Accessibility in Publishing: An Introduction
Previously published on the Editorial Arts Academy blog and reprinted here with permission.
The Author’s Point of View
What if books had locks? You’ve probably seen those childhood diaries with the heart-shaped lock and little golden key. If the goal is to keep people out of a book, it’s a great idea: barriers prevent access.
However, most writers are trying to bring people in with their writing. Authors work hard to craft their message and use illustrations, charts, and images to engage their audience through more than just dazzling prose. They want to share hard-won experience, draw readers into their fictional worlds, or show potential clients how to solve their most pressing problems. And to do that, authors invite readers in—though e-books, print, websites, and social media posts.
Yet, what if I told you that e-books and print books often have built-in locks that keep readers out? That many social media posts and websites, despite their digital potential, are implemented in a way that undermines the benefits of assistive technologies?
When I wrote Networking for Freelance Editors with my coauthor, Linda Ruggeri, we were both volunteers with the Editorial Freelancers Association’s Diversity Initiative (now Diversity, Equity & Belonging [DEB]), and through our work in that group we learned how important it was to make sure that our book was open and accessible for everyone. We knew that following accessibility best practices would be the key to unlocking our book, and welcoming every reader, but we didn’t quite know where to start—it seemed overwhelming.
What we learned was that “accessibility” is a big umbrella, one that continues to evolve and grow. At its core, it’s about ensuring that everyone has access to content—in a way that is convenient and functional. We learned that creating accessible content is a practical goal we can all contribute to—even if we’re not accessibility experts (which we aren’t). It requires educating ourselves, going beyond a “this is the way we’ve always done it” mentality, and being open to others’ experiences and needs.
As we prepared our book for publication, Linda and I consulted with our primary book designer, hired an e-book designer who specialized in coding for accessibility, and did our own research, learning from experts and available resources (see the links at the end of this post). We kept our audience in mind, imagined their needs and circumstances, and worked to remove any barriers between our readers and our message. We wrote a book designed to help editors grow meaningful networks because we knew from our own experiences how challenging and isolating it can be as a freelance editor. We wanted our book to help other editors feel connected and make connections. It was not acceptable for our book’s design or execution to exclude anyone.
After learning how to make our own book more accessible, we now bring our direct experience with crafting accessible content to our publishing clients—and to our own work. Whether we’re editing or writing, we think about how the audience will access and use the content. How will they navigate it? What do different readers need? How can our decisions work with assistive technologies instead of against them?
As I mentioned earlier, accessibility is a large and dynamic subject that can’t be fully explored in one blog post. (I know I’ll be learning about best practices for years to come.) To get started, though, here are some of the considerations we’ve learned to pay attention to.
For Print:
Typography
Books are tangible artifacts, and every aspect of their physical expression can impact accessibility. One of the most basic and important considerations is typography (including font choice, font size, and the spacing of letters and design elements). These choices affect whether readers can access the text visually. For instance, some fonts are easier to read in print, and others tend to work better in digital applications. There are specific fonts designed to aid readers with dyslexia, and there’s a reason large-print books are carried in libraries. Considering typography also means paying attention to things like the use of italics, all caps, text alignment, and spacing between lines (leading) and between characters (kerning).
Color
Color choice and contrast are especially important—in both print and digital content. Colorblind readers and readers with visual impairments can have difficulty distinguishing between certain colors or reading light text set on shaded backgrounds. Similarly, color alone should not carry meaning. Relying on a font or image’s color to convey critical information sets some readers up for confusion and frustration—and it means that your publishing client’s message may be misread or completely inaccessible to their readers.
Physical Aspects
What else should we consider when it comes to print? Think about things like printing on matte versus glossy paper to prevent glare, using off-white paper to avoid harsh contrasts, and making sure the paper has an adequate weight (is thick enough) so that text doesn’t bleed through when printed on both sides.
Remember that when the medium is fixed (ink on paper), the design is also fixed, so it’s important to create print materials that serve as wide a variety of users as possible.
For Digital Content (E-books, Websites, and Social Media):
While print accessibility is limited by the nature of print, digital has so much potential that we often need expert help to navigate it, which is why Linda and I worked with a designer to code our book in a way that would let assistive technologies (like screen readers) access all of the content. In this process, we learned that digital content should be presented in a way that is practical, necessary, and navigable.
Practical
Just as we, as editors, ask authors to think about what information readers need, we also need to think about readers’ needs from a practical standpoint. For instance, in our e-book, because it’s a workbook, we have a lot of fill-in-the-blank lines. Originally those were formatted as underscore lines, but screen readers and the “read aloud” function in PDFs read them as “underscore underscore underscore underscore underscore underscore,” which is mind-numbing to say the least. Our designer fixed that so readers knew we had instead provided a blank space for their answers. Technically, the reader could access the content despite the “underscore” chorus, but this change improved accessibility because it made the experience convenient and practical for the reader.
Necessary
In our workbook we also used graphics that contained words (though we limited these), so for all graphics and visual elements, we created useful alt text (alternative text) that screen readers would read, which meant that information was now accessible, instead of being hidden from the reader as an unknowable image. Similarly, any purely decorative imagery was labeled as such so that screen readers could disregard it. For instance, we had chosen a “cute” bullet point character for the print book, but the designer coded it differently in the e-book so that a screen reader wouldn’t read it as a random, meaningless word object, which could hinder readers. We learned that if an image isn’t carrying meaning, that fact should be conveyed to all readers no matter how they are accessing the content.
Navigable
Perhaps the most important thing we learned is that an accessible e-book (or website, or PDF) is one that gives the reader maximum control over how they access and navigate the content. For this to work, book elements and headings have to be coded appropriately and in logical order. This is something that, as editors, we can help build into the manuscripts we edit—whether we propose improved narrative structure, insert coding tags, or apply Word styles. When e-books are coded according to established best practices, assistive technologies like screen readers and braille readers function with maximum efficacy. Proper coding allows readers to navigate the e-book according to their needs rather than the “fixed” order set by the author. While this might be less of a concern for readers of fiction, it’s critical for reference works and other nonfiction (like workbooks).
For a better understanding of the technology that’s making all of this possible, check out “Born Accessible” Publishing, by Linda McDonald, a fellow member of the Professional Editors Network. McDonald explains how the EPUB 3 digital format builds accessibility features into e-books so that they naturally work with a range of assistive technologies.
Conclusion
While some of these technical accessibility concerns might not be within the purview of every editor, having an accessibility mindset will help us recognize opportunities to remove barriers. By educating ourselves, we can provide value to our authors and advocate for their readers, which is always at the core of an editor’s job. What’s more, it’s a skill set that will differentiate us from editors who don’t offer this type of insight. Learning about accessibility also gives us perspective about how we, as editors, fit in the publishing process and how we can support changes that value—and include—every reader.
And when we market ourselves, participate on social media, and create resources for clients, we can use accessibility best practices in our own work so that we’re welcoming all readers—and, as businesses, we’re reaching all potential clients.
To get learn more about accessibility, check out the following links:
Testing Fonts for Accessibility
Accessible Publishing Best Practice Guidelines for Publishers
Brittany Dowdle is a freelance editor with over ten years’ experience in the publishing industry. She has edited the work of best-selling traditionally published authors and award-winning indie authors. Along with Linda Ruggeri, she is the coauthor of Networking for Freelance Editors. Brittany’s work can be found at Wordcat Editorial, and you can connect with her on Instagram.
