Large print is one of the most durable categories in puzzle publishing, and one of the most abused. A large proportion of books carrying the label do not deserve it, and the reviews say so in detail.
It is not a font size
The mistake is to take a 20×20 grid, raise the letter size, and call it large print. On a fixed page, bigger letters in the same number of cells means the letters now fill their cells edge to edge. Nothing is easier to read. The grid is denser, if anything.
Large print means fewer cells on the same page. The letters get bigger because each one has more room, not because the type size went up.
The number to look at is not point size. It is millimetres per cell.
On an 8.5 × 11 page with half-inch margins — the KDP interior settings — a 20×20 grid gives roughly 9mm cells. A 12×12 on the same page gives about 15mm. That difference is the entire product.
What buyers are actually asking for
The audience is broader than 'people with poor eyesight'. It includes anyone reading in bad light, anyone working without their reading glasses to hand, and anyone whose hands are less steady than they were — a small cell is a problem for a pen as much as for an eye.
Which means large print is not only about the grid:
- The word list needs the same treatment. A large grid above a cramped list of words in 9pt helps nobody.
- Contrast matters as much as size. Mid-grey grid lines on white are harder work than black ones, whatever the size.
- Answer keys need it too. They are usually shrunk four to a page, which puts them right back where you started.
- One puzzle per page, always. Two large-print puzzles on a page is a contradiction.
That third point is the one most books get wrong. A solver who needs large print to do the puzzle needs it just as much to check the answer.
Practical settings
| Puzzle | Standard | Large print |
|---|---|---|
| Word search | 15×15 to 20×20 | 10×10 to 12×12 |
| Sudoku | 9×9 on half a page | 9×9 on a full page |
| Crossword | 15×15 | 11×11 to 13×13 |
| Maze | 20×20+ | 12×12 to 14×14 |
Sudoku is the easy case: the grid is fixed at 9×9, so large print simply means giving it the whole page instead of half. Word search is the hard one, because a 12×12 holds far fewer words, and the temptation is to squeeze the list back up. Do not — a large print book with twelve words per puzzle is a correct large print book.
Say it accurately
If you publish in this category, state the cell size or the grid size in the description rather than only the words 'large print'. Buyers in this category read descriptions carefully, because they have been disappointed before.
It also protects you. 'Large print — 12×12 grids, one puzzle per page, matching large print answer key' is a claim you can defend. 'Large print' alone is a claim anyone can dispute.