When, last May, Franck Thilliez released Mazes, his fans are many to pay 21.9 euros to read the latest opus of the king of French thrillers. But for some of them, it took them almost three times that price to acquire the novelist’s latest nugget. Not because the binding of the book was gilded with fine gold, but because it was published in Braille.
Despite the Lang Law which established a little more than forty years ago the single book price in France, the blind do not have equal access to reading and must pay three to five times more for their books. An inequality that will disappear from this Wednesday, World Braille Day.
A change born of the will of the Braille Transcription and Editing Center of Toulouse, which will now sell adapted books at the same price as the classic editions found in bookstores.
700 euros, the cost price of a book adapted in Braille
“When a 250-page book comes out in paperback format, it takes a week of full-time work to adapt it into Braille, time for proofreading, the use of specific machines and the use of individual whose price has increased by 55%. For a volume ofHarry Potter in the classic version of 350 pages sold for 10 euros, in the braille version there will be five volumes of a total of 670 pages in A4 format which will cost 750 euros to produce. In the end, the cost price of a Braille book fluctuates between 600 to 800 euros”, explains Denis Guérin, head of Braille newspapers and communication at the CTEB.
No question of selling them for that price. Until now, the price was therefore more expensive to obtain these tactile books, but not inaccessible thanks to partnerships and the association’s own funds.
A state subsidy also allowed him to offer a 50% reduction in the price for individuals, the Harry Potter was thus sold for 55 euros. The centre’s transcription work, such as the adaptation of bank statements into Braille, provides an income-generating activity that has made this new tariff possible.
If 107,000 new books are published each year in France, very few are ultimately in Braille. When a best-seller in the classic version will sell 200,000 copies, if it reaches ten sales in the tactile version it is a record because only 3% of the visually impaired have access to literary works and one of the greatest brakes remains the price.
“From now on we will be aligned on the single price, whatever the number of volumes, it is a strong sign for equal opportunities. Today there are audio books, but Braille books are still very important. It is not because one is blind that one does not read, that one does not write. It is important for spelling, for learning, for studies and for autonomy, ”insists Denis Guérin, one of the ten CTEB employees who offers a catalog of 2,000 books, both intended for young people. with relief illustrations or classics like Jules Verne.