from ForeWord This Week
December 9, 2009
Aging readers and those who develop conditions that blur the vision or make it hard to distinguish words on the page may fear that a beloved pastime is lost to them forever. This was the case for Christopher Stephen's sister when her Muscular Dystrophy began to affect her ability to read. Stephen, who worked in legal publishing in Australia, started to experiment with different type formats to see if it improved the reading ability of people with MS.
"He had that 'aha moment' and thought, why should books all be in the same format?" Maureen Watts, director of public relations at Read How You Want, told FTW, "He furthered his experiments and later received grants from the Australian government to export the RHYW product (proprietary XML software designed to mark up books in PDF format into many different formats) to the US and other countries."
In 2004, Stephen and Greg Duncan founded ReadHowYouWant, which now works with more than 70 publishers to make 4,000 titles available in a variety of formats. The company is still based in Australia, but is also established in the U.S.
While large print publishers simply increase the size of a book's text, printing in 14- or 16-size point, RHYW's EasyRead large print formats have five sizes to choose from and also use particular fonts, minimized end-line hyphenation, and character and line spacing to make it easier for people with sight challenges to read.
"Some readers who have severely reduced vision can read a book in 20 or 24 point without having to resort to audio versions which are often not the reader's preferred way to read or are unavailable," Watts said.
RHYW also makes books available in Braille and downloadable DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) versions. It is currently developing custom formats for readers who have trouble distinguishing certain letters and for those with macular degeneration.
The formats developed by RHYW have incorporated research done by vision related organizations such as the Royal National Institute for the Blind, according to Watts. This organization developed the Tiresias font used in all the Super Large Print titles published by RHYW.
"RHYW has gone direct to consumers to get feedback on formats," Watts said. "In the past two years the company has attended numerous events which have provided an opportunity for direct consumer feedback."
Watts also said that the company receives referrals from groups servicing the vision impaired and the disability community, including the International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet.
RHYW obtains the rights to each book separately. Publishers choose which formats and which territories to license, and using a unique business model, RHYW partners with publishers on a 50/50 net revenue basis.
New Harbinger Publications, Berrett-Koehler, Hay House, Red Wheel/Weiser, Perseus Books Group, Simon and Schuster, and Sounds True are several of the publishers currently working with RHYW.
Watts said now that the RHYW's books are available through Ingram, Baker and Taylor, and Brodart, they have begun working with libraries.
"The best thing for librarians to do," she said, "would be to go to our website and print out the 20-page sample for their patrons. They can print the same sample in a couple different point sizes to see what works best for them. Then they can order the books in their usual way."
RHYW's books are not currently sold in bricks and mortar stores, but they have launched a pilot program in Australia to see how it would work.
ReadHowYouWant books are also available through the company's own website, Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, and IndieBound. RHYW also publishes two monthly e-newsletters, one of which is dedicated to librarians.
by Whitney Hallberg, Managing Editor