Publishing in braille

By PaulMartz, 28 October, 2024

Forum

Assistive Technology

I’ve written a manuscript that I’d like to publish next year, both as an ePub and in braille.

Publishing as an ePub is straightforward, with many options available, such as Amazon, that would sell the ePub for a small cut of the sale price, with the rest going to me.

But there doesn’t seem to be any similar sale channels for braille. Amazon KDP, for example, does not support publishing in braille, neither as print braille nor BRF files.

Here’s what I’m looking for.

I would hire a braille transcriptionist to create a BRF file from my MS Word manuscript, much as I would hire a formatter to produce an ePub or a print book for sighted readers. Then I would upload my BRF file to the publisher, much as I would upload an eBook or PDF to Amazon KDP. I should be able to set the price, with the publisher/retailer taking a cut. The buyer would visit the publisher/retailer site just as they do Amazon, find my book, select whether they want to buy the print braille version or the BRF download. If they choose print, the retailer would print and ship it. If they choose BRF, they would download it to their braille display just like a Kindle to their Kindle-enabled device.

I don’t think I’m asking for anything that’s far from what the industry already has in place today for electronic publishing and print on demand. Yet repeated web searches have turned up nothing.

If I can’t do this, then I’m interested in alternatives. For example, is it possible to publish in an ePub format that a buyer could download and read with a braille display? Something other than the Kindle format, obviously.

Thanks for any help, pointers, and information.

Options

Comments

National braille press?

I know that national braille press publishes their own books in braille. I don’t know anything about how they work with other publishers or authors. In case you are not aware of them, the website is nbp.org.

NBP options

Thanks for the NBP suggestion. They were one of the first publishers I considered.

There seem to be three main types of publishing.

You can traditional publish, in which you pitch a story to a publisher and they cover all of the production cost and give you a small royalty. NBP has this for Braille. I pitched my manuscript to them a while ago. They said "no thanks."

There are also boutique publishers, in which you, the author, cover the publisher's costs, but they give you a much larger share of the royalties. Unfortunately, they charge whatever they want, and you have no control over these costs. NBP offers this for braille, and it is rather pricey.

Finally, there is self-publishing, in which you do all the production, and the publisher does little more than provide a platform to sell. This is labor-intensive, but has the lowest cost for the highest potential return.

Unfortunately, NBP doesn't offer a self-pub option, and after several web searches, I haven't found anyone who does. This really surprises me, given that NLS now offers a print-on-demand service. I would think that anyone who could produce a BRF file should be able to publish it themselves. I was hoping I was wrong, and that by posting here, someone would direct me to a braille self-publishing retail service provider.

So, to rephrase my question: If I had my own BRF file and wanted to publish it as a book, where could I do that?

BrailleBookStore

Maybe this would be useful to ya?
http://www.braillebookstore.com/Braille-Printing

Some ideas

I have a few ideas, but none of them are perfect.

The most straightforward option is just to publish the book as an ePub file. When a braille display is being used with a screen reader, it's possible to read ePub files with apps like Apple Books. In addition, some braille displays allow you to load ePub files directly onto the device. However, I have to say as a disclaimer that I've never purchased an ePub from Amazon, so I don't know if the options for reading it would be more restrictive than for ePub files obtained from other sources. This of course has the downside that ePub files aren't readily embossable.
Another idea is to publish your book in the ePub and eBraille formats. The eBraille format is in the final stages of development. It has the advantages of being a braille-first format as well as offering many of the features which are found in ePub files. In fact, eBraille files have a very similar file structure to ePub files.

eBraille files contain all of the semantic navigation possibilities found in ePub files, which means that users can easily navigate around the file by units such as headings and paragraphs. Other features such as hyperlinks are also supported.

Because eBraille files are so similar to ePub files, I imagine that you'd be able to open them using mainstream reading systems like Apple Books. However, braille display manufacturers will also support the file type, and they're also suitable for embossing. Due to this similarity with ePub files, I imagine that you’d be able to upload them to sites like Amazon. You could tell users to change the file format to open the file properly, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they don’t.

Another advantage of eBraille files over BRF files is that the text is reflowable. This means that a person’s reading experience won’t be diminished if they’re using a braille display with fewer cells, and it also means that things like page numbers—which are essential for a hardcopy version—won’t appear when being read on a braille display because they’re irrelevant for that modality.

The only downside I see to this idea is that complicated arrangements would need to be made if a user wanted an embossed copy of the file.
Have you considered setting up your own online store? NV Access has created such a store for distributing their training materials. They offer one of their books in several accessible formats, one of which is hardcopy braille. Presumably you purchase the hardcopy book through their website, and they coordinate with the agency who produces it to emboss it and send it to you.

There are quite a few organisations who would be able to do embossing of this nature. I’d suggest avoiding the Braille Superstore though. The number of bad experiences people seem to have had with their products and services seems to greatly outweigh the number of satisfied customers.

The only downsides I see with this idea are the complexities in setting up and maintaining a website and associated online store.

Thanks for the information

Brian, the Braille Bookstore looks like a modified boutique publisher. They let you do the editing and formatting yourself. But they don't print on demand or sell direct to customers. I would need to purchase books in quantity from them, then sell and ship to customers. Ugh.

TJT 2001, is that you Theodore? Hi! ePub and a braille display for reading is probably my best option. Braille displays are much more common now, especially in the US, where braille libraries are loaning them out to patrons.

I've looked into an eCommerce website and would like to avoid it. A simpler alternative is a Wordpress plugin that provides access to digital content (such as a ePub, BRF, or eBraille file) in exchange for a Paypal payment.

I'll investigate what NVAccess is doing. It sounds quite close to the print-on-demand self-pub service I'm after.

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