Quote:
Originally Posted by AnemicOak
I'm not a writer, just a reader, but speaking for myself I hate it when a book is altered to fit the 'market' (like the Potter books). I prefer my books to have the spellings and idioms you mention left alone.
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I've often felt that such adaptation was belittling of the audience, it implies "dumbing down" so they can understand. But if it does help to sell books, it is difficult to argue against it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
(I can't remember ever reading that an American book was adapted to the UK or Australian market - does that happen?)
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I just realised I can answer my own question on this point at least. I can see two books on my shelf that have been adapted for the UK/Aust audience: "Honor" to "Honour" in the titles. In one of them, a 2010 publication, it appears that the title was the only /change; in the other, a 1985 pub', a quick flick suggests they may have updated the text as well.
ETA: The fact that I couldn't remember suggests to me that such changes are not all that important to the reader's enjoyment.