Has anyone tried publishing large print books?

[Robert Zwilling]

I am thinking that the large print market is much smaller than the general market in scope of available titles but I believe it does have plenty of readers in it. In my local library, the large print section is not too big, and has very little in the way of science fiction. Amazon only shows 4,000 titles for large print science fiction, though they have a few other related categories. The only problem I see is that my single book will need 3 volumes to print it out according to large print specs, or else have the dubious honor of being the biggest book on in the large print section.

 

[ginny]

The real problem with large print edition--meaning a paper edition--would be the cost to the customer.
Each book could cost them from 23 to 36 us dollars if the books stay under a 500 page count. It could be a bit less if you decided to only make a 10 to 15 cent profit. (that's US again)

So for an already tough market you would be pricing yourself out of any reasonable distance unless your work is really popular.

 

[Vladd67]

I recently bought a second-hand book from Amazon, turned out to be one that was sold on from a library in a clearance sale. Turns out it was a large print version, I never realised how much that helps with reading. I think my varifocals need replacing.

 

[Overread]

If the books are costing the kind of prices that Ginny says then that coupled to the market size might well mean many of those who do need large print are potentially moving toward tablets/e-readers rather than large print books. Rather than perhaps four or five largeprints from a limited selection they can pick up an e-reader and books at "normal" prices from almost the entire modern and a very good and growing chunk of older works.

 

[Robert Zwilling]

Profit is not the motive for distributing this particular book. I did notice that the max size for the large print books wasn't that big compared to typical best seller hardbacks, but they were taller. Switching to Ereaders would make sense for big print book readers, but it doesn't mean they are all going to do it. I have electronic copies of books in various devices. I can't even start to think I am ever going to read books or view TV on a phone. Tablets are better, but the screen can be annoying to look at or hold sometimes. I still prefer holding a real book in my hands, which can be true for all eyesights and ages.