Backlist

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I wouldn't be totally shocked if the US publisher paid the UK publisher for the books in electronic form rather than convert them.

I'd be surprised, and not only because the UK edition has to be translated for the US publisher.

If the book was originally published in the UK, the US edition is usually a botched abridgement that lacks all of the literary merit of the original British editition.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Fiat_Lux

I'd be surprised, and not only because the UK edition has to be translated for the US publisher.

If the book was originally published in the UK, the US edition is usually a botched abridgement that lacks all of the literary merit of the original British editition.

Can you give an example? Why would a US edition be abridged?

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Can you give an example? Why would a US edition be abridged?

Well, we leave out the "U" in colour.
Think of how many beautiful letters are callously discarded in the U.S.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Well, we leave out the "U" in colour.
Think of how many beautiful letters are callously discarded in the U.S.

I've read plenty of books published in the US by English authors that used colour rather than color.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Well, we leave out the "U" in colour.
Think of how many beautiful letters are callously discarded in the U.S.

nah... They are added to UK works to make then look more important when in reality, they are only overblown and pompous words.

[elaysee]

I believe John Curran's Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making mentions examples, or at least I can't imagine where else I would have read the assertion. As I recall Curran describing it, a couple of Christie's novels were serialized in the UK and the American editions published from the (shorter) serialized version, with some resultant damage to the overall characterization. Curran indicated that these American editions continue to descend from the serials.

I believe one of the books was The Moving Finger, though I can't recall the second. I picked up a UK edition of The Moving Finger last year, but haven't yet gotten to making a comparison with the US edition.

I would assume UK<->US edition changes beyond spelling are rare if only for editing cost reasons, but I found this story interesting and believable.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by elaysee

I believe John Curran's Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making mentions examples, or at least I can't imagine where else I would have read the assertion. As I recall Curran describing it, a couple of Christie's novels were serialized in the UK and the American editions published from the (shorter) serialized version, with some resultant damage to the overall characterization. Curran indicated that these American editions continue to descend from the serials.

I believe one of the books was The Moving Finger, though I can't recall the second. I picked up a UK edition of The Moving Finger last year, but haven't yet gotten to making a comparison with the US edition.

I would assume UK<->US edition changes beyond spelling are rare if only for editing cost reasons, but I found this story interesting and believable.

One thing to consider is that until fairly recently, the US didn't recognize foreign copyright. Thus, one of the first editions of LOTR's in the US was not authorized. In such cases, I'm sure it's not unheard of for publishers to take all sorts of liberties with the original text. IMPO, the mere act of publishing an unauthorized edition shows that one doesn't exactly respect the author or text much.

[pwalker8]

Oh yes! The Complete Morgaine by CJ Cherryh, kindle edition, Sept 1st 2015. What an awesome birthday present for me! Only $10. Got the Complete, Complete Enchanter by de Camp and Pratt this week as well. A good week for backlist books. Zelazny is the only major author on my list that doesn't have his major books out in ebook (i.e. Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness and the Amber series), the rest on my list are a bit more obscure.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Oh yes! The Complete Morgaine by CJ Cherryh, kindle edition, Sept 1st 2015. What an awesome birthday present for me! Only $10. Got the Complete, Complete Enchanter by de Camp and Pratt this week as well. A good week for backlist books. Zelazny is the only major author on my list that doesn't have his major books out in ebook (i.e. Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness and the Amber series), the rest on my list are a bit more obscure.

Here's a deal you might like. The Complete Morgaine by C. J. Cherryh for $7.99 pre-order from Google Play. It's in ePub.

https://play.google.com/store/books/...d=x-dJBgAAQBAJ

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Here's a deal you might like. The Complete Morgaine by C. J. Cherryh for $7.99 pre-order from Google Play. It's in ePub.

https://play.google.com/store/books/...d=x-dJBgAAQBAJ

I have no problem sending Ms Cherryh (yea, I know that's not her real name) a couple of extra bucks.

[GeoffR]

Penguin US are releasing Jack McDevitt's first novel The Hercules Text (1986) as an ebook on 28 April. All of his other novels are already available as ebooks (in the US at least.)

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

One thing to consider is that until fairly recently, the US didn't recognize foreign copyright.

Fairly recently being 1976.

Since the passage of the Mickey Mouse Copyright Bill, courts have extended protection back to 1909, if the following criteria are met:

• First published outside of the United States;
• First published in a language other than English;

There might be one or two other criteria, but those two are why Disney has to pay royalties for material that ostensibly was in the public domain, in the United States, when they started their project that led to the court case.

[BenG]

It's been a couple of years since I last checked, so it may be old news, but all of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman books are now available for the Kindle in the US, complete with hyperlinked footnotes.



http://www.amazon.com/George-MacDona...rnid=618072011

[BenG]

Amazon UK also has them in a twelve book omnibus edition.

[pwalker8]

I just noticed that the Robert Asprin Myth Adventures series is now available as ebooks. Just picked up the first 4.