Books Titles Changing on Amazon

[crich70]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I cannot find any eBook titled Murder in the Calais Coach. I can find in both the US and the UK Murder on the Orient Express.

If you go: here there is a list of her books with the alternate titles. It may be that with the passing of time some were standardized. A similar titled book already published in one country may have resulted in the different name from one publisher to the other. Or perhaps the publisher just liked it with the different title. Covers changed from publisher to publisher I imagine too as the covers may have also been copyrighted. On the top of the Wikipedia page it says:

Murder on the Orient Express is a detective novel by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the United States, it was published on 28 February 1934,[1][2] under the title of Murder in the Calais Coach, by Dodd, Mead and Company.[3][4] The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6)[5] and the US edition at $2.[4]

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by barryem

Now I see new Robert Parker novels written by other authors. If they wanted to do that honestly they'd say Spenser novels or novels from other series and give the author's name.

I highly disagree with this about the Spenser novels written by Ace Atkins. I just had a look at one of the covers and it says...

Robert B. Parker's
Angle Eyes
A Spenser Novel
by Ace Atkins

There is no way that is misleading. I know that is a book in the Robert B. Parker's Spenser series written by Ace Atkins and not Robert B. Parker. Please tell me how this is misleading.

In fact, here is the cover to prove to you that it is not misleading at all.

[haertig]

How about a sequence of books, that were rolled up into a sequence of collections, then the book covers where changed, then the author changed her name, then the sequence of collections were rolled up into a single collection?

Try to figure out what to buy that you don't already have from that mess!

e.g., "The Feral Sentence" by G. C. Julien. Oops, I mean by Shade Owens these days. You can even search Amazon for books by G. C. Julien (do not mention any book name, just the author name) and you will get results for author Shade Owens. Same books. You can Google "goodreads G. C. Julien" and then Google "goodreads Shade Owens" and find all the same books, just with different covers and a different author name. So Goodreads is tracking both author names. But Amazon appears to have done a wipe-and-replace of G. C. Julien with Shade Owens. I imagine these books are pretty bad (I haven't read any of them yet). The only reason I have a few are because they were free on Amazon at one time. I occasionally look back at partial series I have purchased to see if I want to complete the series. It was during one of those reviews of my library that I noticed the Julien/Owens scam.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by haertig

How about a sequence of books, that were rolled up into a sequence of collections, then the book covers where changed, then the author changed her name, then the sequence of collections were rolled up into a single collection?

Try to figure out what to buy that you don't already have from that mess!

e.g., "The Feral Sentence" by G. C. Julien. Oops, I mean by Shade Owens these days. You can even search Amazon for books by G. C. Julien (do not mention any book name, just the author name) and you will get results for author Shade Owens. Same books. You can Google "goodreads G. C. Julien" and then Google "goodreads Shade Owens" and find all the same books, just with different covers and a different author name. So Goodreads is tracking both author names. But Amazon appears to have done a wipe-and-replace of G. C. Julien with Shade Owens. I imagine these books are pretty bad (I haven't read any of them yet). The only reason I have a few are because they were free on Amazon at one time. I occasionally look back at partial series I have purchased to see if I want to complete the series. It was during one of those reviews of my library that I noticed the Julien/Owens scam.

Sounds like self-published rubbish meant to be scamming the public.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Sounds like self-published rubbish meant to be scamming the public.

I (sorta) understand the difference in US vs UK names. And I (do) understand the need for different names when translated from one culture to another.

But other than a Omnibus (bundle) name. I too, would be suspicious of name changes without substantial body changes (and I abhor the practice of re-releases with just a added teaser chapter or updated Ad card and calling it new/updated )

A number of dead tree books in my collection had notes on the copyright page along the lines of:
'A serialized version appeared in the 19xx jun-Aug editions of Analog'
'Revised and expanded version of "my short story title" ', (and the one a number of us like): Authors cut edition

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

One example was a typical light romance where the author chanced the location, made the characters Amish, and changed the name of the book. But the story was exactly the same.

Sounds like Clive Cussler with his Dirk Pitt vs. Kurt Austin/NUMA Files books No way to distinguish those except by the names of the protagonists...

Oh well, nowadays he clearly just delivers a story idea and leaves everything else to the other author. If he does that much; in his last book a fairly important recurring character (St. Julien Perlmutter) is called St. Julian throughout...

[leebase]

Originally Posted by barryem

I don't usually let my purchasing be too heavily influenced by moral issues but I make an exception for James Patterson. I have enjoyed a number of his books in the past but when I found out he hires large numbers of writers to write his books and calls the co-authors

This is what I call "Author as General Contractor". As long as they are good at ensuring the final output is enjoyable....I don't mind.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I've had a few of these as well, but mostly I notice that I already have it. I do have some duplicates, but it's mostly omnibus books where I make the decision to have multiple copies for convenience sake. I buy from enough different sources (Amazon, Baen, Sony) that I normally will look in my Calbre library first.

I would say it's my fault. I tend to buy sale books during slow moments at work. But have access to Calibre, etc. at home. So yeah, I should check.

But on the other hand, why does Open Road keep reissuing the same book over and over with no changes? (Arthur C. Clarke is dead, so he isn't changing his books from beyond the grave.)

Open Road keeps a lot of books I like in 'print', so I appreciate them. But their constantly changing numbers makes them appear shady.

2061 and 3001 have gone on sale again and Amazon says I don't own them, though I bought each, twice. So it isn't like the changes were one offs.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by barryem

I don't usually let my purchasing be too heavily influenced by moral issues but I make an exception for James Patterson. I have enjoyed a number of his books in the past but when I found out he hires large numbers of writers to write his books and calls the co-authors I quit buying his books. I make many of my purchasing decisions based on the author and when an author isn't the author I thought I was paying for I've been cheated.

Personally I think the biggest crook in James Patterson's novels is James Patterson.

Of course he's not the only one. I first became aware of this issue when I read that V. C. Andrews had written more novels since her death than she wrote during her lifetime. Now I see new Robert Parker novels written by other authors. If they wanted to do that honestly they'd say Spenser novels or novels from other series and give the author's name.

Maybe we should use the same moral sense that prohibits the advocating piracy to prohibit advocating publishing. Publishers sure do a lot of cheating.

Barry

It's nothing new, but I do find it distasteful.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

I (sorta) understand the difference in US vs UK names. And I (do) understand the need for different names when translated from one culture to another.

Most of the time there is no need for changing the name of the book for the US/UK. But it's done anyway. We are not stupid and we don't need a different name for the book.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Most of the time there is no need for changing the name of the book for the US/UK. But it's done anyway. We are not stupid and we don't need a different name for the book.

Marketing often manipulates us as if we were little children. They wouldn't do it if it didn't work so well.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Marketing often manipulates us as if we were little children. They wouldn't do it if it didn't work so well.

The one thing I do find annoying is in a lot of UK books that they use single quotes instead of double quotes. Not all books do this and the UK should standardize on double quotes.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Marketing often manipulates us as if we were little children. They wouldn't do it if it didn't work so well.

Marketing always seeks to manipulate customers. What was Pink Gold when I started in the business is now called Rose Gold. Hollow Chains are now referred to as Semi-Solid Chain.
Apache

[barryem]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I highly disagree with this about the Spenser novels written by Ace Atkins. I just had a look at one of the covers and it says...

Robert B. Parker's
Angle Eyes
A Spenser Novel
by Ace Atkins

There is no way that is misleading. I know that is a book in the Robert B. Parker's Spenser series written by Ace Atkins and not Robert B. Parker. Please tell me how this is misleading.

In fact, here is the cover to prove to you that it is not misleading at all.

The cover you showed demonstrates that it's misleading. In big bold print at the top it says Robert B. Parker's and below that in even bolder but a little smaller print it says Angel Eyes. Then below that in print that nearly matches the background color to make it not very noticeable it says by Ace Atkins.

It's pretty easy to miss the Ace Atkins part.

Barry

[barryem]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Marketing often manipulates us as if we were little children. They wouldn't do it if it didn't work so well.

A couple of weeks ago one of my neighbors complained to me that the toothpaste companies started putting larger holes in the tubes and that was cheating. I asked him why and he said he always runs the tube along the brush squeezing out a thick rod of toothpaste and now that the hole is bigger he's having to use more toothpaste and he's sure they did that just so he'd waste some.

I agreed with him and then pointed out that he's been wasting it all his life if that's how he does it. They show that method of putting toothpaste on the brush in commercials but it never occurred to me that people actually did that. Well, at least one, my neighbor, does. Or did.

I explained that it's just as easy to put a fixed amount of toothpaste anywhere along the brush and decide for himself how much he wants to use, which is what I do. He changed the subject but I could see the surprise in his face. He obviously never thought of that.

Marketers don't necessarily assume we're children. They assume we're not paying much attention. People who pay attention waste a lot less money.

Marketers have a little bit in common with hackers, the evil kind, in that they force us to pay attention to more than we'd really have to if they were honest. Hackers force us to pay more attention to security than we'd like to. They have different motivations but the effects have a lot in common.

Barry


Barry