Baen, a major publisher of science fiction novels, is making its catalog of electronic books available at no charge to readers with disabilities. Individuals need to complete a short application to gain access to the books. Apparently, this policy was put in place a few months ago and I’d be curious to know what kind of response it has elicited. The catalog is a bit heavy on military SF for my taste, but I might take Baen up on its offer nonetheless.
Now, if only other publishers would make more of their back catalogs available in electronic format. I’m almost certain I would spend even more on books if the I could read them on my screen. Since the iTunes store came on-line, the amount of discretionary income I’ve devoted to music has shot up considerably. Come on, media empires, help me spend my money.
Wow, you DO pay attention to me! E-files are a HUGE deal in the higher ed. world…students with disabilities often prefer to have the electronic files of their texts (vs. utilizing Recordings for Blind and Dyslexic — also an amazing service but def. more useful for certain populations), but publishers are often resistant to releasing them because of copyright infringement issues. There are some new sites, like bookshare.org, that offers members the chance to download e-books for a fee, and I think publishers are more comfortable with this as the files are protected on a site like this. It’s also less work for them – they probably received thousands of requests every semester from Dis. Services for the efiles of their textbooks. It seems like a good idea — a common online “bookstore” of sorts, but I don’t know how quickly we’re moving toward that goal.