book lovers | K Morris – Poet

Growing up as a blind person in the 1970s and 1980s there existed extremely limited opportunities for a visually impaired book lover like me to slake my thirst for books. Then (as now) only a fraction of the books available in print could be found in braille so if you wished to read Wuthering Heights then all fine and dandy, however if you wished to enjoy the latest thriller there was virtually no possibility of obtaining it in braille.

I supplemented my reading of braille books by listening to spoken word cassette versions of the classics together with books of more recent vintage such as Where Eagles Dare. However many of these recordings, although often professionally read where, for all that abridgements of much lengthier books. While some books no doubt might benefit from being abridged many others did not but, as a blind reader I had, by and large to make do with what was available.

The Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) offered (and still provides) a talking book library of full length works ranging from the classics to the latest detective stories. Again, however only a relatively small proportion of the books available in print found their way onto the shelves of the Talking Book Library. All this changed with the coming of the e-book and, in particular the invention of the Amazon Kindle.

I received my first Kindle, as a Christmas present in 2011 and it opened up a world of print literature which had, hitherto been barred to me. My Kindle possesses a text to speech facility which enables me to have most of the books in the Kindle store read aloud. A few authors/publishers do not enable the text to speech facility but most do.

For a long time the Kindle app for the Ipad was inaccessible but this has now changed and my poor Amazon Kindle languishes in a cupboard feeling most unloved while the Kindle app on my Ipad is used on an almost daily basis. With Voiceover (Apple’s screen reading software) it is extremely easy to navigate around my Kindle library, to select and listen to books. The disadvantage to the Kindle iPad app is that it is not possible to purchase books although one can send an e-mail to yourself or add the title to your wish list as a reminder that you wish to purchase a title.

Amazon has recently released two further Kindles both of which the RNIB have reported as being even more accessible than my ancient Kindle, http://www.rnib.org.uk/livingwithsightloss/reading/how/ebooks/accessibility/amazon/Pages/kindle_devices.aspx#H2Heading1.

The world has certainly come a long way since I sat, in the school library lost in Palgrave’s Golden Treasury. I can still recollect the feel of the cloth bound volumes the braille worn down by countless fingers. I still read braille and enjoy doing so, however vast vistas of literature have been opened up by the Kindle and other similar devices which would, until recently have been beyond the dreams of visually impaired people.

For my Amazon author’s page please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/K.-Morris/e/B00CEECWHY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Recently my friend Brian and I where enjoying a pint or two in my favourite local when the conversation, as so often happens turned to books. Brian argued that a powerful minority of reviewers and literary critics largely determine the choices of the book buying public. If an influencial reviewer rates your work highly you are, as an author far more likely to prosper than if the same person provides a bad review or ignores your book.

I believe that my friend is correct upto a point. The kind of review an author receives in a leading national newspaper or periodical (assuming he receives one at all) can exert a powerful influence on the book buying public by (firstly) drawing the writer’s work to their attention and (secondly) by influencing the public in favour or against the book. However I believe that my friend is overly pessimistic as, with the rise of the great leviathan (Amazon) and other e-book retailers the world of reviewing and literary criticism has been democratised in that anyone can now leave a review. So if lots of Jo Blogs and Joan Smiths leave positive reviews on Amazon an author’s work is likely to prosper. Having said that I am sure that if the same author has his or her book slated in the press this will, quite possibly impact negatively on book sales.

The rise of e-books has also expanded the reach of authors across the globe. Until very recently a writer wishing to publish either had to be offered a contract by an established publisher or pay to have their work printed privately. With the birth of e-books a book can be published on Amazon today and within a matter of hours be available in most (in some instances) all of Amazon’s online stores. Of course this is by no means the end of the story as, once a book is available the challenge of getting people to look at your Amazon author’s page (let alone buy your books) begins.

In conclusion my friend, Brian is right in that positive reviews by influencial critics in mass circulation newspapers and magazines can greatly influence the purchasing habits of the reading public. However the rise of Amazon and other similar outlets does enable ordinary book lovers to post reviews and by so doing assists, to some extent in democratising the world of literary criticism.

For my Amazon author page please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/K.-Morris/e/B00CEECWHY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0