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Re: US books in the UK

Title: Re: [GWL] US books in the UK
Yes Lon you're right, for 20 years kids at school in the UK have larned only metric units and the rest of us have got to grips with them more recently. No one in the UK uses Fahrenheit any more, not even the TV weather forecasters. But the publisher should make this clear to their authors... not leave it to chance. Temperature ranges is a less definite issue... The RHS has its own parochial hardiness scale which I, personally, (as an RHS committee member!) would like to see them abandon. I would like to see Europe adopt the USDA zone system - with its undoubted faults it's the only universal system we're ever likely to have. Include a European zone map, and some notes for European readers. but again, the impetus from this should come from the publisher.

Graham Rice

One thing I found the hard way recently is that American authors can go a long way to making their books more saleable overseas by taking time to include the metric conversions for any and all measurements.  That goes for including temperature ranges for plants for European readers who don't know the American climate zones.  Including the conversions right after the U.S. version, instead of putting a table of conversions in the back of the book will make a big difference.  Readability is improved if you don't have to flip back and forth all the time.
-Lon Rombough


One or two North American garden writers with whom I've talked have
expressed disappointment at the way their books have been handled by
co-edition publishers in the UK. It's true that North American
publishers can be reluctant to adapt their books to the UK market -
at the same time inisting that UK publishes adapt theirs for the US!

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