Giveaway, Guest Post

Guest Chick: Kelly Brakenhoff (and a giveaway)

Please join us in giving a warm welcome to Kelly Brakenhoff, author of the Cassandra Soto cozy mysteries. Kelly has kindly offered to giveaway a book to one lucky commenter!

No Reader Left Behind: Making Books More Inclusive

Finding new readers is my part-time job. 

It’s only second in importance to writing my next book. (Which I should probably be working on at this moment instead of procrasti-blogging…)

Death by Dissertation coverToday I’m sharing about a few services for readers with print disabilities. Publishers spend buckets of money connecting with potential book buyers. Authors are always on the lookout for Superfans who want to read every new thing we write. Shouldn’t it be a no-brainer to do everything within our power to make our books more accessible for all readers?

Sometimes those potential readers are right under our noses but will never be aware of our books. Globally, only 5% of books are accessible to readers who are blind, have low vision or print disabilities. Thankfully, Lynette Kersey, one of my blind readers, reached out with her request to read my cozy mystery and picture book series. I’ve enjoyed the challenge of sharing them with her and her friends. Let’s start with the service supported annually by the U.S. Congress.

National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled

Through the Library of Congress, the NLS “administers a free national library program that provides braille and recorded materials to people who cannot see regular print or handle print materials. NLS selects books, magazines, and musical scores for full-length publication in braille, ebraille, and digital audio format. Reading materials are circulated through a network of libraries across the United States and its territories and to American citizens living abroad.” 

Dead Week cover“Approximately sixty-five percent are fiction, and thirty-five percent are nonfiction. Bestsellers, biographies, fiction, and how-to books are in great demand.” If your book is a bestseller published by one of the Big 4 houses, chances are you might be included in their 281K record database.

But how do blind and print disabled people discover new authors or books that are less well-known?  

Bookshare

Authors can donate their books to Bookshare, a nonprofit whose mission is to “create more opportunities for people with disabilities to learn, work, and build sustainable livelihoods.” Authors or publishers submit books in ePub format and Bookshare lends them to qualified individuals with a documented disability. Readers with dyslexia, blindness, and cerebral palsy in the U.S. and 70 other countries can borrow books from the world’s largest library of eBooks in formats like audio, braille, and large font. This is the route I took by donating one copy of each book. Soon I found out that several blind readers had enjoyed listening to my stories and were looking forward to the next in the series! 

Audiobook alternatives

I’m an indie author who would love to hire a narrator and sound engineer to produce audiobooks. But for now, my royalty checks cover less expensive items like mojitos, chips and salsa. In the meantime, I’ve found two ways anyone can listen to a typical eBook they’ve purchased from any store like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Kobo. 

Dead of Winter Break coverI have several friends without print disabilities who have no time to sit and read a paperback book. However, they listen to audiobooks frequently during their commute. VoiceOver is a great, free method for anyone who wants to listen to any eBook. 

 Another option is an app called Voice Dream Reader. Lynette raved about this text-to-speech reader app that costs $19.99, and you can use it to listen to books, documents, and articles. The natural sounding voices come in over 200 variations and 27 languages with adjustable settings for speed, just like an audiobook. Using this app, anyone with a long commute or who wants to spend hours in the garden listening to books or read documents can do it hands free.

I love how solutions for people with disabilities also benefit the general population. When this happens, the pool of users grows, making the technology less expensive, with better features, and even more accessibility.

Lynette’s tips for authors

Lynette follows quite a few authors on Facebook, so remember when designing your social media posts that some of your followers may be using screen readers to access your content. If your content is inaccessible, they will just unfollow you. Lynette asks authors to, “put the name of the book or books by the link in emails.” She says the link alone doesn’t tell her what that link goes to. In your email newsletters, you can include a short “alt text” for pictures so blind readers know what the images contain, especially if the information isn’t repeated somewhere else in the main text. “For example, if they want their readers to choose between 2 covers, they could put a short text beneath each cover so I could choose.” 

Why would authors want to donate their books to Bookshare? 

Dead End coverAlthough you don’t get paid a royalty each time a person borrows your book from Bookshare, blind people interact with books and authors just like other readers. They write reviews, tell family or friends about what they’re reading and gush about their favorite authors, just like you do. They’re in book clubs and join author newsletter mailing lists, too. Lynette appreciates when publishers and authors donate great books to read to Bookshare or the National Library Service.

Accessibility is a priority for my work. As an ASL Interpreter, I see the challenges that deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf/blind people face every day. I’m committed to make the content I produce as accessible as possible. If it eventually helps me afford a Mexican resort vacation, that’s great, too. 

Authors often say the best part of this gig is connecting with readers and talking about books. I’m grateful that I’ve gotten to know Lynette and her colleagues through our mutual love of storytelling. 

Resources

Giveaway

This is by no means a comprehensive list of resources available for people who are blind or have print disabilities. Please share in the comments if you know of other services or workarounds for making your online content and books more accessible. I’ll choose one lucky commenter who will receive a free eBook of their choice from my mystery series! Good luck.

Kelly is an American Sign Language Interpreter whose motivation for learning ASL began in high school when she wanted to converse with her deaf friends. NEVER MIND and FARTS MAKE NOISE, her children’s picture books and workbooks featuring Duke the Deaf Dog and illustrated by her sister, Theresa Murray, have quickly become popular with children, parents, and educators for promoting inclusive conversations about children with differences. 

The mother of four young adults and a German Wirehair Pointer, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home.

Join her online book club for monthly book recommendations, inspiration, and recipes. https://mailchi.mp/78c3aaa46ef3/kellybrakenhoffnews

34 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Kelly Brakenhoff (and a giveaway)”

  1. I am an avid reader. My house used to be filled with books. I love everything about them and even the smell of a library. But as I have gotten older, it is harder for me to focus on the page. My eyes get tired, I start to see double, and it almost seems like the print on the page gets smaller. The day I discovered my Kindle my life changed. I can make the print as large as I need to, I can read for longer periods of time and don’t have use a headlamp to see the page at night because the bedside lamp doesn’t throw enough light. But not every book is available for that format.
    My husband is blind in one eye and is not a good reader. Audio books would be a good way for us both to share a good story together.
    Thank you for advocating for those who have difficulty with the printed word.
    Carol

    Liked by 5 people

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    1. Thank you for mentioning the Kindle’s adjustable font, size, and backlight settings. I’ve had to make the text larger lately, too. Getting old is rough. I hope you like the audio books. With the VoiceOver feature you can even listen to kindle books on your phone.

      Liked by 1 person

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    2. Hi Carol, please contact your state NLS branch. Your husband may be eligible for the NLS services. If he is, you will be able to take advantage of that through him.

      Liked by 2 people

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  2. Kelly, Thanks for all the wonderful information about making our books accessible! And your awesome book covers tell me I’m going to love your academic mysteries 🙂 All the best —Kate, writing as C. T. Collier

    Liked by 4 people

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  3. Love these resources! I used to volunteer for the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library, which had an extensive collection of books on tape. If there was a book someone wanted to read that wasn’t already recorded, patrons could request it. Volunteers (not me; I mostly rewound books) would do the recording at the facility.

    Liked by 4 people

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    2. Hi Liz, if they were on Bookshare, they would not have to be in audio. They would be in large print or eBraille etc. audio could come later. Just a thought. Have a beautiful day. ☺️ ️

      Liked by 2 people

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  5. Kelly, this is fantastic, invaluable post. Thank you so much. I have a friend in New Orleans who reads and records books for an organization servicing the blind in Louisiana. The audio is available for free only to those readers for a brief period of time. She’s talked about reading one of books for the program but we’ve never made it happen. You’ve inspired me to make sure it does!

    Liked by 3 people

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  7. Wow, Kelly, thanks so much for visiting today–and also for providing all of us authors with this invaluable info! Also, to echo Kate above, your covers are amazing.

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  8. Such a helpful, fabulous post, Kelly–thank you! I did some research about reading resources for the blind when researching my book, MURDER FROM SCRATCH, which features a blind character, and it’s absolutely astounding the amount and quality of adaptive devices out there now. Yay for technology!

    Thanks for sharing these resources, and for visiting the Chicks today! And your books look terrific!

    Liked by 3 people

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  9. I live in a high rise for both seniors and the disabled. I fit into door number 2. I’m just 50. There are small little gatherings here in out combined senior center that serves our three buildings and anyone in our county who just wants to hang around. There are always people reading to others who enjoy the same type of books. It’s really nice to see firsthand! I love it here. There will always be “that guy” (or girl) but for the most part, I love my 80-something neighbors.

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  11. Kelly, thanks for visiting with the Chicks today, and for sharing this important information with us! I have a couple of relatives with macular degeneration who could benefit from these services!

    Liked by 2 people

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  13. Thank you for this wonderful and informative post, Kelly! And congrats on your books!

    I used to work with older adults, so I really appreciate services like those from NLS. Audiobooks also make a huge difference in providing accessibility, even to friends of mine who struggle with things like dyslexia.

    Thanks again for visiting today!

    Liked by 2 people

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  14. Kelly! This is so awesome! I was especially interested to learn about the Voice Dream Reader because I’m in your same boat, audiobook-wise. How marvelous to know there’s an alternative! I’ll be sharing this info in my next newsletter!

    I used to record books for the blind here in Denver. They had me working on a nonfiction book about camping and hiking. I was so surprised, but OF COURSE blind people still enjoy the outdoors. Duh! The reading was easy, but I really had to think when it came time to describe the illustrations. I should get back to volunteering there!

    Thanks so much for the great ideas. Best of luck with your books!

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Dream Reader is great and I’ve also just used the VoiceOver function on my device to read eBooks too. It’s not as good as a great narrator, but it’s nice to have an audio option.

      That’s cool you used to record books for the blind. I did a visual description for one of my picture books and it was a lot of work to think about the best way to describe the illustrations. It’s a special skill for sure.
      Thanks, Becky!

      Liked by 2 people

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