There’s a company in Dnipro, Ukraine that’s been sorting out my ham-fisted I.T problems with audiobook narration on a daily basis, even though there’s a war on! That company is ‘SOLVVE’.
They are the brains and muscle behind Whole-reader, a platform that allows my narrated audiobooks to be read and listened to simultaneously, with a cursor that follows the narration. Its awesome to see and hear it in action and I’ve been narrating for them for the past two years as a voice artist.
It goes without saying that digital audiobooks are a great convenience for those of us who just don’t have the band-width to sit down and read a large novel. Some people appreciate the distraction of a recorded text, whilst for others, its a way of quenching an insatiable need for multi-tasking.
However, I hadn’t appreciated the huge market in education, both in formal learning environments, as well as casual learners. Whole-reader is a platform thats perfect for non-native speakers, looking to hone their English reading skills.
It allows them to access classic texts, not just casual, coffee table material, but everything from Jane Eyre to Homer’s Odyssey. The majority of the works in this sizeable catalogue come from ‘Project Gutenberg,’ which is essentially a large resource of open source material.
My daughter is 5 and would also qualify as an English language learner, however, her particular fave is ‘Topsy and Tim’. I’m guessing that this might not suit everyone.
Who are the tech wizards behind this?
Back in March 2022, with daily news-reels churning out the incessant bleak news on Ukraine, there I was in my comfortable Hampshire studio. I was about to start narrating another classic, but suffered a ‘technical,’ a terrifying term for voice artists, meaning ‘not earning’.
No problem, I’ll email Nadia (real name with-held), in Dnipro and ask her if she wouldn’t mind solving my minor I.T glitch. Needless to say this wasn’t a good plan, I had no idea what Nadia’s situation was. Was she still in Dnipro? Still in Ukraine? Is she hunkered down with her family in a basement, or stuck in the mud whilst fleeing from the city, like so many others?
If, under any of those circumstances, she did have internet access, I wonder how my irksome I.T question would have landed with her!
I decided to do the only sane and rational thing that any humane person should do, ‘ask her if she’s ok’ and nothing else.
She was, and as if completely un-perturbed by the unfolding disaster around her, sensing that I had more to ask, she said that things were going on as normal and that I should ask away.
SOLVVE
Nadia works for the Ukrainian tech company ‘Solvve’. Since 2011, they’ve been providing software development services across the globe to multiple industries. They have development expertise across all major platforms, including web, mobile, desktop and cloud. They describe themselves as being a mid-sized IT company.
Whole-reader
Solve had a client who wanted to provide accessible education to English language learners, by enabling them to be immersed within classic literature. The challenge for Solve was to develop a solution that would allow students to experience difficult text in an easy to perceive way, whilst being equally suitable for students with more advanced language skills.
They built whole-reader around the idea of combining reading and listening comprehension in a unique e-book, now available iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and Linux, with clear cut interface navigation and cross platform synchronisation. It allows text tracking, whilst listening to the narration by native speakers.
Lessons – Technology – Ukraine
1 – Ukrainians are a resilient people
(As if we didn’t know that already.) It felt wrong to be chatting so casually about my technical issues with someone, who’s circumstances I could only imagine. But rather fittingly, the book I was narrating when I hit the ‘glitch,’ was Taras Bulba by Nikoli Gogol.
It’s a heroic tale of a Ukrainian Cossack Hetman, who grabs the Cossack nation by the balls and rises up against its oppressors. The timing of this was incredible. I was struck by the stoic nature of the Ukrainian people, who rather than cry into their corn-flakes, would rather pick up a metaphorical sword and fight back any way they could. My colleague in Ukraine is proud of her country and I would say is very much doing her bit by continuing as normal.
2 – Be mindful of your client’s needs
I learned that when you’re sitting in your comfortable studio, enjoying a life, free from tyrannical despots and the threat of genocide, there is one thing you should avoid saying:
‘Stay Safe’.
This was irksome for Nadia, I should have said: ‘Is there anything I can do to help’?
3 – The Audiobook Market is broader than you might think
The market for digital audiobooks is huge and is not restricted to the latest, ‘off-the-shelf’ block-buster. There is a need for material that is useful and engaging for non-native English speakers, presented in a way that is in no way demeaning. An adult learner requires such material, and has interests that differ from those of my 5 year old daughter.
Lets Connect
Thanks for reading this blog and I hope that you found it useful. If you are interested in having an audiobook, or similar narrated, check out my audiobook demo reel and feel free to get in touch if you have a project in mind.
