Alternative text, or alt text, is different from including a caption for an image in your book; it is a clear description of what is taking place in the image so that readers who use voice-to-text software can understand its context. Used commonly on websites, alt text can be easily built into your InDesign document for all of your images before you convert your book into an EPUB—and here is how to write it.
publishing
Proposals: The Difference Between Fiction and Nonfiction
By Kimberley Scofield
Writing book proposals can seem intimidating. Writing the book was hard enough, and now you have to get other people to like it too. The number of resources for writing query letters is infinite, with published authors, agents, and publishers all weighing in on what makes a good query letter. But what about the next step—the proposal package?
Best Practices: A Social Media Guide for Authors
By Faith Muñoz @FaithAMunoz
For authors, social media is a wonderful place to share with friends, family, the writing community, and the world at large how fun and stressful the publishing journey can be. But if you’ve never used social media to promote yourself or your book, it can be hard to know how to get started.
Through the Eyes of an Archivist
By Mary Williams
The process of publishing a book has many moving parts. The marketing team needs to be studying their audience while the copyeditors and fact-checkers are working on the manuscript. The design team is creating the perfect cover while the author is trying not to have their third mental breakdown. There’s a lot going on. Things are constantly moving, going, working. But when you’re looking at it as an archivist, when the work is done, everything is still.
Ebooks Are for Everyone: Making Accessible Ebooks
By Megan Crayne @megancrayne
Inclusive publishing, or making print books more accessible for readers with disabilities, is becoming easier with the development of ereaders, smartphones, and even braille displays for ebooks. When it comes to producing ebooks at Ooligan, we should be making sure our designs are accessible and following industry guidelines so that we can bring our books to as many readers as possible. So how can we accomplish this?
Brick and Paper: Why Indie Publishers Are Opening Bookstores
By Callie Brown
Within the past few years, there has been a rise in independent publishers opening their own brick-and-mortar shops. By combining a bookstore and a publishing house, a company can bring in profits at different times and stay informed about what is selling on the market.