Kevin Burton Smith wrote:
> Dick wrote:
>
> >Kevin's comment about the lack of US publisher
interest in UK doesn't quite
> >gibe with my observation. Ignoring the obvious
US "imports," from Harry
> >Potter to Ian Rankin, I think both St. Martin's
and Walker publish more
> >British crime titles than American titles.
Scribner publishes, last time I
> >looked, a healthy lineup of British titles from
folks like Barnard and
> >Brett. Same with Mysterious Press. Certainly, if
any book makes money in
> >England (McDermid, Robinson et al), it winds up
at an American publisher. If
> >the point was that some very good noir titles
are overlooked, I wouldn't
> >argue against that one. But it probably means
they weren't of noticeable
> >"financial" success at home.
>
> Well, I guess I should have specified hard-boiled
fiction (always a
> niche market), but I'm happy to be proven wrong if
that means
> there'll be more HB fiction from the U.K. available
in affordable
> mass market editions, instead of pricey yuppiebacks,
on this side of
> the pond. As I said before, I hadn't really been to
a decent-sized
> American bookstore in a while, and I should have
made it more clear
> that I was thinking more along the lines of writers
like Ken Bruen,
> Mark Timlin, Irvine Welsh and the like. And
sometimes it's not even
> British authors. I bought several of George's early
books as British
> editions, because, as far as I could tell, there
just weren't any
> U.S. editions available.
Welsh, at least, gets published over here fairly rapidly,
although that might have only started with
TRAINSPOTTING.
It took American publishers a shockingly long time to tout
Terry Pratchett's work the way it deserved.
> And Anthony chimed in with:
>
> >Come on guys, let's be fair ... it takes a while
to get them translated
> >before they can be published. ;)
>
> And all the big words taken out?
>
> But seriously, do they still do that? Sometimes I
think they don't
> edit books at all. But do they really still go
through an entire book
> changing tyre to tire, colour to color and boot to
trunk, just so
> American readers don't get confused. Or the other
way around? I
I know that with the first three Harry Potter books they did
that
(although the age of the intended audience might have had
something to do with it). I think they also did it with the
fourth book, too.
jess
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