A.M. Stuart asked A.M. Stuart:

US or UK spelling?

A.M. Stuart This is a vexed question for authors. I am an Australian so my natural inclination is to UK/Aus spelling which, I am aware, is more consistent with the time and setting of the Harriet Gordon stories. But where an author is writing for a US market (with a US publisher) the reader preference is, of course, for US spelling so honour becomes honor etc. While we authors like to think our readers are smart enough to be bilingual, we do get reviews criticising (or is that criticizing?) spelling when really it is about usage. The other point of confusion is about dialogue marks - is it ' or "? There is no right or wrong - this is purely a publishing house style. My Australian publisher uses ' and my US publisher uses ". Pity the poor author who has to remember which is which!

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