Take the Evening Book Group's December selection The Time in Between as an example. It was published in Canada with a gorgeous and appropriate jacket featuring an attractive Vietnamese woman in traditional dress riding a bicycle.
The American edition of the same book also shows a Vietnamese woman on a bicycle but this photo is out-of-focus and of a decidedly nontraditional and somewhat tawdry specimen. Have they improved the cover or made it more representative of the story? I think not plus I don't think it would necessarily sell more books.
The U.S. trade paperback abandons the female cyclist all together and uses a dogtags graphic instead. Less colour and perhaps cheaper to print?
American publishers have also seen fit to replace the cover of the Senior Book Club December selection, The Big Over Easy, as well. The colourful British cover has nursery-rhyme primary colours (or pulp fiction detective story) overtones.
The American jacket is still cartoony, still witty but with much less colour.Its interesting to note that the reverse seldom happens. Canadian and British publishers usually get the American cover at the same time as they acquire the rights to the text. Do we feel less need to put our cultural stamp on the product? Do Americans feel they need to Americanize book covers so that the content will be perceived to be more palatable? Are Canadians and Brits less xenophobic?
Those of us in the book business in Canada who are obliged to keep the many reincarnations straight readily concur with the old adage that "You can't tell a book by it's cover".
