At least with my version of JAWS, it will not read fonts that are very large
or very small. I don't know what the exact cutoff is.
I always read dust jacket info, and therefore, I always put it in
mysubmissions. Of course, it is not a perfect guide, but it is a huge
factor in my decision whether or not to read the book. Not perfect because
it can be hard sometimes to say much about a book without giving too much
away. A really good example of this is the dust jacket info - also called a
blurb - for Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End. One of my favorite books of
all, the blurb is not very informative. But I don't see how it could be
much more informative than it is without spoiling it. This is not the usual
case, though. Mostly, I find them a good guide as to whether I will like
the book. But I have usually seen a review or two of most of the books I
decide to read before I ever get them, so my judgment of blurbs is probably
influenced by my feelings about what the review(s) said about the book.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cindy" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 4:07 PM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Covers
Too often the back cover of both paperbacks and hardbounds is reviews or cudos for the book or, sometimes author bios. In the latter case I put that at the end; often it's on a final page in the book anyway.
But I've found covers impossible to scan. I usually just type the info myself. I try to approximate the font size, but that isn't necessary, and anyway if the type is too large certain readers--I don't remember if it's Braille or some other technology--can't read it. I think I was told some time ago n ot to use anything large than 36 point. However, it really doesn't matter. Just the title and author can be typed on a page as if it is the cover, even if there is an inner title page, too.
And Jill is right; even with short or long synopses, and many people don't include them, it's nice to have the flap. In my work at the library, I find myself reading the cover flaps and either adding the book to my list of books to read or deciding no, I don't want this one even if the cover has intrigued me. Last Friday I found two more, neither of which is in the bookshare collection: Engaged to Murder, a nonfiction book in which a principal and an English teacher were convicted of killing the English teacher's fiancee and her two children; and Bread-givers, which is about fairly modern Jewish girls not wanting to marry men their old-fashioned and strict father chooses for them; I think one girl goes off on her own. Both, from my skimming through a couple of pages, seem readable. Some books sound interesting tome but when I look at a couple of pages the writing seems tedious.
Cindy
--- Evan Reese <mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Okay, I see. That is the back cover in a paperback, but it is the insides of the front and back covers in a hardback. I always put that in, even though it can take some work to get it to come out right. Often, it is dark on light, and despite K1000's overall excellence, if I optimize scan on the text somewhere inside the book, the dust jacket info sometimes comes out garbled, with stuff missing, or in one case, it told me the page was blank even though it was full of dark print on a light background. I had to fiddle with scanner settings quite a bit before it would come out (mostly). (Yes, I indeed had it set to recognize dark text on a light background.) It just confirms what all my experience has shown: OCR is a lot better than it used to be, but it still can't equal an Optacon. If I could read faster with it, I might not scan at all.
Anyhow, I have a few hardbacks here, and I never considered looking at the outside back cover of one. Jeepers! I should at least see what is on one or two of them. Probably marketing fluff.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Julie & Miss Mercy" <mercy421@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 10:53 AM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Covers
The back cover is the book jacket, and that's what I scan. I don't even try to scan the front cover or anything else, but the back cover does contain the synopsis, usually, or the book jacket...what you'll find on the pages NLS labels as the Book Jacket information. That's on the back cover, so that's what I scan. Take care. -- Julie Morales Email & Windows/MSN Messenger: mercy421@xxxxxxxxxxx Skype: mercy0421 Please contact me if I may not recognize your contact info before adding me or I may not add you! Currently in Winchester Regional, Virginia Overcast, 64F�(18C�) Wind:SSE (150�) at 9mph (8KT) Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear. Created by WeatherSig v1.10 � http://www.weathersig.com
Evan Reese wrote:
> I always put the dust jacket info in my
submissions, just after the title
> page and copyright info, which usually appears on
the following page.
> That is the way NLS does it, and it seems as
logical to me as any other
> method. But I never considered scanning the
outside covers of hardbacks,
> or the front covers of paperbacks. What
information do they contain that
> isn't on the title page, except for perhaps
pictures that wouldn't scan
> anyhow?
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Julie & Miss
Mercy"
> <mercy421@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 9:32 AM
> Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Covers
>
>
> Hi, Cindy. I think the same way you do about
covers, and that's why, in
> books I scan, the cover material is scanned first
if
> it will scan at all. A sighted reader sees the
cover first and often reads
> the book jacket as one way of deciding if it's
> something they want to read, so it stands to
reason, at least to my way of
> thinking, that the cover material should be
> first...but that's just me and certainly no
official rule. <smile> Take
> care.
> -- > Julie Morales
> Email & Windows/MSN Messenger:
mercy421@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Skype: mercy0421 Please contact me if I may not
recognize your contact
> info before adding me or I may not add you!
> Currently in Winchester Regional, Virginia
Overcast, 62F�(17C�) Wind:SSE
> (150�) at 8mph (7KT)
> I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute
of it.
> Created by WeatherSig v1.10 �
http://www.weathersig.com
>
>
> Cindy wrote:
>> I'm sure someone else is answering this too, but
>> I'llput in my two-cents worth.
>>
>> No, it doesn't matter. In fact, many people don't
put
>> in cover info. They start with the title page or,
in
>> the case of paperbacks, other front page
material.
>>
>> When I validate, I put "cover" in brackets and
put
>> the cover info. As sighted reader, I like to see
the
>> cover first, although some hardbound have the
covers
>> mssing. I know "you can't tell a book by it's
cover,"
>> but still...and I figure, even though bookshare
>> members download books and know what they're
getting,
>> they might like to read the cover info--but maybe
>> that's just me. smile
>>
>> Cindy
>>
>> --- Tony Baechler <bookshare@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all. I have a quick question. When scanning
>>> books, is the condition of the cover important?
I'm looking at
>>> some books with warn or rubbed covers. If
necessary, I can get them
>>> with better covers but I'm wondering if it
matters. Carrie
>>> would be scanning them with the high speed
scanner and the spine would
>>> be chopped anyway so I don't see that it would
matter but I'm
>>> interested in the best scanned copies possible.
>>>
>>>
>>> -- >>> No virus found in this outgoing message.
>>> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
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>>> Release Date: 9/8/06
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
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