April Hamilton

As an author whose titles are not released in audio format, I'm glad TTS is there to make my books available to the text-disabled community. Author and publisher claims that TTS cannibalizes book sales or otherwise deprives authors of royalties is ridiculous, since no one can use TTS unless they've already bought a copy of an ebook. Given that only the most popular books are typically released in audiobook format or made available through special programs like Books For The Blind, non-bestselling authors who fight TTS are essentially choosing to exclude the text-disabled from their readership. The Authors Guild's proposed compromise, that the text-disabled register to have their disability validated as a condition of TTS access, is not only unnecessary, but offensive.