Québec, November 20, 2024 — With 7 months to go before the European Accessibility Directive comes into force, data shows that only 1.8% of ebooks are accessible for people with a reading disability while complying with European criteria. This figure, taken from the De Marque 2024 Accessible Ebooks Barometer, highlights the potential for book publishers to adapt their offerings.
De Marque, a world leader in ebook distribution, is now launching its Redefine Reading portal (www.redefine-reading.com), a resource designed to help publishers bring their ebooks into compliance with the European Accessibility Directive. With this portal, De Marque offers tips and solutions to help publishers move towards greater accessibility that complies with the Directive.
De Marque 2024 Accessible Ebooks Barometer
De Marque analysed a sample of 20,586 new French and Spanish digital releases between September 2023 and August 2024, as stored on its Cantook Publishers platform, which is used by over 3,500 publishers worldwide.
Of these 20,586 new releases:
- Only 1.8% meet the minimum requirements of the European Directive per the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG level 2.1 AA by June 2025);
- However, 26% meet the next best level of accessibility (WCAG 2.0 AA), and would therefore be relatively easy to bring into compliance.
In order to take this first step, and to help publishers put an action plan in place, De Marque is announcing the launch of its Redefine Reading online resources portal.
Redefine Reading : tips and resources for making ebooks more accessible
Redefine Reading (www.redefine-reading.com) is a portal dedicated to the accessibility of ebooks, available in English, French and Spanish.
The website, launched today, aims to provide useful resources for the entire book chain, starting with publishers, who are the first link in the chain. In order to help them produce accessible ebook files, Redefine Reading provides them with a series of 12 email tips to get them started, supporting them every step of the way.
Each week, publishers will receive a new, easy-to-implement tutorial in their inbox.
Every aspect of accessible ebooks is covered:
- Choice of file format ;
- Alternative image descriptions (simple and complex) ;
- Colour contrast ;
- Interactive table of contents, etc.
- and, in the last tip, a toolkit to check the accessibility of resulting files.
To take things further, publishers can use De Marque’s accessible EPUB conversion service, which guarantees 100% compliance with the criteria required by the European Directive.
Other tools to independently manage file accessibility will soon be available.