myself and another inherited the rights to my late uncles childrens stories, they are all now out of print with rights reverted. I got in touch with various agents about republishing and one in particular was interested in trying once she read one. So my late uncle was with a particular agent and although the books have been out of print for some years we had just never officially left them. Obviously I need to leave them to get anywhere but it needs both myself and my late uncles partner to both agree as we have a 50/50 split. I have no contact with her but when I approached the agent they say she does not want to leave them but wants no contact with me . So my question is where do I stand? I have now lost the chance with this other agent as I cant commit but I also cant approach anyone else in the future as ill have the same problem. Any ideas anyone?
Ok I've worded it badly. The actual estate was left to myself and uncles partner with a 50/50 split of any royalties etc. The books are all out of print now so the agent actually has no use . I found an agent willing to take one particular book to a big book fayre with a view to trying to republish. However the agent my uncle was with say my uncles partner doesn't want to leave them. The thing is that particular agent have done nothing for years. So I was trying to ask if there's anything I can do myself if she doesn't want to even try. X
Just what was the 50/50 split in terms of INPUT?
If your uncle wrote the stories and the partner illustrated them, there is nothing to stop you finding another illustrator. There are many children's books that have moved from one publisher to another, and the new publisher has used their own 'house illustrators'. Consider how many illustrators have illustrated the Alice books!
Vice versa, but a tad trickier: if your uncle was the illustrator, you could find an author to weave an original story around his artwork.
Could La Gr@not@ have a look? http://la-granota.com