Working with the UK publishing industry to revolutionise the production and distribution of accessible books Mandy White, Project Manager RNIB

Background UK research shows that only 4% of books are available in accessible formats Right to Read campaign seeks growth in availability-same price, same time, same place, right format UK VIP Copyright Act (2002) changed the nature of the relationship between publishers and agencies

Feasibility Project Cross Industry Steering group (RNIB, Publishers, Book sellers, author groups, trade associations, Government) Independent Project Manager 2 objectives to investigate –Feasibility and benefits of using publishers files in the production process –Feasibility of sales through UK book trade

Trialling the XML based process Current process slow and labour intensive Took 120 titles from 7 publishers (in pdf) Conversion to XML (RNIB DTD) by 3 external suppliers Sample books converted to a range of formats using ‘transforms’

Results Issues with supply of files from the publishers Impressive results in quality of conversion by external suppliers Significant reduction in origination costs and availability in all formats - 58% for trade books, 42% for text books Issues; image descriptions, DTD and transform limitations, indexing

Book trade distribution Feasibility Need to adopt standard publishing model to be able to sell through UK book trade unique ISBN for each title and format –Visible on Nielsen Bookdata and Amazon –Business terms and royalty payments –Infrastructure to support print on demand Trade distribution for standardised products, RNIB for bespoke

Trade books – the way forward Savings from streamlined production and additional net revenue from sales (large print) can fund significant growth New model - production using publishers files and distribution using UK book trade, reduced terms accepted Currently have 4 major publishers who want to move forward. Major issue around large print rights

Text books – the way forward Books are more complex, costly to produce, lower sales volumes and time critical New model – production of XML files which are made available to teachers who tailor them to specific students, public funding Currently proving concept with small selection of text books. Looking to larger pilot with government involvement, early summer 2008

Conclusion Long term goal is to prove market and attract commercial organisations Need to make production and distribution of accessible formats inclusive The only way we will achieve this is by working in partnership with all stakeholders