The following list of commands applies to using the My Talking Books Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) smart speaker skill. Throughout this web page, the smart speaker’s name has been replaced with the phrase “Lady A.” Please use your smart speaker’s wake word and not the replacement name (“Lady A”) when using commands with My Talking Books. To learn even more about the smart speaker skill, access the My Talking Books User Guide.
A few things you should know before you begin using NLS My Talking Books:
You will need to say the wake word “Lady A” before you say your first command. You can interrupt My Talking Books by saying “Lady A.”
After you have given some commands, My Talking Books may ask you to make a choice or suggest a command or response for you to say. Please follow the advice given by the speaker. For example, if the speaker suggests you say a “yes” or “no” at any given point, please answer with “yes” or “no.”
While interacting with My Talking Books, you will end up giving multiple commands. For example, while you are browsing through a book list, you can say “go back” to return to your previous action or position in the list.
General Commands
To open My Talking Books on your smart speaker, say “Open My Talking Books.”
To exit My Talking Books, say “Cancel” or “Exit.” NOTE: Book playback must be paused prior to exiting the skill, or playback will continue upon exiting.
If you need My Talking Books to repeat what it last said, say “Repeat” or “Say that again.”
To reset or start a new conversation, you can say any of the following: “Clear dialogue,” “Clear conversation,” “Start Over,” “Finish,” or “Main Menu.”
If you need help or advice, say “Help” or “Options” (Note that the advice given will change depending on where you are in the skill).
If you need to provide feedback, say “Feedback.”
Searching for Books
To search by author, say “Books by (insert author’s name)” or “Books authored by (insert author’s name).”
To Search by title, say “Books titled (insert title of book)” or “Read books with (insert title of book).”
To search by keyword, say “Books about (insert subject).”
To search by genre or subject, say “Books genre (insert genre) or “Books subject (insert genre)” or just say “(insert genre) books.”
To search by narrator, say “Books read by (insert narrator’s name) or “Books narrated by (insert narrator’s name).”
To search by annotation, say “Books annotated with (insert keywords)” or “Books noted (insert keywords).”
To search by book series, say “Book in series (insert Series Name).”
To search by NLS book number, say “Books with number (insert the entire DB number)” or “Books with code (insert the entire DB number).”
To search by spelling a word with any of the previous search criteria, say “Books (insert keyword spelled out).” For example, to find books with “browne” as a keyword, say each letter one at a time, such as, “Books B, R, O, W, N, E” or “List Books author spelled Bravo Romeo Oscar Whiskey November Echo.”
To filter out books in your BARD Wish list from your search, say “Filter out my Wish list.”
To filter out books in your Streaming History from your search, say “Filter out my Streaming History.”
To filter out books in your Bookshelves from your search, say “Filter out my Bookshelf.”
NOTE: Your smart speaker can only listen for a limited length of time, this means that you may be cut off when trying to complete an advanced search. It is recommended, instead, to start with a simple book search and then add filters. For instance, you can say “Books nonfiction.” After the list has been provided, you can then filter the list using search criteria such as author. You can continue adding different criteria, one at a time. An example of performing an advanced search follows:
Say “Title moon” and wait for the list. Then say “Read by Jones.” You can say “Go back,” if the last filter you used does not return a result. You can then try another filter like subject stars, until you find the book you want.
NLS Book Collection
To browse the entire NLS book collection, starting from its most recent additions, say “List books” or “Read books.”
To browse the most popular books, say “List popular books” or “Read popular books” or just “Most popular books.”
To browse books recently added to the collection, say “List Recently Added books” or just “Recently Added books.”
Book Selection and Book Information
To select a book from a list using the item number, say “Select (insert number)” or “Number (insert number).”
To select a book from a list using the title, just say a few words from the title itself.
After selecting a book, to hear the book annotation, say “Annotation” or “Summary.”
After selecting a book, to hear the full book description, say “Describe” or “Details.”
Selecting a previously listed book, when list numbering is set to continuous, is done as follows: if the device is currently listing items 20 to 25, say “Select 10; Number 3; Select number 15.”
Reading a Book
To read a book from a list using the book’s item number, say “Play number (insert number) or “Read number (insert number).”
To read a book from a list using the book’s title, say “Play (insert title)” or “Read (insert title).”
To pause reading a book, say “Lady A, stop” or “Lady A, pause.”
NOTE: The following commands ONLY work if you have asked My Talking Books to pause book reading. This is because the smart speaker misunderstands My Talking Books commands while a book is playing. Always say “Lady A, pause,” wait for the speaker to reply, “What now?” and then say a command or ask a question.
To continue reading, say “Resume Reading” or “Resume” or just “Continue.”
To rewind or fast forward using time in a book, say “Jump forward (insert a number of seconds or minutes or hours)” or “Jump back (insert a number of seconds or minutes or hours).”
To move to a particular chapter, part, or section in a book, say “Go to (insert chapter, part, or section and its number).”
To move to the next chapter, section, or part, say “Next.”
To move to the previous chapter, section, or part, say “Previous” or “Back.”
To find your current position in a book, say “Position” or ask, “Where am I?”
To find what part you have just read, say “List previous.”
To find what parts are coming up, say “List next.”
To restart a book, say one of the following: “Restart,” “Move to the start,” “Go to the beginning of the text,” “Go to the beginning of the book,” “Go to the beginning of the story,” “Rewind to the start,” or “Jump to the beginning.”
To increase playback speed while reading a book, say “Play faster” or “Set playback speed to fast” or “Max playback speed.”
To decrease playback speed while reading a book, say “Play slower” or “Change speed to slow” or “Minimum playback speed.”
To set a default playback speed for all books, say “Set default play speed to fast” or “Set default play speed to normal” or “Set default play speed to slow.”
To set the playback volume of a book by percentage, between 0 and 400, say “set play volume to 200%” or “set play volume to 400%.”
To set the playback volume of a book by level from 1 to 10, say “set play volume to 5” or “set play volume to 10.”
To set the playback volume of a book to maximum, say “Max play volume” or “Max playback volume.”
To set the playback volume of a book to minimum, say “Minimum play volume” or “Minimum playback volume.”
To set a default playback speed for all books, say “Set default play speed to fast” or “Set default play speed to normal” or “Set default play speed to slow.”
To increase playback speed while reading a book, say “Play faster” or “Set playback speed to fast” or “Max playback speed.”
To decrease playback speed while reading a book, say “Play slower” or “Change speed to slow” or “Minimum playback speed.”
If a book has a table of contents, it can only be accessed while the book is playing. First play a book, then pause it and then say “List contents” or “Table of Contents.”
To find the structure or the navigation levels of a book while reading, pause the reading and then say “Structure.”
To change navigation level, say “Set level to (insert level number).”
To set a default jump forward or back time, say “Set default jump forward to (insert number of seconds or minutes) or “Set default jump backward to (insert number of seconds or minutes).”
To check the default jump time setting, ask “What is my default jump time?” or say “Tell me the default jump backward time.”
To create a bookmark, say “Create bookmark (insert bookmark’s name).”
To list the bookmarks in the book, say “List bookmarks.”
NOTE: After some commands, the book will automatically restart reading, if that does not happen and you would like to keep reading, say “resume reading.”
Sleep Timer
To set a sleep timer, say “Go to sleep in (insert number of minutes)” or “Go to sleep at the end of this chapter” or “Go to sleep at the end of this part.”
To set a default sleep timer, say “Set the default sleep timer to (insert an amount of time).”
To start the default sleep timer, say “Go to sleep as usual.”
To cancel a sleep timer while reading, first say “Lady A” then say “Cancel timer.”
Navigating Lists
NOTE: The following commands apply to your BARD wish list, Bookshelves, Streaming History, Book search results, and BARD recent and most popular lists.
To go to the next group of items in a list, say “Next” or “Forward.”
To go back to the previous group of items in a list, say “Go back” or “Previous” (If you have not moved forward in the list, saying back will take you back to the task you were last doing before).
To move forward by a specified number of items in the list, say “Jump forward (insert number).”
To move backward by a specified number of items in the list, say “Jump back (insert the number).”
To search the results for an item that contains a specific word, say “Next containing (insert keyword).”
To confirm what type of list My Talking Books has just read, ask “What is being listed?” or “What is this?”
My Talking Books can only listen for a limited length of time, so this means that you may be cut off when trying to complete an advanced search. It might be easier to start a simple book search and then add filters. For instance, you can say “Books nonfiction,” and after the list has been provided, you can then filter the list using search criteria like author. You can continue adding different criteria one at a time. For example, say “Title moon” and wait for the list. Then say “Read by Jones.” You can say “Go back,” if the last filter you used does not return a result. You can then try another filter like subject stars, until you find the book you want. Set how the book list is numbered, either consecutive numbers (i.e., 1 to 1,000) or repeated numbers (1 to 5) as follows: “Set book numbering to continuous” or “Set book numbering to repeated.”
Preference Settings
To open Preference settings, say “My preferences” or “Settings.”
To select a preference category, say “Select 1” or “Select General.”
Say your answer to the question to review and change your preferences.
Reset preferences to default as follows: Once you have selected a preference category, say “Apply default.”
Experience Level
The beginner level will help you understand how to use the skill by suggesting what you can do next and phrases to try. To set My Talking Books to the beginner experience level, say “Set level beginner,” and My Talking Books will adjust. The advanced experience level expects that you understand how to use the skill and provides less advice. To set the experience level to advanced, say “Set level advanced,” and My Talking Books will adjust.
User Guide
To open the User Guide, say “User Guide.”
To select an article to read from the presented options, say “Select (number) or “Select (article title).”
To return to the main menu after reading an article, say “Headlines” or “Go Back.”
To read the next article, say “Next.”
To read the previous article, say “Previous.”
Streaming History
To open your streaming history list, say “Streaming History” or “My history” or just “My streams.”
To resume reading a book on your streaming history list, say “Number (insert item number)” or “Read (insert title)” or just “Play (insert item number).”
BARD Wish List
To open your BARD Wish list, say “Wish list” or “My Wish list” or just “Go to my Wish list.”
To add a book to your BARD Wish list from a list, say “Add (insert item number) to my Wish list” or “Add (insert title) to my Wish list.”
To play a book from your BARD Wish list, say “(insert item number)” or “Read (insert title).”
If your BARD Wish list does not contain the books you expected to find, say “Refresh Wish list.”
To add all books from a list to your BARD Wish list, say “Add all to my Wish list.”
To add the current group of books in a list to your BARD Wish list, say “Add this group to my Wish list.”
Bookshelves
To open your bookshelf, say “Go to my Bookshelf” or “My bookshelf” or just “Bookshelf.”
To create a custom bookshelf with a name of your choice, say “Create bookshelf (insert new name of bookshelf).”
To open a custom bookshelf, say “List bookshelf (insert bookshelf name).”
To list all of your bookshelves, say “List bookshelves.”
To add a book to your Bookshelf from a list, say “Add (insert title or item number) to my bookshelf” or “Add (insert title or item number) to my bookshelf (insert bookshelf name).”
To play a book from your Bookshelf, say “Play (insert title or item number)” or “Read (insert title or item number).”
To delete a Bookshelf, first say “List bookshelves” then say “Delete (insert bookshelf name)” or “Remove insert bookshelf name).”
To add all books from a list to a Bookshelf, which can be up to 400 items, say “Add all to my bookshelf” or “Add all to my bookshelf (insert bookshelf name).”
To add the current group of books in a list to a Bookshelf, say “Add this group to my bookshelf” or “Add this group to my bookshelf (insert bookshelf name).”
Commands for Streaming History, BARD Wish list and Bookshelves
To sort list by title alphabetically, from A to Z, say “Sort by title” or “Order by title.”
To sort list by title alphabetically, from Z to A, say “Sort reverse by title” or “Sort down by title.”
To sort list by author’s last name, alphabetically A to Z, say “Sort by author” or “Order by author.”
To sort list by author’s last name, alphabetically Z to A, say “Reverse by author” or “Sort down by author.”
To sort list by date added, newest to oldest, say “Sort by most recent” or “Most recent first.”
To sort list by date added, oldest to newest, say “Sort by oldest” or “Order oldest first.”
To check how a list has been sorted, ask “Sort order?” or “What order?” or say “Current order.”
To return the sort order to most recent first, say “No sort.”
To return to your preference sort order, say “Reset sort” or “Reapply order.”
To delete books from your Streaming History, BARD Wish list or Bookshelf list, say “Delete (insert item number or title) or “Remove (insert item number or title).”
To delete a group of items from a specified point on your Streaming History, BARD Wish list or Bookshelf list, say “Delete all from 3” or “Delete all from (insert title).”
To delete everything from your Streaming History, BARD Wish list or Bookshelf list, say “Delete all” or “Delete everything.”
Surveys
To open available surveys, say “List surveys” or “Surveys.”
To select a survey, say “Survey (insert number)” or “survey (insert title).”
To choose not to participate, say “Select survey (insert number), then, say “Opt out.”
To change an answer, say “Edit answer” or “Change my answer.”
To listen to your response to an open-ended, transcribed answer, say “Read.”To change a transcribed answer, say “Restart.”
To save your transcribed answer, say “Finished” or “Complete” or “Done” or “End” or “No more.”
To answer a multiple-choice question that allows selection of more than one answer, say “(numbers).”
To save your answer, say “Finished” or “Complete” or “Done.”
To stop the survey and close My Talking Books while saving your previous answers, say) “cancel.”
Waitlist
To join the waitlist after being asked to do so, say “Yes.”
To opt out of the waitlist after being asked to join, say “No.”