Accessibility Matters For E-ARCs, Too

I had the opportunity to read an advanced reader’s copy of a book this week that I was very excited about. It’s by an author I’ve been meaning to read but haven’t quite gotten around to yet. I really enjoyed this book. The premise was right up my alley, and I loved everything about the actual novel itself. But I’m not going to publish the name of the book, or the author. All I will say is the publisher, which was Bloomsbury USA. Here’s why: My review is based on what I received. While the writing itself is fantastic, the prose witty, the plot compelling, and the setting tasty as hell, it was nearly impossible for me to get through this very short e-ARC because the file itself is horrendously inaccessible to anyone with visual processing disabilities or impairments. The text is white on a grey background and light pink watermarks are slashed multiple times across every page with such violence, it’s impossible to read and interferes with my text-to-speech programs. Y'all I literally…