as you probably all know by now, we are about to celebrate our tenth anniversary. we have written a press release to send to media outlets for this occasion, to help spread the word about who we are and what we do (because even after ten years, it seems that there are still people who have not heard of us).
the admin team is busy covering national newspapers in english-speaking countries, and in germany, austria, and the netherlands (so far).
but can you help us? would you be willing to contact your local newspaper or your favorite technology/literature blog and send them this note (possibly in translation)? a couple of our volunteers have been interviewed by their local newspapers about recording in gerneral and librivox in particular. you might join their ranks if you like
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
Free Audiobook Producer Celebrates Tenth Anniversary
LibriVox.org, possibly the world's largest producer of free audiobooks, will celebrate its 10th anniversary on August 10. LibriVox is an Internet-based, global community of volunteers who make copyright-free audio recordings of classic literature.
The website's catalog contains almost 9000 titles, with about 100 new books added each month. Founded in 2005 by a handful of readers who produced a single audiobook as a podcast, the site has attracted more than 7000 participants who have recorded books in 35 languages. Without exception, all LibriVox recordings can be downloaded and used freely.
LibriVox volunteers have diverse backgrounds. They include, for example, an archeology professor, a former zeppelin pilot, corporate lawyers, boy scouts, nuns, a Dutch doctor who treated Ebola patients in Africa, a Korean student, an American falconer, a Danish patent lawyer, and a retired chemist from Australia. Readers' ages range from under 10 to over 80 years old.
LibriVox has an open structure focused on volunteer readers: anyone with a microphone and a computer is invited to record in any language in which they are fluent. The choice of text is left to the readers. Any book that is in the public domain in the US (generally published before 1923) and in the public domain in the reader's country is eligible.
This policy leads to a highly diverse catalog that includes poetry and prose, novels and nonfiction, and even whole plays performed with a full virtual cast. One can find classics by Austen, Dickens, and the Brontë sisters, as well as religious texts like the Bible and the Koran or original scientific works by Darwin and Einstein.
Production of these audiobooks takes place in an Internet forum. Readers may collaborate on a book, with each one reading a single chapter or a role in a play, or readers may record a whole book solo. Some LibriVox readers have become professional audiobook narrators, but for most it remains a hobby.
LibriVox recordings have been used in movies and music, in YouTube videos, and as study aids for language learners. Most of the listeners who send regular thank-you messages, however, are people who enjoy a bit of distraction by listening to free audiobooks: truck drivers on long trips, people doing household chores or walking their dogs, scientists performing tedious nighttime experiments, farmers working in their fields, people who are bedridden or visually impaired, and those who listen while working out at the gym.
To commemorate the anniversary, LibriVox will release a tenth anniversary collection (100 short works, all with the number 10 in the title) and special anniversary podcasts.
For more information, visit: http://www.librivox.org
END
Contact:
website: http://librivox.org
Official contact information:: info@librivox.org
