ShelfStealers Clear Eye Books Program
Help us help others by auditioning to record an audio book.
Shelfstealers wants an audio book version of every single one of our books so that we can give free audio books to international and national organizations that serve people with visual disabilities.
How will we do this?
With the help of our authors and our readers… and maybe a few kindhearted drama students.
Both our readers and our authors may audition to read and record one or more audio books.
The authors of the books decide who will read their books, and may also audition to read their own and other books.
The auditions take place, by appointment, in a special chat room.
It’s not easy to read and record a quality audio book; it takes time—a lot of time—a quiet room, and good microphone, but it doesn’t cost a fortune.
Good microphones can be purchased in our bookstore (and those other places—you know where they are) for less than $100, plus most of us know someone, perhaps a musician, who has one and who might be willing to lend it to us for this purpose.
Ready to volunteer now? You'll be doing something worthwhile.
Vision Impairment Statistics
Over 161 million people in the world are visually impaired, of
whom 37 million are blind and 124 million have low vision. It is
predicted that without extra interventions, these numbers will rise to
75 million blind and 200 million visually impaired by the year 2020
(WHO, 2003).
Among persons who are blind worldwide:
58% are age 60+
32%
are ages 45-59
7% are ages 15-44
4% are age 14 or under (Thylefors,
et al., 1995).
The number of people with partial sight today -- 135 million --
is expected to double by the year 2020 (Vision 2020, 2000).
