Constant Content

I am British, but write my articles in both UK and US English depending on the article and what kind of market I think it might appeal to. Recently I've had a couple of articles that I think would work well with both, but obviously I can't post both articles up there under separate submissions, just with spelling changes etc.

My question is, would it be acceptable for me to upload, in one word document, both British and US versions of an article? In the short summary I could say "Document includes both British and US versions". The customer could then choose which one they used after purchase.

Thanks!
evie

Hmm. Let me give this some thought and get back with you.

Thanks,
Ed

Hi Evie,

I don't see any problem with this. I misread your question earlier and thought you meant to upload two separate documents, but your way is better (one document with both versions). Just be sure to label each article clearly within the document. Including information about offering both versions in the short summary will complete the equation. Let us know how this works for you as far as customer interest.

Out of curiosity, can you also let us know how much additional time you expect this to take, as well as what particular changes you plan to make? I understand there are spelling differences, but there are also some punctuation and other differences that it would be helpful to clarify. For example, while reviewing, I don't get hung up on whether the quotation marks are inside or outside the end punctuation, but there are UK/US style differences in this respect.

Thanks,
Ed

Hi Ed

Thanks for this! Really appreciated... I do think it's worth a shot as I worry about alienating one side of the Atlantic sometimes when I write!

In terms of time I really think it will depend on the article. For example, I wrote one about how to use the internet to plan your holiday. Here, all references to 'holiday' would need to be changed to 'vacation', and the websites I talked about would also need tweaking. Obviously UK to US spellings, and any clear differences in punctuation. Regarding this last point, I think it is something I need to brush up on. I have submitted 'US'-style articles before (with US spelling), but didn't worry too much about any punctuation differences and I'm not certain I know all the nuances. I'll have a look through the forum to clarify. If it normally takes me between 30 mins and an hour to write a 600-word article, I think 10 minutes or so should do for revising a version in the other 'language'.

Of course it's all trial and error and if it doesn't work out I'll have to rethink, and you might find my attempt at US English atrocious!

Thanks
evie