By readability, I mean:
Font size – way too many teeny tiny fonts, especially in paperbacks, which is very bad as paperbacks are the most affordable and accessible version of a book
Line spacing
Formatting of paragraphs
The use of standard punctuation – especially to denote when characters are speaking.
It seems that every so often there is a general complaint about font size, but there is no bigger movement to look seriously at readability. While ereaders might eliminate some of these issues, the majority of people read paper books. There is so much discussion about people finding it hard to read, reduced attention spans, etc. Yet, I wonder how much of this is related to encountering books that are hard to read for completely avoidable reasons.
by SafiyaO
12 Comments
I believe there is not need for a campaign. Books with low readability will sell less.
Ebooks are the most affordable (free!) and accessible (instant download) type of book.
Libby is right on your phone, you don’t even need a kindle. Those books are free with a library card.
Project Gutenberg is free and you can send straight to the Books or Kindle app.
Font size shouldn’t be an issue even in paper books. Book magnifiers and reading glasses have been a thing for practically forever.
Yall ever heard of this thing called the market? It’s the answer to most of the things people complain about in the lit world
I think this is your clue that you need to pick up some reading glasses. No shame in it!
Some of that stuff is a valid complaint like font size etc. The more words you fit on a page, the fewer pages a book is, the cheaper it is to publish.
As for punctuation, that’s a stylistic decision by the author, not a publishing decision. If you require all proper punctuation marks just don’t read Cormac McCarthy or whatever.
>Font size – way too many teeny tiny fonts, especially in paperbacks, which is very bad as paperbacks are the most affordable and accessible version of a book
bigger font = more pages and ink = price increase.
If you read these books on a Kindle you can increase the font size to whatever you like
The cheapest paperbacks have had tiny font for ages – shitty paper, bad printing, etc. I have paperbacks from the 70s that are like trying to hack through a dense jungle. As for paragraph formatting and punctuation – that’s on the author. Someone else mentioned Cormac McCarthy. It’s. A choice. Stephen King often has one word paragraphs. Some older classic books have paragraphs that stretch over a couple pages.
Agree with font size. I can handle small font size but combined with few paragraph breaks and 1.0 spacing it’s hard.
I think mandating a standard style for all characters speaking could really stifle creativity.
Publishers have a percentage of their audience that struggles to read books at the font they print at, many of them older people who have presbyopia.
They could increase the font size to cater to these customers, but that would mean more ink and paper, which increases their overhead costs, reducing their profits. Or, they could understand that many of those customers will either get reading glasses or an e-reader where they can change the font size.
Buy large print books. Or get them from the library for free.