After Harry Potter made it big in USA the publisher agreed not to change anything in subsequent books and re-releases... I mean - Geezus! - "Philosopher's Stone" -> "Sorcerer's Stone" - Why? - Because children may be repelled by the word... Meaning children in UK are more educated or something?! A question: if you have a dialogue between an American and a British(er), do you spell differently for them? 'Colour', 'sabre' etc for one, 'color', sabre' etc for the other?
Best practice is to use the sane spelling as you would in the narrative, the spellings that match the market you are publishing to. The exception might be if you wanted to emphasize the character's accent. However, it's generally better to establish accent in the narrative and avoid trying to render it in the dialogue. There's no benefit to continually drawing attention to things like that. It intrudes into the reader's consciousness, and what you really want is for the reader to cruise through the words to the story.
The old advice comes to mind re numbers as words or numerals. Whatever you choose as your writing language, be consistent. Use one set of spellings throughout, regardless of whether in narrative or dialogue. Picking up on what Cogito said regarding accent, also don't try to put dialect into dialogue either. Very few writers have been able to pull it off as it's very hard to do convincingly.
those would only be the names of indigenous tribal people who were here before all the europeans and settlers/immigrants/slaves from other continents arrived...
Don't worry about it. Write your best and send it to whomever. Some of us have heard of Shaw and Shakespeare. And I still enjoy As Time Goes By and Hyacinthe on Saturday TV. Just write and send it out! There are many Yanks with western novels published by Black Horse in London. In fact I'm preparing a western novel of my own to go to Black Horse. Listen to the response of the publishers, not the guesswork of a writing site.
As far as writing style goes (and I know this is pretty much off-topic), I love both American and British English. I kind of just put the two styles together when I write, though my spelling is always American. Have a nice day.
If you use the British English, this will not only target the UK market but also countries that uses the British English like Europe. It also depends on the story that you wanted to publish. If it's a story that targets the children's market, I think American English is more appropriate as in my opinion, American English is easier to read and comprehend that British English. I don't know about your setting but if you use places in the UK as your setting as I understand that you are a british, you should use british english.
if targeting children in the uk or commonwealth, it would be best to stick to british usage and spellings, since that's what the young readers would be used to...
As someone who writes in British' English, I can read something written in American English. So write in your first choice. I can also read something written in 'poor' English; I have to, often, when the ink flows I can miss complete...
I agree to stick with the British spellings, etc. You are bound to miss out on several words that you think fit on both sides of the pond, but they do not! I highly doubt spelling with a "u" is going to make a reader discount your book.
Having worked in an American law office, where obviously legal documents are in American English, it was simple for me - just set your computer's spell checker to American English. Then when you come to a word highlighted as 'wrong' such as colour, do a find 'colour' and replace with 'color' globally. Do the same with a grammar check. Though the style of writing would be different of course. IMO I don't think I ever really noticed which way the book is written.Though I do trip up over spelling mistakes that are wrong in both styles.
If you are self publishing - then the majority, or more likely all, of the marketing is going to have to be done by you. Being that you live in the UK, that, I imagine, will be the best or most practical place to focus you marketing on, therefore stick to UK English. There are more differences between UK/US English than spelling... dude!
You do not seem to have researched the facts. The market for British English is actually MUCH LARGER than US English. The Common European Framework for Languages and the Bologna Agreement focuses on British English for education in schools, and in the majority of higher education establishments. The official English of the European Union is British English. The English standard in India, Pakistan, and all the ex-colonies is still British. Don't forget that India is an absolutely huge market. On top of that, I find it INCREDIBLE that you could even consider writing in a language that is not your native tongue.
are you serious, mad?... it's done all the time, even by nobel prize winners... or by 'INCREDIBLE' did you just mean you are impressed by the poster having the ability to do so?
^^I can't understand why someone who hasn't published before would start off by making things so difficult for himself! But I guess he was thinking about US English as being just a spelling thing, rather than considering the wider picture.
