The seventh in my Roman series is <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385341493" target="_blank">out in paperback in the US through Dell</a> today. It's always nice to see a book come out in mass market, three years after it was completed in this case. That means three new books have gone through my head in the meantime, which is a salutary thought.

In the US the book bears the title <i>The Dante Killings.</i> The brand new title, number eight, will be out there on May 25 and carries the title <i><a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385341509&amp;ref=rec&amp;name=search" target="_blank">City of Fear</a>.</i> In the UK these books were known respectively as <i>Dante's Numbers</i> and <i>The Blue Demon.</i>

Why the change?

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In a word: marketing. Or perhaps more accurately, markets. <a href="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/9780385341493.jpg"><img src="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/9780385341493-tm.jpg" alt="9780385341493.jpeg" style="float:right;padding-left:4px;" height="153" width="94"></a>These books have appeared in something like twenty different languages over the last eight years, and in every one there have often been some changes, usually small ones. In Romania, I think it was, Nic Costa was renamed <i>Nico</i> Costa because the word 'nic' means something specific.

Titles change all the time. If you look at my Dutch editions, which have been among the most successful in other languages, just about every book bears a different title to the UK original.

Countries, happily, are all different. Publishers have a variety of ideas about how best to tackle their readership with a particular title. In my case that doesn't mean a different book usually. There are subtle changes from the UK to US editions, but mainly down to spelling and local language issues.

But titles can and will change. <a href="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/9780385341509.jpg"><img src="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/9780385341509-tm.jpg" alt="9780385341509.jpeg" style="float:right;padding-left:4px;" height="140" width="93"></a>Sorry if it causes confusion from time to time but that's publishing. We all want to reach the greatest readership we can in individual markets, which means there will be a little local tailoring on occasion.

My next 'new' book by the way is <i><a href="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/9780385341493-tm.jpgbooks/standalones/death-in-seville/" target="_blank">Death in Seville</a></i> in the UK in November. Which, just to confuse matters, began life in 1996 as my first ever novel, <i>Semana Santa,</i> though this version has been substantially rewritten for republication.

It's a complicated business when you've been in it for a while.