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August 16, 2005
Big Type and Us
You may have already read Friday's New York Times article about publishing execs' moves to produce mass-market paperbacks in larger print. The headline is quite revealing: Books, Not Tales, Get Taller Before Baby Boomers' Eyes. (I'm using a link to the story as it ran in the New Jersey Star-Ledger, because you don't have to register.) Here's an excerpt:
Faced with declining sales, two of the biggest publishers of mass-
market titles, the Penguin Group and Simon & Schuster, have begun
issuing new paperbacks by some of their most popular authors in a
bigger size that allows larger type and more space between lines.
"We've been losing the foundation of our customer base because their
eyesight is getting worse, and the books are getting harder and
harder to read," said Jack Romanos, the chief executive of Simon &
Schuster...
It occurs to me, and not for the first time, that things pioneered by our movement are going to end up helping all of society. I think this relates to my Harry Potter audio books blog entry, and, before that, my Talking Signs blog entry. Is anybody out there putting 2 and 2 together? Or maybe 2 and 2 and 2? Each of these things helps all of us, not just "the disabled." Now, if we could only get the small business jerks to quit screaming about wheelchair users wanting access. Sigh.
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Posted by mjohnson at August 16, 2005 04:24 PM