The Next Best Book Club discussion

Hi, I wonder if you guys could help me on that one.

Some books has two editions, with different covers, one US edition and another UK edition.

Do you know if there´s any text differences between the editions or it´s just another publisher/cover?

For exemple: is there any text change between the Pretty Little Liars by HarperTeen and the Pretty Little Liars by Sphere?

Tks guys :)

I don't know about that particular book, but in my experience, books published in the UK and then brought to the US are generally "Americanized", with words and usage changes. Like "jumper" will be changed to "sweater", "tyre" will be changed to "tire", etc. In the case of Harry Potter, there are a LOT of changes like this, the biggest one being the title change of the first book from "HP & The Philosopher's Stone" to "HP & The Sorcerer's Stone" because they think that sorcerers are more recognizable and fun-sounding than a philosopher (who conjures up images of bookish old guys talking a lot... LOL).

I think the cover changes are meant to be more appealing as well, although I think that has more to do with the publishers that put each edition out. I love UK covers on most books much more than the US ones, simply because they are less flashy... if that makes sense. *shrug*

Thanks girls!

I´m asking cause I´m not that familiarized with UK english and would prefer to read the American text... But i´ts like Becky said, UK cover can be really beautiful :)

Erika, I think you're definitely right about measurements and the like. Kilometers vs miles, kilograms vs pounds etc. I think that they change it to the form that most people would know in the area that will be reading the book.
But no, they don't change the content, just make it accessible.
I don't really care for it though - I love looking up the meaning of a word I don't understand, and I love seeing a little bit of the culture of the author and of the book's home audience through the language used in the book. It's intriguing to me.

There isn't usually a whole lot of differences. The only things changed in the text are like Becky said, the word usage. The authors will work with their US publisher and edit some word usage in order to make it understandable to US readers. For some US publishers, however, if the characters in the book are British, they won't change the slang and such so that the characters stay authentic.

The main change is going to be the cover/ISBN and such. Cover art is owned by the publisher and not the author. So cover art used by a British publisher isn't able to be used by an American publisher or a Spanish publisher. Very few mainstream publishers have world-wide distribution for their books, though more and more smaller presses do.

Why would there be title changes, just out of curiosity? Several times I've inadvertantly bought the same book twice because the titles were different--most recently The Dead Lie Down by Sophie Hannah, published in Great Britain inder the title The Other Half Lives.

The only reason that I can think of would be appeal to different audiences. It's rather annoying though, especially if you don't know that they are the same book.

Here are some that I can think of off the top of my head. I might start a listopia list!
The American Boy vs. An Unpardonable Crime
Northern Lights vs. The Golden Compass
A Northern Light vs. A Gathering Light

OK I started my list - Feel free to add to it if you so choose! :) http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/61...

Sometimes titles are changed due to cultural issues. For example, Black Man by Richard K. Morgan was changed to Thirteen in the US to avoid any racial issues. Other times book titles are changed beacuse something similar already exists. The Gift by Alison Croggon (Australia) was changed to The Naming in the US because Gifts by Ursula K. LeGuin was coming out close to the same time.

I'm sure there are other reasons as well. :)

And as others have said, the US/UK editions usually (though not always) change spellings, etc. (colour to color and such) but nothing that changes the plot or meaning in my experience.

I like UK editions of books with the "funny" spellings and different words for things and such. My new favo(u)rite word these days is "rubbish".

Mary wrote: "I like UK editions of books with the "funny" spellings and different words for things and such. My new favo(u)rite word these days is "rubbish"."

I do too, Mary. :)

Mary wrote: "I like UK editions of books with the "funny" spellings and different words for things and such. My new favo(u)rite word these days is "rubbish"."

Mine is "snogging". "Making out" just doesn't have the same ring to it.:)

One thing you might notice is UK hardcover books are generally vastly inferior to US books in terms of construction because the bindings are glued rather than sewn. Books from the UK tend to start to crack and fall apart even after only a few years of gentle or even non-use. It's really a shame, because I often prefer the UK cover art. But I'll take a durable book and a sewn binding any day!

And seeing how even sewn bindings are beat up when I get a book from the library, I can't imagine how British library books fare.

I'm a yank. My book, THE WIVES OF HENRY OADES, sold in the US & UK - different publishers, very different covers, but the same inside.
Have you read the brilliant A CLOCKWORK ORANGE? US & UK have significantly different endings.

I didn't know there was an alternate title for Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. What's the other one called?

El wrote: "I didn't know there was an alternate title for Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. What's the other one called?"

The Secret of NIMH

After the movie came out they reprinted it with the movie title (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084649/). The contents of the book are the same though AFAIK.

Incidentally, they changed it from Frisby to Brisby because they didn't want to get sued by Frisbee. Which seems overly cautious to me.

I don't like reading US versions of English books especially if the setting is England. Reading about bangs and trash cans (instead of fringes and rubbish bins) in the US version of Harry Potter was very off-putting.

Being originally a Brit I find the opposite less noticeable but would prefer to read the US version if that is the original.

Guess the fun would be to read a UK book written in UK English... and to read a US book written in US English.

Now I know there´s differences between them and I think I´ll just have to bare the ugly covers (for exemple the creepy Barbies from Pretty Little Liars), cause I want to read the original text. I don´t like reading a californian girl saying "rubbish". It´s just wrong LOL

vicki_girl wrote: "Mary wrote: "I like UK editions of books with the "funny" spellings and different words for things and such. My new favo(u)rite word these days is "rubbish"."

Mine is "snogging". "Making out" j..."

You gals (Texan) are adorable. I just love English people. Snogging and rubbish are my new favorite words :)

Carol wrote: "Guess the fun would be to read a UK book written in UK English... and to read a US book written in US English."

I've done that! When I was recovering from surgery years ago, my (British) husband read aloud the UK Harry Potter, while I followed along with my US Harry Potter. There were many more changes than just single words, but none that changed the book. Sometimes whole sentences were different for no reason we could surmise. Occasionally the US one would leave in a few British words.

eta: Oh, wait. I think I probably misunderstood what you were saying there, Carol. Oops!

Before I left on vacation, I started reading the UK version of Harry Potter... I was surprised at all of the changes from the US edition!

I absolutely hate the thought of text being changed from UK to American wording! How the heck (feck) are we supposed to grow culturally if we are spoon-fed what we already know/recognize (recognise)? This is one of the very reasons why I love to read - it takes me places outside of my own backyard (back garden).