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Use British or American spellings on Kindle?

DeneBebboDeneBebbo
edited April 2011 in - Writing Problems
I'm planning to write a story later this year or early next year to sell on the Kindle - seeing how people with poor writing skills have made money that way I'm keen to try it myself (interpret that how you will !). Is it better to use British or American spellings, or perhaps have a British and American version of the story?

Comments

  • dorothyddorothyd
    personally? I would stay with British, stand up for what you are!
  • lexialexia
    Me too. Can't stand Americanisms anyway :)
  • CarolCarol
    Might be worth checking the Kindle boards to see if that has been discussed.
    But personally I'd go for UK spelling.
  • LizLiz
    If your book is set in Britain, then stick with British spelling.
  • CarolACarolA
    There have been a number of discussions on the Kindle boards and the majority prefer British. I do! Nothing worse than a sidewalk creeping in...
    Keep it British as long as possible I say. We have such a beautiful language don't give it away, please.
  • DeneBebboDeneBebbo
    [quote=sofyia]There have been a number of discussions on the Kindle boards and the majority prefer British. I do! Nothing worse than a sidewalk creeping in...
    Keep it British as long as possible I say. We have such a beautiful language don't give it away, please. [/quote]

    Yes, but if a lot of readers are in the US is it possible to sell one version on Amazon.com and another on Amazon.co.uk?
  • RosalieRosalie
    edited April 2011
    Only do the US version if you are absolutely confident you have got it right, every time. Better use UK speak than a failed attempt at a US translation.

    (I know the spell-checker will catch the spellings, but not the idioms and colloquialisms. Fannies spring to mind!)
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    One has to ask why. ;)
  • Phots MollPhots Moll
    I agree. If you're going to spell American, you must write American. If the reader can't understand colour is the English word for color, they won't understand what a tap, lift or shop are.
  • RosalieRosalie
    edited April 2011
    Jay, I think you probably understood really, but in case anyone didn't, I was making the point that 'fanny' has different meanings in the UK and the US.

    In the UK it's a rather antiquated woman's name and in the US it means, according to Websters' dictionary, 'of or pertaining to fans'.

    Hope that helps ;)
  • CarolACarolA
    edited April 2011
    Fanny does mean other things in the UK as well Rosalie! I won't go into them here though!
    I still say stick to British. I 'speak' to many US authors and they don't have problems with our books. In fact they love the way we speak. One did contact me via email and ask what I meant by 'Bubble & Squeak'. It's a good way of making friends across the Pond via the forums. I've also emailed authors in the US when I haven't understood certain things they've written about. It works both ways.
    Some trad publishers do alter the text to American spelling etc and vice versa but I honestly think if I tried it I would make a pig's ear of it. Oh, I'm doing it again. I mean, I would make a mess of it! Carol A.
    Edited to add
    I just discovered this thread on the US forums http://tinyurl.com/5sk3wes
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    edited April 2011
    I'll be back! What with the glorious weather, I've got a little behind. ;)
  • LilyCLilyC
    I tweeted this question and the general consensus from US followers was to keep it British.

    However, I might feel inclined to do double quote marks for speech, which they use there.
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    edited April 2011
    I’ve sent stories to American publishers. One didn’t understand that ‘tea’ can be a meal, not just a drink. Another changed (car) ‘boot’ to ‘trunk’ before publishing it (they also amended words such as ‘forwards’ to ‘forward’). If I remember any more, I'll let you know.

    A book by an American but supposedly 'English' kept saying 'kitty' as another word for cat. Hmm.

    P.S. I was wondering why a certain word sprang to mind. :)
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    edited April 2011
    Not sure if anyone's thinking of changing the words as well as UK spellings to American spellings, but here are a few you may not know:

    boytoy - I've seen this a couple of times rather than our toyboy
    tanktop - not the thing your granny knitted you in the seventies, but a vest-type T-shirt
    wife-beater - may be some sort of shirt
    sweater rather than pullover or jumper
    wristwatch (wrist watch?) often instead of just watch
    bathroom at home, restroom in restaurants instead of loo
    tub in preference to bath
    do the dishes rather than the washing-up
    purse instead of handbag
    zipper instead of zip
    people's weight in lbs, not st(one) (although I have got away with stone)
  • CarolACarolA
    When I started my last novel 'The Other Place', I asked various friends in the US whether they understood my Brummie slang and would it cause them any problems. I sent them a few pages. All of them gave me the thumbs up. Mind you I slowly dropped the slang/accents as a number of people have told me in recent months that it can become annoying.
    One really well known Birmingham author whose books I've read never uses the local Brummie dialect in her books. This really surprised me when I was doing my research for my book.
    My editor says he's easy either way with dialects/slang.
    Perhaps with the US if you keep it fairly light as I have it's pretty easy to understand. Personally I would never attempt to Americanise the text as I just know I would drop huge clangers!
    Carol A.
  • pbwpbw
    Good point! This is terribly important. I have recently screwed up big time by sending submissions to US agents which were not formatted EXACTLY to US rules (eg " instead of ' and all sorts of other tiny pernickety rules). I have agonised over this (see? - even the bloomin' spellchecker wants me to put z instead of s in agonised) and in the end I have decided 'cos I'm a Brit and my book is set in the UK and I write English English I shall upload to Amazon in English English. I can always do a translation for the US later if warranted.
  • CarolACarolA
    Paperbackwriter,
    I'm with you all the way. Let's keep our language as long as we are able to.
    My dictionary had a mind of it's own at one time and would always revert to English/US or whatever it said. I had to have strict words with it! I won in the end.
    Despite my telling an editor once he proofed it English/US my lorries became trucks, bag became purse etc. I was not happy at all!
    Fortunately the editor I have now knows my likes and dislikes.
    Carol A.
  • Lou TreleavenLou Treleaven
    [quote=Jay Mandal]wife-beater - may be some sort of shirt[/quote]

    It's a sleeveless tshirt. And also sometimes a lager! (UK)
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    edited April 2011
    [quote=Jay Mandal]Another changed (car) ‘boot’ to ‘trunk’ before publishing it [/quote]

    Oddly enough, I used (car) boot in a submission to the previous year's anthology, and they published my story without changing the word to trunk.
  • CarolCarol
    Perhaps someone asked them what a boot was?
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    edited April 2011
    :), Carol.

    Came across 'Fanny' twice yesterday. (Not sure if it's a variation on Frances. The Guinness Book of Names showed it as having had a bit of a resurgence in 1985.) First, someone called Fanny wrote the short story in the Sunday Express magazine; and then I found an article by the same person in The Mail on Sunday magazine (yes, she has a book coming out soon.)
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    edited April 2011
    Someone posted something about one of my books containing BritSpeak which surprised me as I don't think I use much slang, etc. I suppose he meant the biscuits/curtains/sofa stuff.

    Oh, and I think pavement may mean road in America. If that's so, be careful if you're there!
  • MutleyMutley
    American English is not just about spelling. So many turns of phrase are different. You need to be confident of getting it right, otherwise it will sound better to stick with what you know.
  • SusieMSusieM
    Slight variation on this discussion - what if part of the novel is based in America and part in England and written by a Brit? My son's girlfriend bought me four books over from America on English/American language (I think she got fed up of me asking) which are helping on the American bits. As I am going to pitch to an English agent (when the bloody thing is finally finished), I figure best to go with the English spelling ie colour etc but when the story is in America use their terminology ie elevator etc.
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    edited April 2011
    [quote=Mutley]what if part of the novel is based in America and part in England and written by a Brit?[/quote]

    Sounds like my story Atlantic Drift. The Englishman used UK English, but the words of the American - I cheated somewhat by giving him an English mother, just in case I dropped any clangers - used US spelling/terminology.

    Hmm. The quote function's showing Mutley, but this was said by Susie M.
  • Jay MandalJay Mandal
    edited April 2011
    Not particularly relevant here, but footers - and presumably headers - seem to do their own thing as regards language and print size/font. Not sure how to make sure they're set to UK English (my documents are UK English) and whatever print size/font I'm using. Not that I'm worried, so don't spend hours trying to find the answer!
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