E-Books

E-Books are increasingly available and have the potential to fulfil many of the reading needs of people with sight loss. Readers may read e-books with an e-reader (eg: Sony Reader) or on a computer with screen reader or magnification software.

Public domain books

Many older books are in the public domain and are available freely on the internet:

Project Gutenberg

There are many websites providing free e-books and one of the best places to look is Project Gutenberg, where files are available in a variety of formats.

Google and Sony

Google Books is another good source of e-books but not all their content will be accessible to people with sight loss.

Google and Sony have recently launched a free service where you can download over 500,000 books for free.

Commercial e-books

Increasingly e-books are available from commercial sources such as Amazon, Waterstones and WHSmiths.

Publisher Lookup

Many publishers have established a system for providing electronic files on request for use by people with sight loss. Publisher Lookup lists all the imprints and publishers, and provides contact details where these are known to make it easier to make requests.

Accessibility of e-books