Attack of the bizarro title changes

One of the things I lament is how too often a novel has a different title in the US and the UK. But HarperCollins UK has taken things a step too far. Mark Mills’ debut novel was published last June as AMAGANSETT. In fact, it won the Creasey Dagger with this title. But the paperback version, published by the Perennial imprint, will have a completely different title: THE WHALEBOAT HOUSE. Bearing reviews for the book under its original title, of course.

I checked and double checked, and it seems this weird change is actually going to happen. Why on earth would a publisher do this? Were sales not good enough of the hardback? Has a title change between the hard/soft release ever happened before? To say it’s odd is quite the understatement….