As a writer, I didn't always think of the size of the font that I was using for formatting my stories. I mean, I format them appropriately for print and ebooks. I always follow the specific rules of the different formats, such as using 11 or 12 points, using specific font types. However, recently I
purchased a large print book so it would be easier to read for me (small fonts bug my aging eyes), I realized that NONE of my published books were printed in large print.
As an Indie Author, I (currently) use Create Space as a platform for print books. At the end of the publishing process, there is a box that can be checked if the book is a large print book, but I never checked the box.
So, what does this mean? I'm thinking of publishing some (or all) my books in also a LARGE print format. I've been doing a little bit of research for this process, and I found some interesting information.
The American Council for the Blind has standards for printing for the visually impaired. (The website http://www.acb.org/large-print-guidelines identifies all of these guidelines). Here are a few guidelines that could help the Indie Author prepare and format their book for Large Print.
18 point to 20 point, bold, sans serif, mono or fixed space font. Examples are Adobe's Verdana, Helvetica, Tahoma, Arial; Linotype's Futura Light Bolded; and Typography's Gotham Rounded fonts. (I also found that there is an a download of a font called APHONT and it can be downloaded for use at the American Printing House for the Blind at (http://www.aph.org/products/aphont/).
Line spacing of at least 1.5
Titles and headings should be larger than the text of the document and contain both upper and lower case letters.
Titles and headings should be aligned left
Eliminate "widows" and "orphans" when continuing text from one page to the next.
Page numbers should be the same font style and font size as the normal text
This is just a little bit of information on Large Print books, and it may even add more sales by opening it up to more readers. Just because someone is visually impaired in some way, does not mean they are not readers.
I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has experience with large print books or is interested in doing something like this.
As always, I can be contacted by email at writeramyshannon@gmail.com