Simon & Schuster Provides Digital Files to Bookshare

Agreement with Leading Publisher Advances Timely Access to eBooks for Individuals with Print Disabilities

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

For all Bookshare-related questions, please contact:

Valerie Chernek
410-871-2670

vchernek2212@comcast.net

 

Simon & Schuster:

Adam Rothberg
212-698-1132
adam.rothberg@simonandschuster.com

 

New York, NY and Palo Alto, CA, April 14, 2010 – To serve individuals and students with print disabilities and to provide timely access to digital books, Simon & Schuster has signed an agreement that will give Bookshare’s members access to an extensive selection of titles from all imprints.

Simon & Schuster, one of the world’s leading publishers of English language books, publishes under numerous well-known imprints including Simon & Schuster, Pocket Books, Scribner, Gallery Books, Free Press, Atria Books, Fireside, Touchstone, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Little Simon, and Simon Spotlight.

 The publisher is contributing thousands of adult and children’s books in EPUB (electronic publication) format including award-winning titles and annotated classics. Going forward, Simon & Schuster plans to provide its frontlist titles each month to enrich the Bookshare collection.

"The 90,000 members of Bookshare eagerly await the broad range of Simon & Schuster titles," said Jim Fruchterman, CEO of Benetech, the non-profit organization that operates Bookshare. "This substantial commitment brings the world one step closer to the vision of equal access to print materials for individuals with print disabilities."

"Our digital division has taken an industry leadership role in the use of digital publishing to produce books in multiple formats," said Mark Gompertz, Executive Vice President, Digital Publishing. "It is our privilege to make our titles available to Bookshare so that individuals with print disabilities will more readily be able to read our titles."

Simon & Schuster joins a rapidly growing list of partnering publishers who now collaborate with Bookshare to increase its collection of accessible books and textbooks. Its titles have won 54 Pulitzer Prizes and received numerous awards including National Book Awards, National Book Critics Circle Awards, Grammy Awards and Newbery and Caldecott Medals.

Publishers interested in contributing books to Bookshare in support of individuals with print disabilities should contact Robin Seaman, Publisher Liaison.

 

About Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster, a part of CBS Corporation, is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Digital, and international companies in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.simonandschuster.com.

 

About Bookshare

Bookshare is the world’s largest online accessible library for people with print disabilities. Through its technology initiatives and partnerships, Bookshare seeks to raise the floor on accessibility issues so that individuals with print disabilities have the same ease of access to print materials as people without disabilities. In 2007, Bookshare received a $32 million five-year award from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), to provide free access for all U.S. students with a qualified print disability. The Bookshare library has over 70,000 books and serves more than 90,000 members. Bookshare is an initiative of Benetech, a Palo Alto, CA-based nonprofit which creates sustainable technology to solve pressing social needs.

 

The content of this press release was developed under a cooperative agreement, H327K070001, with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.  However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.