Whom to contact regarding book publication

[IslaWight]

Hi, new here, but not of course new to the delights of Enid Blyton stories.

Having had many of Enid Blyton's stories read to me over the years, and now as I repeat the same delightful tales to my own children it was met with great disappointment when the last of the Famous Five books in the series was finished.

I searched the internet and discovered two 'new' famous five books, written using the same characters, yet by a different author.

However upon reading these two books, both myself, and my children were very dissapointed, quickly feeling the author hadn't captured either the characters or the atmosphere of the original books to make for comfortable reading.

So for my familes sake, I then decided to write my own Famous Five book, as no doubt others here may well have done for their children.

My family feel that my story, and the close similarity of the book is too good to just be resticted to our family alone. I was therefore curious to know how one stands with copyright, and if it is possilbe to obtain permission to have the book, IF good enough, to be published as presumably the other author had managed to do?

I have had a book published years ago now, but not a story book, nor have I ever attempted the impossible to try to step into the shoes of such a great author as Enid Blyton.

Yet after reading the two afore mentioned books, I truly feel I could achieve a far more fulfilling reader experience whilst paying total respect to the truly great ladies achievements.

Any pointers, contacts, or advice would truly be greatly appriciated.

Thank you all for your time.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Welcome to the forums, IslaWight.

If you want your Famous Five book published, you'd have to firstly find an agent, as Hodder who own the Blyton copyrights, don't accept unsolicited manuscripts, and you won't be able to self publish as the wording Famous Five is copyrighted by the Blyton copyright holders. And any other publisher wouldn't take on the F.F because of the copyright. It would have to be within their 'house' such as Quercus Books and once again you need an agent.

It's quite a difficult minefield where copyright is included. Hope this little bit of info helps you.

[IslaWight]

Thank you for your informative reply. I will, in all likelihood, not pursue the dream, yet, having enjoyed the F.F books so very much I know how disappointing it is for the readers when the last book is closed.

Like a good T.V series ending, sometimes, less, is more, and perhaps the four children and their wonderful dog are best left to their creators fingertips, without the risk of ever being tarnished in anyway.

I don't know if you read the F.F books written by someone else, but to me, they were most disappointing.

I haven't dared even look at the modern twist on the F.F books which have spoof type titles, as to me so much of our beloved past is either over analysed or ridiculed, with those doing so,perhaps not able to place their mindset in a different time and world.


Thanks again for your reply and I will research a little deeper on the information you have given.


Isla

[number 6]

Welcome to the forums, IslaWight! Julie is absolutely spot on regarding copyrights, etc. Hope all goes well with your book!

[Eddie Muir]

Welcome to the forums, Isla. Good luck with your book. Please keep us informed of any progress made.

[IslaWight]

Thank you all for greetings and kind words. What an interesting forum this is. Off to the Isle of Wight festival soon. Unsure what the five would have made of that, but one can be sure that Timmy would have sniffed out more smuggled drugs than the current police dogs will likely do! I expect that Dick's sharp eyes would have spotted that one of the pop stars was an imposter too, leading the Five into yet another adventure.

Sadly modern day smuggling has far less of the romance than that of the past. Little wonder some current children's book contents are not always the best for bed time reading.

Thank you all for your replies.

Isla

[Rob Houghton]

Like others of us here, I've written a Famous Five continuation novel, which is available on here, but only to Society members. Julie has also written some great continuation novels on here. I'm sure we would both like to see them published, but as Julie says, its a minefield - and really, I don't think the publishers want to know, unless you're an already-established author, and/or they are looking for a particular series continuation at just the time you happen to approach them!

I've always tried really hard to make my continuation novels as much like Enid Blyton's as I can - my idea being that I want them to seem like an undiscovered manuscript - but its very hard to achieve that!

[IslaWight]

Thank you Rob for your honest reply. It is what I assumed to be the likelihood of trying to enter an already established market, and I guessed that many others must have had the same thoughts as I.

The only difference in my idea, being that in my own creation of the F.F, this and any future books were to be set in real holiday destinations around the UK.

As I know the Isle of Wight so very well, my assumption was that a F.F book, combined with local folklore, and historical, mysterious, factual happenings may well appeal to the tourist industry to advertise and promote our wonderful holiday destinations.

When children read about real place names and locations that they are about to visit pre the holiday, the joy of seeing and discovering those places would be greatly enhanced. Or, if bought as a souvenir the children could read the stories later, when back home, thus extending their holiday joy, and perhaps prompting a return again next year visit.

I am certain that any child, if being able to visit some of the locations mentioned in the text themselves, would find it added greatly to their knowledge and interest in finding out more thus aiding learning in a pleasurable way.

I can imagine the turnover IF Kirrin Island or cottage really did exist, and at a time when the UK needs tourism so badly I could see a future for this.

I will have to think again. Thank you for your words of wisdom.

[Boatbuilder]

Isla, welcome to the forum from me, also a fairly recent newcomer. Your thinking makes sense in using real places to stimulate children's imaginations. As you say, if Kirrin had been a real place when we were children I'm sure it would have had attracted an enormous amount of tourism - at least for those who could afford it in the post-war '50's.

However as everyone has said it is unlikely that you would be able to publish in the way you want.

Having said that, have you considered the same idea but using different names for all the characters along with an alternative 'group name' other than 'Famous Five'? I'm sure you could come up with a good one. Given the right storylines in real locations with the same sort of excitement that the FF books generate there could still be great possibilities for your idea to come to fruition.

[IslaWight]

Boatbuilder, thanks for your reply. I have, since taking on board the disappointing yet sound advice about the difficulty of copyright etc, considered the fairly easy task of merely changing names of characters and locations, and indeed the group name.

Two issues spring to mind, one being if I simply changed the names of the characters and locations used in the original books, would the fact that the character of the characters then still be prone to copyright infringement?

Secondly of course, the attraction of a new, unknown writer, will hardly ever likely be noticed without the headline grabbing F.F tag. Certainly a great idea and not a problem IF I were already safely under the wing of an agent/publisher.

Yet, as early days, being involved in something I know little about I will now have to try to research into what constitutes copyright infringement in law. Also, there is the moral dilemma of not wishing to taint or otherwise infringe on Enid's wonderful characters and stories, by using substitutes.

I would appreciate any advice on the depth of copyright infringement if, say, merely changing the names, yet keeping the same characteristics of the Five. For the moral dilemma, I would, if going ahead, have to search my own soul!

Thank you for your input and suggestions which I will seriously consider.

I am off the I.W festival soon, and, from past experiences, I know that changing a leading singer/character, as did the band Queen, after the sad loss of irreplaceable Freddie the late lead singer, just because someone looks and sounds similar, does not ensure that many of the true fans will be won over.

Kind regards Isla.

[Gary Russell]

Isla - copyright only covers characters and situations - ie you can't use George, Anne, Julian etc, nor Kirrin and stuff like that.

However, as you rightly suspect, there's still the problem known legally as Passing Off. In other words if your new book was about Fred, Bill, Sally and they had a tomboy chum called Sam, who had a pretty spunky dog called Bowser that rounded out their 'group', and Sam (or indeed one of the others) owned an island...then you're into Passing Off territory and the copyright holders would indeed be able to argue that you were infringing their rights.

A bunch of four or five kids getting into fun adventures and solving crimes the police missed, well then that's harder for them to kick off about (although again, I'd avoid setting it 40s/50s/60s - firstly because of Passing Off and secondly, and more importantly, publishers wouldn't buy it).

And yes, Julie is 100% spot on that these days agents and publishers don't want to touch untested writers.

BUT I'd also draw your attention to one such mum-turned-writer who successfully by-passed all of that and is a couple of quid better off today. I think her name was J K Rowling or something like that and I believe her books have been read by a handful of kids around the world... so never say never...

[Rob Houghton]

Its a shame, because there must be thousands of great writers out there who never see their book published due simply to 'red tape'!

[Moonraker]

As I know the Isle of Wight so very well...

I thought you might when I saw your username!

[Gary Russell]

Its a shame, because there must be thousands of great writers out there who never see their book published due simply to 'red tape'!

Well it's not 'red tape', it's copyright and it's the single most important thing writers, artists, musicians, filmakers etc have to protect their work. Stealing copyright is stealing from creatives, in the same way someone coming into your house and stealing everything from that, which you've worked all your life to pay for, would be.

[Boatbuilder]

I read Rob's post as referring to the 'red tape' when Julie wrote that publishers don't want to touch untested writers, nothing to do with the copyright thing.
I agree that is everyone's protection for their work no matter what field it is in.