Reading Should Be for Everyone: Introducing Guided Typography

By AntonyM Copeland

Fantasy and science fiction ask a lot of their readers. We’re talking doorstop novels, invented languages, sprawling casts of characters, and prose that demands you stay focused across hundreds of pages. For most readers, that’s part of the joy. But for the millions of people living with dyslexia, ADHD, or other reading difficulties, that same experience can feel like an uphill battle — not because the story isn’t compelling, but because the act of reading itself gets in the way.

I’ve been thinking about this problem for a while. As an author and a reader, I wanted to do something practical about it. That’s how I ended up deep in the world of accessible typography — and ultimately building a set of free tools designed to make reading easier for everyone.

Click here to access a copy of this article written in Guided Typography

What is Guided Typography?

Guided Typography is a reading method that bolds the first portion of each word in a text. It sounds simple, but the effect is surprisingly powerful. The principle behind it is that your brain recognises a word from its opening letters — so by making those letters visually heavier, the text gives your eye a natural anchor point on every single word. Instead of your gaze drifting, skipping lines, or losing its place, it’s gently guided through the sentence.

For readers with dyslexia or ADHD, this can make a genuine difference. For readers without those challenges, it often just makes reading feel faster and less effortful. It’s one of those accessibility features that ends up benefiting everyone — like subtitles, or audiobooks, or large print editions.

The Guided Typography Series

My first step was applying this method to books. I started with public domain classics — stories that are beloved but sometimes feel daunting — and reformatted them with Guided Typography throughout. The results are available now on Amazon

– The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

– The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft

– Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

These aren’t just reprints. They’re editions designed with the reading experience at the forefront — formatted to be genuinely easier to engage with, particularly for readers who have historically struggled to access fiction in traditional formats.

I also have a free short story available as a sample, so anyone curious about what Guided Typography actually looks like on the page can try before they buy.

Guided Typography Reader — A Free Chrome Extension

Books are one thing, but most of us spend as much time reading online as we do on the page — articles, blog posts, reviews, forums. So I built a free Chrome extension called Guided Typography Reader that applies the same formatting to any webpage, automatically.

Install it, click the icon in your toolbar, and any page you’re on is instantly reformatted. You can adjust the bold depth, increase line spacing, and switch to Atkinson Hyperlegible — a font specifically designed by the Braille Institute for low-vision readers. Everything is customisable, and it works across all websites.

Guided Typography Reader is completely free and available here

For Authors: A Formatting Service

One of the things I hear most often from fellow authors is that they want to make their books more accessible but don’t know where to start. Guided Typography is one very practical answer to that.

I’m now offering a formatting service for self-published authors who want to produce a Guided Typography edition of their own work. Whether you write fantasy, romance, horror, or literary fiction — if your readers include people with dyslexia or reading difficulties, an accessible edition could open your books to an entirely new audience.

If you’re interested in exploring this for your own work, feel free to get in touch.

Why This Matters for SFF

Genre fiction — fantasy and science fiction especially — has always been a home for readers who feel like outsiders. The community is famously welcoming, the stories are often about belonging, and the fandom is built on the idea that everyone deserves a seat at the table.

Making our books and our online spaces more readable is a natural extension of that spirit. A reader with dyslexia who loves dragons and spaceships deserves the same immersive experience as everyone else. Guided Typography is one small step towards making that happen.

AntonyM Copeland is an author and the creator of the Guided Typography Series. The Guided Typography Reader Chrome extension is currently under review and will be available for free on the Chrome Web Store. For enquiries about the book formatting service, contact antonym.copeland@gmail.com