[bksvol-discuss] Re: where are all the submits
- From: "Monica Willyard" <rhyami@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:05:27 -0400
Hi Elizabeth and others. If you look at the Books In Processing list, you'll
see that there are around 160 books checked out for proofreading. Many of
those are fiction, and that leads me to believe that we have an active
community of proofreaders who work on books very shortly after they are
submitted. I think what's going on is that we have shifted in our balance so
that we have more proofreaders than submitters. I also think submitters are
doing more careful proofreading on our submits, so we're putting up fewer
books, but the books can also be proofread more quickly by the proofreader.
Another factor that may be slowing down the flow of new books is that some
of our volunteers who are not on this list haven't learned how to submit
books on the new site yet. Finally, another factor is that several of our
more prolific submitters are now working for Bookshare. All of these factors
seem to have changed the balance for us.
For several years, the mantra was that submitters needed to stop scanning
and help with proofreading. We started doing that, and several of us tried
to switch hit to play both roles. Now the word needs to get out that
submitters can safely go back to submitting books. I dislike working as a
proofreader with a passion, but it's taking me awhile to get back into
submitting mode because I have three books I have to finish proofreading.
Then I plan to quit and go back to scanning and cleaning up my own books so
I can submit them.
There is still plenty of important and honorable work for proofreaders to do
right now. There were 111 books awaiting proofreading when I looked at the
list. Some of the nonfiction books awaiting approval are short, and it would
be cool if some of our proofreaders would be willing to take on just one of
them. You can see the page count on a book before checking it out, and that
makes it easy to find shorter ones. No one has to do them, and I think it's
a good thing to work on books that interest us when those are available to
us. On the other hand, the nonfiction books do have to be processed, either
approved or rejected, by someone from the volunteers or staff. I have two
nonfiction books checked out right now because I want to do my part.
To me, working on books that interest me is like enjoying flowers and fresh
produce from a garden. I'd rather do that all the time. Processing some
types of nonfiction books is more work, like pulling weeds or plowing and
preparing soil. It's not as much fun, but it needs to be done to make the
Bookshare system work well for everyone. If those who are willing would take
just one book from the check out list, we could get those books approved and
go back to doing things that we find more exciting. For me, that's scanning
books. For someone else, that may be proofreading science fiction or
mysteries.
Monica Willyard
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." -- Peter Drucker
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of E.
Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2009 1:08 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] where are all the submits
There are so few books on check in books page these days and so few
of them are fiction. What is going on? So little for a proof reader
to do, sigh!!
E.
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