pdr said:
As you say, James:
In the end, I don't think it really matters. US magazines do not want cover sheets, and no editor anywhere is going to reject a story because it lacks a cover sheet, or buy a story because it has a cover sheet.
Yes, you're right.
I teach my writing students both ways of formatting so that they can follow the customs an editor is used to.
But what you say makes me wonder.
Maybe you haven't had a UK editor request a cover sheet for a short story because you are American. You're from America and used American formatting. Perhaps your requested story or unsolicited submission simply made the editor shrug and think, 'Well, he's American and they don't know to use our format.'
No, I'm not arguing. That doesn't alter the truth of what you said.
BUT
I am not American and if I submit my stories to an American magazine I am expected to know and use the American format. And yes, in my beginner days many years ago I had work rejected or sent back to be reformatted because my format and spelling were not American.
And that brings me to the sticky question.
Why?
If I buy a book by an American writer I expect it to be different. The spelling will be peculiar by my kiwi standards, expressions, and structures and cultural references will not be familiar. They are American.
If I buy a book by an Australian or Italian or Scot I expect to come across differences in word use, idioms and things cultural.
So why?
Why do American publishers insist that books by non-Americans are edited to have American spellings, words changed - trousers to pants, sweets to candy, handbag to purse - American expressions inserted and American cultural references included?
For example why does Reginald Hill's Yorkshire Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel have to say 'He pled the fifth.' (A Yorkshire policeman and Dalziel to boot saying that?) in the American copy of 'Death's Jest Book'? And why are all his yorkshire-isms Americanised, the spellings changed and idioms altered?
For example why does R.D. Wingfield's Inspector Jack Frost, another English
policeman, in the American version of 'Winter Frost' have his favourite expression of 'arseholes', changed to 'bum holes'? Why is the vital missing 'handbag' changed to 'purse' and why does his obnoxious chief speak in Americanisms? Even some of the English police procedure is changed to American police procedures.
Why do my English students at the University when reading an American version of 'Jane Eyre' have to have the title changed to 'Jane Eyer'? And all the spellings and expressions have been Americanised and the Yorkshire idioms and cultural references turned into something more kin to the Southern States than Yorkshire?
I did, at a Writer's conference, have a long discussion with an American editor from a large American publisher. She said they changed things because they believed that their American readers wouldn't understand and so they couldn't sell these foreign books.
A friend countered with: "Then if that's so and it helps to sell the books then why don't you change your American books into New Zealand English or British English when you sell them here."
She didn't know and as she was a guest and a very nice lady to boot we didn't press but took her off to enjoy some night life!
But I am still left with the question why? Why must New Zealand or British writing be altered to fit the American culture and format but American writing coming to New Zealand or Britain is not?
You're probably right about cover sheets and Americans. This probably is why UK editors haven't asked for one. I have found that most editors allow writers to do things the way the do them at home, simply because it causes less confusion and lets the writer concentrate on the writing.
Novels such as Jane Eyre are an exception. Jane Eyre is published in both UK and American versions here, and with both spellings.
I don't think American versions are changed as much as you think. Some of the changes you list make no sense. "Arseholes" is an American word, but "bum holes" is British. We don't use it in America at all, except as rare slang in a few cities, and I doubt 99% of Americans would have a clue what it meant. The only time I've ever heard "Bum holes" used by anyone was in London. Definitely not an American expression. We never, ever call a rear end a "bum." But maybe this is why the change was made. Maybe the writer or the publishers wanted a British phrase, rather than a common American phrase. I sincrely doubt this was an American change. Americans wouldn't know to make this change. "Bum" and "Bum hole" are strictly British expressions.
"Trousers" and "Pants," well, I can see the sense behind this. I've noticed that British publishers usually change "pants" to "trousers" because "pants" has a very different meaning in most of Britain. "Vest," too, can have a completely different meaning, and the way the British often use the word "vest" makes absolutely no sense to American readers. The word is a different article of clothing here, and would be confusing to anyone. British publishers make the same change, in reverse, in American novels.
Words are changed because the same word means something completely different here. Idioms usually aren't changed, except when the writer himself makes the change, thinking it will work better. You'd be amazed at how often a publisher gets the blame for something a writer does in this area. Though idioms can be changed when the words therein give it a completely different meaning here. British publishers also make such changes to American novels.
As for why our books aren't changed when published in other countries, well, they are. It depends on who the publisher is. When a British publisher releases an American novel, they do, nearly always, change spelling, punctuation, and word choice, to fit the British reader.
But it's the publisher of a given country that makes any changes. If there is, for example, no publisher in a given country that has the money and time to completely edit and republish a book, then changes aren't made because they can't be. American publishers do not change their own books to fit other countries, and neither do British publishers. It's the responsibility of a publisher located in a given country to make changes that fit that country.
British publishers are usually big enough that spelling and punctuation do get changed. Punctuation gets moved outside the quotes in Britain, instead of inside as they are here, and "Flavor," "color, etc., get changed to "flavour" and "Colour." And "pants" gets changed back to trousers, because pants does not mean the same thing at all in Britain as it does here. "Vest" also gets changed.
British publishers do usually expect American writers to use British spelling, and words should be spelled the same as they usually are in the country where the book is being published. British publishers used to insist that I change my spelling dictionary over to British before submitting anything, but lately most have said not to worry about. Electronics makes it easier for them to make the changes.
All in all, I think American publishers do a very good job with changes, and so do British publishers. And British publishers do make a LOT of changes to American novels.
And American publishers usually make changes only where necessary. I think my favorite novels from the UK are the Lovejoy novels by Jonathan Gash. They're changed hardly at all, other than spelling and punctuation, which means taking the "u" out fo many words, and moving punctuation inside the quotation marks..
But American writing coming to New Zealand and Britain is changed considerably. They make the same basic types of changes that American publishers make. When a word means a radically different thing, that word is nearly always changed. But you have to read both the American and the British version to see the changes.
When changes aren't made, it's nearly always because there is no British or New Zealand publisher for the book, and the readers are actually getting the American version. Or because the British or New Zealand publisher doesn't have the money and resources to make the changes, so they simply republish the book as is.
All in all, I think publishers do a very good job with the changes, and I think most are necessary, and make the reading easier, clearer, and far more pleasant.
