Publishers must stop ignoring dyslexic adults

Dyslexic-friendly books for children are now a staple in bookshops. However, there are very few initiatives for reading for pleasure for adults with dyslexia. The eight titles that we at BOTH Press have already published represent the only readily available dyslexic-friendly fiction for adults in the UK. Whilst the eight BOTH Press titles can be found in libraries and bookshops across the UK, the scale of accessibility is not nearly enough, as around 10% of the UK population deal with some form of dyslexia.

Despite Jay Blades’ (the presenter of "The Repair Shop") unique telling of his own challenges in learning to read in the documentary "Learning To Read At 51", which the BBC recently aired, there are still few resources for reading for pleasure on adult dyslexic charities’ websites and reading charities’ websites. The dyslexic blogger Suzy Taylor, who writes for Dyslexia Scotland, says: "It is frustrating that we now have children’s books in dyslexic-friendly formats. As adults we apparently do not require books in the same form."

There needs to be more choice for dyslexic people who want to read for pleasure, with books that are designed to be friendly to them but are not dumbed down, that are high quality and enjoyable fiction, that they can chat about with friends and family.

I deal with dyslexia everyday, and I find it frustrating that mainstream publishers have not tackled this accessibility head on; it is not rocket science to produce dyslexic-friendly fiction for adults.

A Guardian article in 2016 by Imogen Russell Williams, about dyslexic friendly books for children by Barrington Stokes, quoted their managing director at the time, Mairi Kidd, saying: “We routinely think of accessibility for buildings, broadcasts and public service publications – so why not books?”

So why haven’t adult dyslexia-friendly books had the same attention?

The Big Five publishers have not stepped up to the plate in any sizeable way. This reluctance to respond to something that is now a mainstream issue remains a mystery.

I have tried to engage with the big publishers over the years, as bookseller and now a publisher on this subject but to little avail. Some individuals in the publishing industry have engaged, such as Jeremy Trevathan of Macmillan, who has given advice, encouragement and listened with sincerity to our project. The general lack of action in the publishing industry on adult dyslexia fiction is not malicious, but down to a lack of thought, a lack of understanding and perhaps a lack of forward thinking. There is a whole market there. Children with dyslexia grow up to be adults with dyslexia. This is why BOTH was created, to publish what wasn’t there, to inspire and to make the publishing industry aware of a need for dyslexia-friendly fiction for adults.

I deal with dyslexia everyday, and I find it frustrating that mainstream publishers have not tackled this accessibility head on; it is not rocket science to produce dyslexic-friendly fiction for adults. The formatting changes to produce dyslexic-friendly fiction are minor, but they make a huge difference for readers.

There clearly needs to be a mindset change. It is not practical to publish like for like. Say we format a novel of 90,000 words into our formatting (which loosely comes out at 10 pages per 1,000 words), we have a 900 page book. This does not work, not just on a practical scale, but also on a psychological level. Someone who deals with dyslexia, who is scared or reluctant to read, needs encouragement. Many people who can read perfectly fine would balk at something of that size. Thus, we start with short stories and create what we call a longer version of a chapter book. These books are large enough to feel a sense of accomplishment when finished, have a satisfying plot but short enough to not feel threatening.

On June 7th 2022, we at BOTH Press are launching our second Kickstarter – Open Dyslexia: the sequel – with more high-profile authors than ever before. The Kickstarter, lasting 30 days, aims to publish eight more titles of high-quality fiction from bestselling authors, including household names such as Bernard Cornwell and Peter James, with James doing an introduction for the 2022 collection.

The line-up is full of many other front-list authors such as Gareth Powell, J M Alvey (aka Juliet Mckenna), Scott Oden, Snorri Kristjansson and James Bennett. Powell, who is a local at my bookshop, Books on the Hill in Clevedon, tells us: “Everyone deserves a chance to experience the joy of reading for pleasure”.

In the end, we really don’t want to be the only "dyslexic publisher" in town, and we call for more to be done by the top five publishers. We all know that writing a short story is often harder than writing a full novel but that’s a flimsy excuse. So please do support our Kickstarter, and rethink your own contribution in this area. Every little bit helps, and adults with dyslexia deserve to be catered for so they too can enjoy the pleasure of reading.