it can be really hard to tell where the book originated! sometimes the imprint page will say something like 'first published in the united states in [year]' or vice versa. if the book is published by the same company on both sides of the atlantic it's often (not always) a joint acquisition and published simultaneously, but there will be a 'main publisher'. (simplified explanation ahoy) say an editor in a UK department wants to commission a book and one key way to make the book work (that is to say to be able to offer enough money that the agent accepts their offer) is to also publish it in the USA, they will hit up a colleague in the USA and ask if they want to join the bid. if the US team like the book they will contribute to the advance. UK advances are generally low, so if the US boosts it that can sweep all other offers off the table. e.g. UK offers £20k advance, the US contribute another £40k for North American rights. the UK editor (or somebody else in their team) will edit the book and they will pass (sell) files to the US team, who may americanise them, but not otherwise edit the book. from the outside you will most likely not be able to tell where the book 'originated' or who the head editor is. you can check the acknowledgements in the back, but authors will usually thank both editorial teams equally (depressingly, the author might not even know who edited the book if it wasn't the commissioning editor). it works the same way the other way around.
it can actually be more challenging for a UK editor to get a US colleague on board than the other way around, because US publishing schedules are twice as long as UK schedules; in the UK a book can go from commission to bookstore in a year, but in the US it's usually at least 2 years, so their publishing schedules are usually locked down 2-3 years out. whereas in the UK (and Europe) publishing is more flexible and while they may have some titles on the schedule 2-3 years out, the programme will by no means be *full*. our 2024 schedule is full, but we are still commissioning for 2025. US publishers are, by and large, commissioning for 2026 now, their 2024 and 2025 schedules are full. and they HATE publishing later than the UK. they absolutely loathe it.
this is a longwinded way to say that very often a book that comes out in the UK today may have been acquired a year ago, and the same book was acquired *two* years ago by the US publisher. the UK book might be made using files from the US publisher and be anglicised, but is not otherwise edited. whether that publisher sold the rights to the UK or the agent did, or whether it was a joint acquisition, you usually just can't know as an outsider as this info usually isn't public. if you have access to trade news sources you can sometimes find out, but short of working for that company or the agency or knowing the people dealing with that specific book personally...
also the whole using files from the other publisher for the book is something that saves people a LOT of money and effort. the secondary publisher will usually buy the 2nd proof typeset files or final files if possible (the indesign file package) for a rate that's usually about £5 per page or equivalent in the US, and while that is a lot of money it's still cheaper than editing the whole thing however many times in-house if all you are doing is americanising or anglicising and then proofreading for typos and typesetting errors before going to print. so you lose out on editing the book better, but it costs less to make the book. and the kicker is the money you make selling the typeset files go into the box labelled 'file fees' and right into the publisher's pocket, with no royalties to author - because it's a set of files, not the rights to the book. pure profit. publishers LOVE selling files. please do buy our cover as well, it's great isn't it? that'll be £800 please and thank you, right into the 100% profit column on the budget.
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it can be really hard to tell where the book originated! sometimes the imprint page will say something like 'first published in the united states in [year]' or vice versa. if the book is published by the same company on both sides of the atlantic it's often (not always) a joint acquisition and published simultaneously, but there will be a 'main publisher'. (simplified explanation ahoy) say an editor in a UK department wants to commission a book and one key way to make the book work (that is to say to be able to offer enough money that the agent accepts their offer) is to also publish it in the USA, they will hit up a colleague in the USA and ask if they want to join the bid. if the US team like the book they will contribute to the advance. UK advances are generally low, so if the US boosts it that can sweep all other offers off the table. e.g. UK offers £20k advance, the US contribute another £40k for North American rights. the UK editor (or somebody else in their team) will edit the book and they will pass (sell) files to the US team, who may americanise them, but not otherwise edit the book. from the outside you will most likely not be able to tell where the book 'originated' or who the head editor is. you can check the acknowledgements in the back, but authors will usually thank both editorial teams equally (depressingly, the author might not even know who edited the book if it wasn't the commissioning editor). it works the same way the other way around.
it can actually be more challenging for a UK editor to get a US colleague on board than the other way around, because US publishing schedules are twice as long as UK schedules; in the UK a book can go from commission to bookstore in a year, but in the US it's usually at least 2 years, so their publishing schedules are usually locked down 2-3 years out. whereas in the UK (and Europe) publishing is more flexible and while they may have some titles on the schedule 2-3 years out, the programme will by no means be *full*. our 2024 schedule is full, but we are still commissioning for 2025. US publishers are, by and large, commissioning for 2026 now, their 2024 and 2025 schedules are full. and they HATE publishing later than the UK. they absolutely loathe it.
this is a longwinded way to say that very often a book that comes out in the UK today may have been acquired a year ago, and the same book was acquired *two* years ago by the US publisher. the UK book might be made using files from the US publisher and be anglicised, but is not otherwise edited. whether that publisher sold the rights to the UK or the agent did, or whether it was a joint acquisition, you usually just can't know as an outsider as this info usually isn't public. if you have access to trade news sources you can sometimes find out, but short of working for that company or the agency or knowing the people dealing with that specific book personally...
also the whole using files from the other publisher for the book is something that saves people a LOT of money and effort. the secondary publisher will usually buy the 2nd proof typeset files or final files if possible (the indesign file package) for a rate that's usually about £5 per page or equivalent in the US, and while that is a lot of money it's still cheaper than editing the whole thing however many times in-house if all you are doing is americanising or anglicising and then proofreading for typos and typesetting errors before going to print. so you lose out on editing the book better, but it costs less to make the book. and the kicker is the money you make selling the typeset files go into the box labelled 'file fees' and right into the publisher's pocket, with no royalties to author - because it's a set of files, not the rights to the book. pure profit. publishers LOVE selling files. please do buy our cover as well, it's great isn't it? that'll be £800 please and thank you, right into the 100% profit column on the budget.