As we continuously work to improve inclusive experiences for our customers, you will be able to provide information on accessibility features in your eBook.

When you share accessibility features in your eBook content during title setup, you help contribute to an inclusive, accessible reading experience. Readers will know whether your eBook supports accessibility that will meet their individual needs to make informed purchasing decisions.

Provide accessibility information

When publishing a new eBook or making changes that require republishing through KDP, you will be able to provide information about your eBook's accessibility features during title setup, as part of the standard publishing process.

Choose the response that best reflects your eBook's accessibility features. The default selection is "I don't know..." and you can proceed with publishing even with this selection.

How to update accessibility information

To update your eBook's accessibility information, follow the steps below. Bulk updating is not available.

1. Go to your Bookshelf
2. Select the ellipsis button ("…") under KINDLE EBOOK ACTIONS next to the book you want to update
3. Choose Edit eBook Content
4. Complete necessary edits
5. Review other sections on page where other changes may be needed
6. Scroll to the Accessibility Features question
7. Choose the appropriate response to the question(s)
8. Select "Save and Continue". This takes you to the Pricing page
9. Select "Publish" at the bottom of the Pricing page

How to view accessibility information

After your book is published and available on the detail page, you can see how your response to accessibility features in your eBook is displayed on the detail page. It can take up to 72 hours for accessibility information to show up. Visit Timelines to learn more about standard publication timelines.

To view the accessibility features on the detail page:

1. Go to your eBook's detail page
2. Look for the Accessibility icon in the book details section along with the other icons.
Note: you may need to click the arrow to advance to a second screen of icons if you do not see it in the first area displayed
3. Click the "Learn more" link under the accessibility icon to view the book's accessibility details

Note: While accessibility features are displayed on the detail page, updating your book details is separate. Book details do not influence how accessible your eBook content is. Visit Book Detail Resources and Update Your Book for additional information on book details.

Read on for recommended best practices, and learn more on what accessibility features are displayed on your detail page.

Accessibility best practices

To create an inclusive reading experience for all readers, we recommend the following best practices to ensure your book is accessible to all readers, including those who are blind, have moderate-to-severe vision impairments, or have reading disabilities such as dyslexia.

As we prioritize accessibility across our products and features, we regularly update these best practices based on industry standards to support the evolving accessibility needs of our customers.

Images

Images are visual information offered to sighted users. To benefit customers who cannot see the images in your content, including alternative text ("alt text") for meaningful images in your content means screen readers can describe them to a blind reader.

A meaningful image is something that conveys meaning to the reader. Consider whether the content of your book would make sense if the reader couldn't see the image you include.

An alternative text is a short description of the media that is focused on the page. If visual elements don't have a text alternative, then customers with low or no vision will not have access to this information. While images can have text alternatives that assistive technology users can consume, where possible, we recommend authors use real text rather than an image of text.

To support image accessibility, you can:

• Provide alternative text. All images that provide information or context or further enhance the reader's understanding of the content must have a text alternative. Keep alt text to a maximum of 140 characters.
• Describe it in the surrounding text. Describe the image directly in the text.
• Remove descriptions on decorative images. Set the alt attribute of decorative images to 'null' and avoid using images of text.
• Use real text rather than an image of text. Do not rely solely on images to convey text-based information.

Multimedia audio/video content

Uploading audio-visual file content for your eBook’s manuscript is not common. KDP doesn’t accept Kindle Edition with audio/video content or support closed captions. The guidance below is informational only.

Videos without Audio

When videos are pre-recorded without a main audio track (example: video-only media), a text transcript or audio track that describes the visual information in the video is required. Transcripts and audio descriptions give customers access to the information contained within a video without needing to see it. Providing transcripts and audio descriptions benefit people with limited or no vision, as well as anybody in a situation where they can't fully see the video.

Videos with Audio

When a video has an audio track, captions are required to convey the meaning of the audio. Captioning provides customers access to audio information when watching a video, benefiting people with limited or no hearing, as well as anybody in a situation where they can't play or can't fully understand the audio.

Recommended ways to optimize videos with audio:

• Keep captions synchronized with the audio, while also making sure they stay on-screen long enough for customers to read them.
• Include all spoken words and meaningful sounds from the audio.
• Follow a captioning style guide for consistency.

Audio

Narration (audio description) is required for pre-recorded video content without audio. Audio narration explains any important visuals that can't be understood from the video, benefiting customers who can hear and understand speech, but do not clearly see the video if they are blind or have low vision. Provided audio description supports:

• Customers who are blind. Hearing the audio description provides a richer, more coherent experience than a transcript.
• Customers who have low vision. information from the audio description enhances their understanding of the video.
• Customers watching a video on a small screen. They can gain similar benefits from audio description.

For an in-depth technical overview on developing a manuscript, visit our Guidelines for Specific Types of eBooks.

Language

Making sure that your book's content is in the language it is intended to be in benefits readers using assistive technology such as a screen readers, braille displays, or voice dictation. Helping users recognize language changes on screen can also ensure all readers can effectively engage with your content, regardless of how they access it.

It is important that the language you select in the Bookshelf, the language in which the book is written, and the language specified in your content file's metadata match. KDP currently supports over 45 languages. If your book includes multiple languages, select the primary language.

Content Structure

Creating a meaningful order of content in sequence reflects the meaning of the content. Having structure to your content supports users of assistive technologies, such as screen reader users, or readers with cognitive disabilities so that they can better understand the layout of your book. For fixed-format books, consider the reading order of your headings to more efficiently navigate contents of your book.

You can create well-structured content by adopting the following best practices.

Headings

Headings help customers to navigate content more efficiently. When headings clearly reflect the topic or purpose, it makes content easier to locate, understand, and interact with. Use a logical, well-structured heading hierarchy to organize your book chapters, sections, and subsections. This will allow readers to quickly scan and grasp the structure of your book. Learn more on creating a table of contents.

To create well-structured headings, you can:

• Choose words that accurately describe the content within the section.
• Keep headings brief while ensuring they provide enough information about the section's content.
• Put the most important information at the beginning of each heading.
• Make sure headings indicate what customers can expect to find in the section, aiding their understanding and navigation.
• Create headings that allow customers to anticipate the content, making it easier to process the information.

Lists

Use numbered and bulleted lists to group items and provide structure. By using the correct list format, assistive technology users can better navigate and orient themselves within a page of content, and screen reader users can navigate to (or over) lists accordingly.

• Use bullet lists when the order of information isn't important to the understanding of the content.
• Use numbered lists when the specific order of information is important to understand or complete a series of steps.

Tables

Table cells are announced in reading order for the language. Like a sighted customer, screen readers will associate cells with the column and row headers to help users make sense of the information. In addition to contextual announcements, most screen readers support special navigation within tables.

To ensure accessibility in your tables, you can:

• Format your tables with column and/or row headings. Table headers let all users know how information in a table is related.
• Create a caption for the table on a page. A caption is a name that describes the table and is displayed adjacent to the table. For example, place the word "Country codes" above a table showing information of different country codes.
• Avoid using an image of a table. Information for large amounts of table content can be challenging to convey. An image of a table is not recommended.

Color

Considering the contrast between foreground and background can help ensure your content is accessible to people with vision-related disabilities such as colorblindness. Not relying on color alone to convey meaning can also help customers with low vision who may have trouble reading or finding important information on the page.

To support color accessibility, you can:

• Ensure text has sufficient contrast with background colors. If you have a dark background, the text or foreground should be light, and vice versa. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines' standards recommend a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1.
• Check the font size and font style. Using very thin or small fonts can be difficult to read even with enough contrast between text and background. If using large fonts (18pt or larger or 14pt and bold), the contrast ratio is at least 3:1 against all backgrounds. If using regular-sized text, the foreground and background color has a contrast of at least 4.5:1. Tip: use a color contrast tool to check if your content has enough contrast.
• Identify links in the body. Beyond the standard "blue" color, links can be identified with underlines, a border, or a change in font size and font style.