The late Molly Ivins raised a Texas-sized amount of hell in her time over political and social issues even though she grew up among members of the Lone Star elite and knew the Bush family.
Now she is the topic of a new biography, Molly Ivins, A Rebel Life, by Bill Minutaglio and W. Michael Smith.
Later today, thanks to the wisdom of the publisher, I’ll be able to go on a walk with Molly, so to speak. PublicAffairs did not disable the book’s text to speech potential. So I’ll be able to play it on my Kindle and easily stay on the lookout for cars.
Big reason why I bought the book in the first place
Probably I would not have even bought the book except for the fact I could squeeze it into my exercise time with minimal fuss. Believe me, the Kindle’s speech synthesis is much, much better than many have given it credit for. I don’t need a resonant voice reading the Molly bio flawlessly, Jim Dale style—in this case I just want to follow the narrative.
At the same time, I would rather not splurge on an audio book, and beyond that, I want to enjoy A Rebel Life on a screen, too (ideally someday on the Kindle in the standard ePub format).
Am I the only booklover out there with such thoughts? Hardly. Point is, the Authors Guild and certain literary agents are costing writers sales by fighting text to speech—a technology which of course can be a godsend to people with disabilities, not just exercise fans.
Too bad Molly isn’t alive to tell the Guild off. as well as lean on Amazon to put up more of a defense of text to speech. It isn’t just the right thing to do. Increased sales of e-books will balance out any possible loss of audio sales, as I see it.
Meanwhile I hope that whoever is representing Molly’s own books, such as Molly Ivins Can’t Say That, Can She?, will make them all available in speech-capable form in E.
The Nook angle: Come version 2, B&N really should include TTS in the Nook. Given all the progress in TTS technology, I won’t buy the company’s excuse that the tech isn’t ready. The costs would be just a few dollars a machine. And by v. 2, the other expenses should be lower.
Glad to hear TTS isn’t disabled for this one. But in this case I actually might use one of my ‘Audible’ credits for the produced audio version. Depending on the performer, of course.
“OH NO! Audio might impinge on sale of the Kindle edition!”
[heh heh. Publishers are dumb.]
Great, Asphalt! Shows that Kindle or not, there’ll still be some demand for audio books! Enjoy the bio! David
David,
I always loved Molly Ivins’ columns and I miss her pizzaz and common sense. A very good leftwing progressive, resting in peace somewhere in the unknown universe. Loved her stuff. Glad you have a chance to take daily walks with her. Say hello for me, too. She was one of a kind, sorely missed. I wonder how she would cover Sarah Palin? SMILE
danny
Answer: With the same loving detail with which she wrote up the Bushes.
Yep, I, too, miss her work, and I appreciated your note.
David