Hi,
I've been wondering this for a while now and finally got round to asking. Basically, is it okay to publish someone else's work? My Grandmother, who passed away in 2000, was a keen writer. I have a folder full of her handwritten work. There are dozen of stories in there written by her. They are children's stories.
I have been thinking about typing them up and possibly looking into publishing, maybe. There's got to be well over 20 stories in the folder. Some of them aren't finished. I was thinking about typing them all up and finishing the ones that aren't completed. I'm not going to mess with the ones that are finished, though. SO yeah, I just wondered if this was possible.
Thank you Jonathon.
That was what I was worried about. I don't know who get left the folder with her work in. It could have been any of us. It just so happened that somehow over the past few years it ended up in my hands.I can see the problems with this already. We're one of those dysfunctional families where so and so doesn't speak to so and so and she doesn't speak to her and he doesn't speak to she, and he's a money grabbing whatsit, and she likes to be an inconvenience. etc.
I know how much she loved writing those stories, I was just attempting to honour her memory, make her proud and raise money for charities she was dedicated to. etc. but I'm already picturing certain 'family' members that could present problems. Perhaps this endeavor is best left.
You quite often see historical diaries and memoirs published by a relative, so t's not uncommon. If the originator is given as the author then they're often sub-titled with 'Edited by......'
The only issue with this is ownership. If you were specifically willed the material then there should be no problems. If it's in general family ownership, though, beware - you need written agreement of ALL potentially interested parties or you risk lots of family strife. Simply donating proceeds to charity won't make this go away - it's amazing how many previously unknown 'relatives' can come crawling from the woodwork when money is, or may be, involved.
Best of luck :)
Hi Andrew, thanks for the reply!
I should have mentioned that in the question - my plan was, if I was to publish her works successfully, that of course the work would be published under HER name and ALL money made would go to charity.