publishing. Among the highlights in the Demos Health program are 101 Accessible Vacations: Travel Ideas for Wheelers and Slow Walkers, Mental Sharpening Stones: Manage the Cognitive Challenges of Multiple Sclerosis, Arthritis: 300 Tips for Making Life Easier, Women, Work, and Autoimmune Disease, and Reduce Your Cancer Risk: Twelve Steps to a Healthier Life. Demos Health will continue to publish new editions of the company’s bestselling titles on such subjects as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and epilepsy.
“We are committed to keeping the standards and quality that Demos is known for in our patient publications, while making the content and topic areas more accessible to a wider audience,” said Noreen Henson, Director of the new imprint.
As of April 8, 2009 there are 98 titles on the growing list of Demos Health books; they plan to load an initial batch of 60 titles in our system during the next few weeks. We should have them available for sale in our editions beginning in May.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
ReadHowYouWant's new catalog for libraries
Click here to view it, now.
Friday, March 27, 2009
University of Queensland Press to Partner with ReadHowYouWant
I’m very happy to announce a new publishing partner – University of Queensland Press (UQP).
UQP - http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/
For more than 60 years, the University of Queensland Press has been at the forefront of innovative Australian publishing. It has launched the careers of many great Australian novelists, published contemporary Australian poets, been a pioneering force in children's and young adult publishing and has set the benchmark for award-winning scholarly and Black Australian writing.
UQP is a dynamic university press known for its risk-taking philosophy and commitment to publishing works of high quality and cultural significance.
UQP is a very respected medium sized publisher in Australia – who have launched some of the most famous Australian Authors including Peter Carey (sadly not with them anymore!) and David Malouf.
Their work covers fiction, politics, Australiana, biography, history, art, poetry, and a strong children’s section as well.
They are also regular award winners - http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/
We are still in discussion over the best books to launch this with, but they are keen to get all of their books up onto our system quite quickly.
Forthcoming Titles from New World Library
PRACTICING THE POWER OF NOW, Eckhart Tolle — EasyRead Large Type (I though
I'd licensed a large print edition, but I hadn't)
SEVEN SPIRITUAL LAWS OF SUCCESS, Deepak Chopra — EasyRead Large Type,
Braille, Daisy Only
CREATING AFFLUENCE, Deepak Chopra — EasyRead Large Type, Braille, Daisy Only
WAY OF THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR, DAN MILLMAN — EasyRead Large Type, Braille,
Daisy Only
HANDBOOK FOR THE SPIRIT, Richard Carlson — EasyRead Large Type, Braille,
Daisy Only
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
HumanWare and ReadHowYouWant Join Forces to Bring Books to Visually Impaired Readers
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Bradi Grebien-Samkow: bradi@readhowyouwant.com
503-922-0778
Contact:
Julien Larose: julien.larose@humanware.com
888-723-7273 x357
HumanWare and ReadHowYouWant Join Forces to Bring Books to Visually Impaired Readers
Sydney, Australia, March 11, 2009—HumanWare, the leader in assistive technologies for people with print disability, and digital publishing innovator ReadHowYouWant are partnering to help visually impaired readers discover the book reading device, and the format that’s right for their reading needs.
ReadHowYouWant offers thousands of books in accessible formats, including 24 pt. large print, braille, and DAISY files at www.readhowyouwant.com. HumanWare provides playback devices for readers who are blind or have low vision to use with braille and DAISY files at www.humanware.com. “From the moment it appeared on the market, the Victor Reader Stream has proven itself to be the greatest portable DAISY book reading device ever. Today we are proud to team up with Read How You Want. We invite all readers to take a look at the selection of books they have to offer. Reading should always be an enjoyable experience. We hope that our customers will regularly visit our new website where they will be able to check out new DAISY book releases. Pass the word around!” says HumanWare CEO Gilles Pepin.
Beginning in April, readers will be able to go to the HumanWare website to download free, first chapters of 20 bestselling ReadHowYouWant titles each month as part of the “Free Chapter Download Program.” The free, first chapters come from popular books from a variety of well-known publishers of adult and young adult books, including Wiley, Random House Australia, Murdoch Books, and Weekly Reader. The first month’s selected titles will include such best sellers as, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library), “Praise Song for the Day,” the inauguration poem by Elizabeth Alexander (Graywolf Press), and Leadership and Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute (Berrett-Kohler), as well as children’s and young adult titles to include, How to Take the GRRRR Out of Anger by Marjorie Lisovskis and Elizabeth Verdick (Free Spirit Publishing), and Extreme Habitats: Mountain Survival by Susie Hodge (Weekly Reader). After enjoying the complimentary first chapter, readers may visit ReadHowYouWant’s website at www.readhowyouwant.com to purchase the entire file.
ReadHowYouWant will be demoing HumanWare’s devices at book industry events such as the Frankfurt Book Fair, the London Book Fair, and Book Expo America. Similarly, HumanWare will present braille and DAISY files from ReadHowYouWant’s collection on their players at technology industry shows, including CSUN and ATIA (Assistive Technologies Industry Association) conferences.
ReadHowYouWant produces Grade 2 contracted braille files, and has developed a house style that supports automated transcription while maintaining accuracy. These files may be read with a refreshable electronic braille display such as the Humanware Braillenote or Brailliant or embossed to make traditional braille books. Words are not split at line ends to make reading easier, particularly for newer braille readers.
About HumanWare
HumanWare is the global leader in assistive technologies for vision, including products for the blind and visually impaired. HumanWare's products include BrailleNote, the leading productivity device for blind people in education, in business and in their personal lives; the Victor Reader product line, the world's leading digital talking book players; and myReader2, the new version of HumanWare's unique "auto-reader" for people with low vision. For more information visit www.humanware.com
About ReadHowYouWant
ReadHowYouWant Pty Ltd and its R&D parent company, Accessible Publishing Systems Pty Ltd are both Sydney, Australia-based privately held companies founded in 2004 by electronic publishing pioneers Christopher Stephen and Greg Duncan. When Chris’s sister, who suffers from MS, developed difficulty reading, they began experimenting to determine whether people with reading difficulties could benefit from changing the text format.
After more than four years of testing, ReadHowYouWant has successfully developed award-winning conversion technology that reformats existing books into the widest selection of on-demand, alternative format editions on the market today. Each edition has been optimized for maximum readability. The company’s goals are to make reading easier and more enjoyable by delivering formats that suit the reader and to give people with reading difficulties access to books in the formats of their choice—at an affordable price, and as soon as the book is published. For more information visit www.readhowyouwant.com.
ReadHowYouWant Partners with Random House Australia and Murdoch Books
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Bradi Grebien-Samkow: bradi@readhowyouwant.com
+1-503-922-0778 U.S.
Large Print and Accessible Book Publisher ReadHowYouWant Partners with Leading Publishers to Create Books for Visually Impaired Readers
Sydney, Australia, March 4, 2009—ReadHowYouWant, a new leader in large print, print-on-demand books, has begun partnering with Random House Australia and Murdoch Books to create accessible editions of their best-selling titles. ReadHowYouWant also announced the opening of their Australian and New Zealand website at www.readhowyouwant.com/australia. The Sydney-based company’s other Australian publishing partners include Simon and Schuster Australia, Michelle Anderson Publishing, Interactive Publications, Little Hare Books, and Insight Publications.
ReadHowYouWant Pty Ltd and its R&D parent company, Accessible Publishing Pty Ltd, are both Sydney, Australia-based privately held companies co-founded by electronic publishing pioneers Christopher Stephen and Greg Duncan. ReadHowYouWant’s award-winning conversion technology reformats existing books into high-quality alternative formats including, 16 to 24 point EasyRead large print, braille, e-books, and DAISY—a new talking book format that produces audio along with the written text.
Mel Cox, Head of Publishing Services at Random House Australia says, “We’re really excited to be working with ReadHowYouWant. This innovative technology assists those who have been previously unable to enjoy printed books. Random House Australia is delighted that our authors will now be available in more accessible formats for the enjoyment of all readers.” Random House Australia is part of the Random House Group, one of the largest publishing houses in the world. ReadHowYouWant will be working with Random House Australia on creating accessible formats of their recent front list titles, including three best-selling memoirs, Holy Cow, Salvation Creek, and Conviction of the Innocent.
ReadHowYouWant will be working with Murdoch Book’s imprint, Pier 9, which publishes an eclectic mix of travel, memoir, biography, popular history, and strong human-interest stories. "Murdoch Books is delighted to be able to make their books accessible to a broader range of people who would have previously been unable to read these titles in a standard format,” says Juliet Rogers, CEO of Murdoch Books.
ReadHowYouWant works with print-on-demand printer SOS print + media of Alexandria, NSW to print and ship books to readers. As well, ReadHowYouWant is working with James Bennett—Australia’s leading library supplier—to bring books to libraries in Australia and New Zealand.
In 2007, using an export grant from the Australian government to partly fund its expansion, ReadHowYouWant brought its services to the United States, and has begun partnering with such U.S. publishers as Wiley, Career Press, Barrett-Koehler, Free Spirit, and Rosen. Some best-selling titles from American publishers now available to Australian readers include, Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle, Leadership and Self-Deception by The Arbinger Institute, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, and Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh. ReadHowYouWant’s online bookshop contains over 2,000 titles available in DAISY or braille files at www.readhowyouwant.com/australia.
“ReadHowYouWant’s goals are to make reading easier and more enjoyable by delivering formats that suit the reader, and to give people with reading difficulties access to books in the formats of their choice at an affordable price, and as soon as the book is published,” says ReadHowYouWant’s founder Christopher Stephen. For more information visit www.readhowyouwant.com/australia. To reach Mark Tanner, Publisher Relations Manager in our Sydney office, email mtanner@readhowyouwant.com or call +61 421 544 707.
“…the prescient folks at ReadHowYouWant [who] offer unabridged editions and [who] have a fine understanding of the fact that one size doesn’t fit all visually impaired readers. Brilliantly, they offer a variety of fonts and font sizes.”
—Sarah F. Gold, Publishers Weekly
Friday, February 13, 2009
ASCLA Interface Stillness Speaks Banner Post (revised July 7, 2009)
Click here, and please ignore the out of date information below.
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Welcome, ASCLA InterFace subscribers! We are offering a selection of titles to you at a 40% discount. These include bestselling and important new titles, such as:
Stillness Speaks: Tolle, Eckhart, "This book, of course,
uses words which in the act of reading become thoughts
in your mind. But those are not ordinary thoughts -
repetitive, noisy, self-serving, clamoring for attention....
The thoughts within this book don't say, 'Look at me,' but
'Look beyond me.' Because the thoughts came out of
stillness, they have power - the power to take you back
into the same stillness from which they arose. That stillness
is also inner peace, and that stillness and peace is the
essence of your Being. It is the stillness that will save and
transform the world." -- From the Introduction by Eckhart
Tolle
Praise Song For The Day: (A Poem For Barack
Obama's Presidential Inauguration January 20,
2010), Alexander, Elizabeth, "Praise song for struggle,
praise song for the day." READ BY THE POET AT THE
INAUGURATION OF Barack Obama
The Anatomy of PEACE: (Resolving The Heart of
Conflict) by The Arbinger Institute. Arbinger's materials
educate people about the problem of self-deception, and
Arbinger's methodologies help people to overcome it. In
the words of an early reviewer of The Anatomy of Peace,
"Arbinger helps people to see in a different way-to see
problems differently, conflicts differently, challenges
differently, opportunities differently, each other
differently." To which another added, "I know of no tool
or way of thinking that contributes so masterfully to real,
lasting peace-in families, organizations, communities, and
nations."
There are also some practical books, such as:
How to Administer and Estate, Living with Alzheimer's and Something to Live for: Finding Your Way in the Second Half of Life.
Please click here for the complete list with discounts calculated for you.
Post-Midwinter Accessible Librarian--Praise Song for the Day in LP, Braille and DAISY
We had a busy Midwinter Conference and were happy to meet librarians from across the country – everywhere from NYC to Fort Myers to Los Angeles. Over 1100 librarians had downloaded our free accessible editions of the Conference Guide via the ALA web site prior to the show, and many visited our booth to thank us for this service. If you missed getting your accessible edition of the conference program, you can still download from
http://www.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/upcoming/midwinter/home.cfm
We raffled off three groups of our bestselling books: the top 10, the top 15 and the top 25. These top titles include Leadership and Self-Deception, Stillness Speaks and The Anatomy of Peace. They are all strong sellers in adult nonfiction. Look at our blog for a complete list. It's at
http://theaccessiblelibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/01/midwinter-2009-discounts-and-special.html
These titles are still on special at 40% discount through March 1, so don't miss ordering them for your library!
Third place winner, with the top 10 was Sue Sherif, of the Alaska State Library. Second place winner, with the top 15, was Shelley Ekeroth of the County of Los Angeles Public Library. First place winner was Dr. Teri Maggio, of Assumption Parish Library, in Napoleonville, LA. We will be shipping the books to the winners, shortly. Congratulations to all three! We are sure your patrons will enjoy these additions to your collections.
Braille and DAISY Shop Open with Praise Song
In celebration of Louis Braille’s 200th birthday, ReadHowYouWant has opened the doors to our online braille and DAISY bookshop at www.readhowyouwant.com/braille.
Blind readers now have access to thousands of titles in braille, including bestsellers: Praise Song for the Day, the poem created for and read at Barack Obama’s inauguration by poet Elizabeth Alexander (Graywolf Press), The Power of Now and Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library), Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh (Parallax Press), and Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage for Dummies by Patricia Barry (Wiley). Children and young adults can find popular titles including, How to Take the GRRRR Out of Anger by Marjorie Lisovskis and Elizabeth Verdick (Free Spirit Publishing), Scratch Kitten Goes to Sea by Jessica Green (Little Hare), Extreme Habitats: Desert Survival by Jim Pipe (Weekly Reader), and A Doctor’s Busy Day by Nicole Boyd (Rosen Publishing). A large selection of literary classic titles is also available.
Through special arrangement with our new publisher partner, Graywolf Press, we are offering the Inauguration Poem, Praise Song for the Day, by Elizabeth Alexander, FREE in the braille and DAISY editions as well as allowing free downloads of printable PDF files. Libraries may purchase large print copies of the book at a 40% discount through the end of March. Click the link above for more information.
New Publishing Partners
RHYW is pleased to announce three new US publishing partners. The Mountaineers Books in Seattle, the nonprofit press established by the nearly 100-year-old Mountaineers Club. Today, with more than 500 titles in print, The Mountaineers Books is a leading publisher of quality outdoor books, including many award winners. Basic Health Publications in Laguna Beach, California, is the publisher of quality health titles including the bestselling, Healing Without Medication, and The Official Anti-Aging Revolution. The Permanent Press is committed to publishing works of social and literary merit, and their authors and titles have gained over 50 literary honors, including the American Book Award, Small Press Book Awards, and New American Writing Awards.
Publisher Profile: Parallax Press
RHYW spoke with Travis Masch, publisher of Parallax Press in Berkeley, California, Parallax is best known as the core publisher of Vietnamese Zen teacher and poet, Thich Nhat Hanh, whose book Being Peace has sold over 250,000 copies and has been translated into 12 languages. “As part of our mission we are committed to making our books accessible to everyone and preserving them for future generations,” says Masch. The full interview is here
http://www.readhowyouwant.com/pages_about/news.aspx?id=43
Save 40% on Large Print Bestsellers
We are continuing our Midwinter Conference special. All you have to do is order 10 or more books from among our top 25 bestsellers to get a 40% discount. If you order fewer than 10 of these, we will still double your normal discount so that you will get 20% off on this order.
These are new nonfiction bestsellers in large print. You cannot go wrong with them. Click this link for the complete list:
http://theaccessiblelibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/01/midwinter-2009-discounts-and-special.html
Thank you, again, for your interest in our work on behalf of visually impaired readers. Please feel free to contact me, personally, if I may be of any service.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
New Marketing Agreement with ECPA
Alternative Format Printing Opens New Market for Member Publishers
PHOENIX, AZ -- February 6, 2009 – Millions of people are not able to read their favorite books due to limited eyesight, medical conditions or learning disabilities. As the population ages, more and more people will be unable to read the text of the average book. The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) announces an agreement with Read How You Want (RHYW), a pioneering electronic publishing company based in Sydney, Australia. This agreement offers member publishers a chance to license their books in emerging and print-on demand formats for various reading needs.
Read How You Want provides customized book printing solutions in niche formats. RHYW takes the existing print-ready PDF version of any book and converts it to a wide variety of formats including DAISY text plus synchronized voice file, electronic Braille, EasyRead Large and Super Large print (for print on demand, customized books), as well as Kindle and other e-book formats. "RHYW " partners with publishers and converts their titles to standard e-book formats at very competetive rates. As part of that service they convert the titles to accessible formats for free, market the titles through their channels and provide a 50/50 net revenue stream to their publishing partners. For publishers not interested in e-book conversion services, RHYW will convert any book from PDF to the accessible formats at no charge, with an agreement to market and sell those formats for the publisher.
Especially for ECPA members, RHYW will create a separate page on its direct-to-consumer website dedicated to Christian titles. RHYW has a long-standing relationship with Amazon and will be able to increase the presence of these formats on this popular website.
“Read How You Want is reaching a growing market segment,” says Michael Covington, Information & Education Director for ECPA. “This new agreement means that an ECPA publisher can bring their books to this new market immediately at no additional cost. It’s a win for the consumer and the publisher.” For more information this incredible opportunity, visit RHYW’s website at http://www.readhowyouwant.com/pages_about/publishers.aspx
Read How You Want founder Christopher Stephen started the company in 2005 after working closely with his sister who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. “It was heartbreaking to see her lose her ability to read because of her problems with eye tracking,” says Stephen. “We want to serve her and the millions like her around the world, providing quality books with life-changing and encouraging messages.”
The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit trade organization, comprised of nearly 200 member companies worldwide, representing a combined revenue of nearly $2 billion. Founded in 1974, ECPA is dedicated to serving the Christian publishing industry through equipping its members through cutting-edge technology, meaningful data, dynamic educational opportunity and unprecedented access to markets.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Fred's Head Companion: Read How You Want: in Braille or Large Print
Another nice mention, this one from the APH.
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