Bulletin Board.
This is where I acknowledge your comments and feedback.
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Below are some postings that I've chosen to display on the website, though they may not involve specific questions or inquiries. This section is entitled "Bulletin Board", and it allows me to acknowledge your comments, and to place them online for the benefit and appreciation of others. It also allows me to comment myself, or to post replies to your feedback in areas that fail to qualify as "Frequently Asked Questions".
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| (1.) Posting Date: 19 May, 2010 |
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Comments: Dear Bernard, I see your next book is entitled "CAPTIVATE, KILL OR DESTROY", but it appears your U.S. publisher will issue the book in the U.S. entitled a sophomoric "THE FORT". The Bernard Cornwell we know would never write a book entitled "THE FORT". It sounds like a children's title. Why the dumbed down title? I'm sure your U.S. publisher is telling you the title will increase sales in the U.S. I remember your "HARLEQUIN", where your U.S. publisher issued the book in the U.S. under the horrible title "AN ARCHER'S TALE". Does your U.S. publisher think we Americans lack the literary capacity to appreciate the better title you gave the book? I know you will tell me to order the book from amazon.uk so I get the book unencumbered by your U.S. publisher's silly title and I may do that. You once wrote a book entitled "THE WINTER KING", which in my opinion is the best book you ever wrote. Can you imagine if your U.S. publisher changed the title to "THE KING WHO WAS BORN IN THE WINTERTIME"? What rubbish. Bernard, it is your book, your wrote the bloody thing, you should know what title is best. Tell your U.S. publisher we like our Cornwell like he likes his Jameson - without getting watered down! There, I've vented. I fell better now. Bernard, good luck with "CAPTIVATE, KILL OR DESTROY". I hope it is a tremendous best seller here in the U.S. despite the bad title. Charles
Mr. Cornwell, It's been awhile since I've written( back before Agincourt was released I believe)- I am still plugging away with my writing and I'm certain I'm on the verge of unbridled success(sarcasm). I just wanted to drop a quick note to say that I'm greatly anticipating "Kill, Captivate or Destroy" but was saddened to recently see on your website that the American release of the book bears a different title. "The Fort" just doesn't have the same zing to it. I know you are probably as frustrated by these marketing decisions as some of your readers- I understood why they changed the original title of Agincourt from "Slaughteryard" but The Fort sounds like a John Grisham novel or a sequel to that reprehensible new age christian book "The Shack". Regardless of the title, you know I'm going to read it anyway, And I guess a devoted reader is buying your book more for the author's name on the cover than the title of the book itself- These days the author's name is writ larger on the jacket than the title anyway. It's just unfortunate that the publishing industry is settling on blander titles these days. R. Kulb
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| Reply: I agree with you! Well, up to a point. I prefer Captivate, Kill or Destroy, though I do quite like the straightforwardness of The Fort. And it IS a marketing decision. In this case, after the publishers either side of the Atlantic had finally agreed on CK or D the fiction buyer for America's biggest bookselling chain more or less demanded the shorter title. I suppose I could have dug my heels in and insisted, but I'm confident of her experience and expertise, and once the book leaves my hands it does need the enthusiasm of a lot of people . . . and she's an important part of that . . . so The Fort it is, at least in America. I'm not sure about the UK.
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