"Changing the language in the novel in order to boost its popularity" is a very inappropiate and absurd idea. It is hard to teach Shakespear because his language is difficult to understand and has so many different possible translation. We dont read Shakespear at school until we've established some skills in English. But we do not change Shakespear's language. Why? Because we value his style and writing. Also, if we change his language, that would no longer be Shakespear. The Shakespearian language is what distinguishes him from anyone else.
An author uses the language he uses for a purpose. In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain's intention for using of the "n" word is not to degrade a certain race but to portray the life in his era. As Geff Barton says we should "explore issues of how language changes in context and culture". To change Mark Twain's language just because it does not sound right to us today would be something that would alter the literary value of the text.
Let's say there is a need to change his words, is slave an appropiate synonym? No, replacing the "n" word for the word "slave" is inaccurate. Not all "niggers" at the time were slaves, free blacks existed in Mark Twain's times. Jim, who Huck Finn often calls "nigger", is technically a free black. Rather than making a wrong "correction" they should leave it alone so that it creats the same effect to the readers who read different editions.
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