Thursday, January 15, 2009

Why Publishers or Authors Re-title Books

Have you accidentally bought 2 books of the same story by the same author but different title?
I have. *thanks to Mr.Urges* I know money would be part of the reason why this is done but there has to be better reasons, right? As in other reasons for publishers or authors to do it.

Well, after a few knocks on Mr. Google's door, I found a few answers.
1. They would like to boost the sales of the book...and yes, they want more buckz.
2. There is already another book with the same title in the market and they wanna avoid confusion.
3. To fit in the society better...which leads to better sales of course. Many UK books have been retitled in the US...and maybe vice versa.
4. Could be a plagiarized book. i.e. The same book was written by a different author under a different publisher sometimes even in a different country BUT the new author claims it as his/hers. Well, I bumped into this if you'd like to read further on how US and UK handles book plagiarism. :(

Anyway, here are some books I know with 2 titles.

SOPHIE KINSELLA's
The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic == Confessions of a Shopaholic
Shopaholic Abroad == Shopaholic Takes Manhattan

CECELIA AHERN's
Where Rainbows End == Rosie Dunne I Love, Rosie
If You Could See Me Now == A Silver Lining
A Place Called Here == There's No Place Like Here

J.K. ROWLING's
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone == Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

I'm sure there are a lot more out there. I'm also sure there are more reasons why a book is retitled. Anybody who has answers other than the points I've mentioned above, feel free to add in the comment box. ;)

Possible book with answers; yet to find the ebook...hihi
Title
First Hundred Million: How To Sky Rocket Your book Sales With Slam Dunk Titles

Author
E. Haldeman-Julius
Pulisher
Angelican Press

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The only one I am aware of is when title changes are made to reflect the local market. E.g. a book is released in the UK market but in the US market, the audience will not be able to relate to it. Hence changes are made so that potential readers will be able to related with it.

In many cases, it is not only a matter of changing the title, but also making minor changes in the context given in the book, and spelling changes (e.g. colour -> color, windscreen -> windshield, torchlight -> flashlight).

- Mr. Rosenberg

Josette said...

I hate it too when they have more than one title for a book. It makes things so confusing! Here's another book to add to your list:

The Betrayal of Bindy MacKenzie (Australia)
The Murder of Bindy MacKenzie (US)
Becoming Bindy MacKenzie (UK)

The copy I have is The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie. Feel free to read my review of it here!

. Ruz . said...

Thanks Josette :)

Well, they renamed the books in the states to make it fit in better in the states and the same goes for the rest. For us in Malaysia, do we have to have ALL the titles? LOL!!!

So far I'm yet to find a book which have been retitled to fit in the Malaysian market better. Maybe the Malaysians are more particular 'bout the covers...hihihi I've got a few friends who would pick up a boko if the covers lookz nice...

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