You know how they say authors need to promote their own books, that it’s really key to sales? Well, it’s actually true. And I have done a shitty job w/my book (July 2). So let’s RT the shit out of this post? 😬 bookshop.org/p/books/best...
Hi Anne, I would like to help, but would you be kind enough to repost your book photo with alt text? It would help those who rely on equitable assistive tech to learn about your book (and you can add a lot more text there!)
Thank you in advance.
In case you aren’t familiar with Bluesky features, this one is highly recommended especially as a publisher like yourself - Alt text us important to have:
bsky.app/profile/raha...
It's under Settings->Accessibility, "require alt text before posting". You might have to set it once for every device you use Bluesky on. Once you set it, the site won't let you post anything with an image unless it's got alt text. Saves my ADHD ass so damn often.
Also, what to write in alt text depends on what type of image you have, and the BBC has published a nice guide that you can follow:
www.bbc.co.uk/gel/how-to-w...
Finally there is a moderation service available to Bluesky users that identifies any image without alt text. This is very helpful in immediately seeing on one’s Bluesky timeline of such images:
bsky.app/profile/baat...
In your example, you could do way more that just say “It’s shows the front cover of the book described in the link provided”. I have included an example in the alt text provided in the picture attached here.
By putting in good, helpful alt text, it shows that you care about accessibility.
