Friday, October 28, 2011

Say Hello to My Little Friend


My Kindle helps me edit.

It's an idea I've borrowed (er, stolen) from Alan Ryker. Throw your manuscript on Kindle (don't worry about formatting--any old mobi will do), and then turn on text to speech.  What a bonus. Seriously. I've found many areas I want to fix only after hearing "someone else" read my book.

One funny little bit--the robo-voice pauses longer for commas than periods. It makes for strange phrasing at times.  Not to mention the humor of hearing an expressionless voice say phrases such as:

"...we can't call snow-plows-r-us..." or "We'd be fine if dipshit hadn't landed us in the ditch."

Need a mobi? Save your manuscript as a filtered web page (from the drop down menu) and convert with Calibre. I like to follow along on-screen as the robo-voice reads.

What does all this mean for you, dear readers? In the Memory House is that much closer...

10 comments:

Mary Rajotte said...

That's a great idea!! I use my Sony Reader to edit, highlighting passages and taking notes, which I can export. I wonder if my Reader has a text-to-speech function?

What would be even better was if you could download voices, like you can for some GPS devices. Like Hannibal Lecter. Or DONALD SUTHERLAND! (Hehehe - I like his voice.)

Anonymous said...

The robo-voice cracks me up. It's kind of surreal to hear my own words via the machine. And Calibre rocks it.

Michael Stone said...

I love Mary's idea. Hell, if they started introducing 'guest voices, even I might buy a Kindle.

James Everington said...

Yeah I stole that one from Alan too!

Anthony Rapino said...

Cool idea. I haven't yet ventured into the kindle publishing, but I am seriously thinking about it.

Mary Rajotte said...

I just had to return to say - it works! My reader doesn't have text-to-speech but my voice recognition software does. Ran through a short I was ~just~ about to submit somewhere and found a few places to edit plus an instance of 'his' where it should have been 'her'.

J.C. Martin said...

I edit on my Kindle as well, although I don't really use the text-to-speech function. Although, I did giggle when the robotic voice started dropping F-bombs in an emotionless tone.

Now a few follower via the Coffin Hop.

J.C.
Coffin Hopper

Read my Coffin Hop post HERE

Cate Gardner said...

I refuse to give my kindle any love at all even if it would help me.

Tyhitia Green said...

Aaron, I used something similar with my Final Draft (for movie scripts) software. It was weird and funny.

Danielle Birch said...

Sounds like a great idea...it almost makes me want to buy a Kindle.

Just read Sons of Chaos and the Desert Dead over at RPP - a most intriguing read and I can't wait for more.