Fletcher's book sparks debate about illustrators' copyright

Questions have been raised about whether it is advisable for illustrators to sign away their copyright to authors and publishers after it has emerged Tom Fletcher owns the copyright for the pictures in his forthcoming book. 

The issue has come to light after objections were voiced on Twitter about McFly band member Fletcher owning the copyright for illustrator Shane Devries' images in his forthcoming middle-grade novel, The Creakers, because of future plans to adapt the books for the stage, screen “and beyond”. The title will be published by Penguin Random House on 5th October.

Illustrator and campaigner Sarah McIntyre

to her 15,000 followers when she discovered Fletcher owned the copyright of the cover, text and illustrations to the title. “This is awful thing and should never, ever set a precedent: a writer taking the copyright for an illustrator's work. #PicturesMeanBusiness”, she said.

However, Fletcher has told The Bookseller he “in no way takes for granted how brilliantly” illustrators’ art “brings my silly words to life” and added he has “so much respect and admiration for the illustrators who work on my books”.

United Talent agent Jodie Hodges, a literary agent, said an illustrator assigning copyright is not exceptional, but is usually signed away to the publisher rather than the author.

She said: “An illustrator assigning copyright on a young fiction book (or even the odd picture book) isn’t that unusual, but assignment is usually to the publisher rather than the author. I’ve not come across an illustrator assigning to an author before, but I’m sure it was all fully discussed and approved beforehand."

However, Derek Brazell, projects manager at the Association of Illustrators, said he had not seen illustrators sign away copyright to authors in his 16 years at the organisation and was “concerned” by the suggestion of it.

“Generally signing over copyright means you have signed away the rights completely. It concerns us as an organisation,” he said. “I’ve been here 16 years and I don’t think I’ve seen this at all before.  It is very strange to assign copyright of the images to the writer."

However, he added: “I would say that we don’t know what happened behind the scenes.”

 

Hodges suggested Fletcher might have copyright because of ancillary rights. She said: “I am increasingly having complicated discussions about illustrated fiction titles where the illustrator has retained copyright in the illustrations. If the author has retained dramatic rights and the title is optioned for adaptation there is a question over the dramatic rights in the illustrations and whether they should be factored into the option, too."

While McIntyre said the issue was not part of her #PicturesMeanBusiness campaign, she said she was concerned "that it might set a bad precedent for illustrators retaining their own copyright".

She told The Bookseller: “Hopefully Fletcher's agent arranged it so that Shane Devries was well compensated for the loss of his copyright. (Devries comes from a background of animation and concept art, which work on very different business models than children's books.) But I'm concerned that if this loss of copyright becomes more common, that compensation will disappear and illustrators will just be expected to give up copyright for no extra pay.”

However Fletcher has defended the move, telling The Bookseller that by owning the copyright he had the freedom to take the works to “possibly impossible” places.

The Christmasaurus author said: “I have so much respect and admiration for the illustrators who work on my books. Garry [Parsons], Greg [Abbott] and Shane [Devries] are so incredibly talented and I in no way take for granted how brilliantly their art brings my silly words to life.

“I have the most stupidly unrealistic ambition for all the projects we work on, to take the books to the stage, the screen and beyond, and it is so important to me that they are involved in all these other aspects. These ambitions are also the reason why it is vital that I have the freedom to take our creations to these possibly impossible places, and that I am responsible for ensuring that Garry, Greg and Shane are respected by my team the way that I respect them.”

Devries is not currently listed on the Amazon.co.uk page for The Creakers or on the PRH book page. Details of the book, about creatures under the bed, were revealed in February.

Devries was unavailable for comment and PRH Children's declined to comment

Fletcher is one of the UK’s bestselling children’s authors. The Christmasaurus was one of the biggest middle-grade debuts of last year and it is being adapted stage in a series of sell-out shows for Christmas 2017. He is also one half of the writing duo behind the Dinosaur That Pooped picture book series, first published in 2012. There’s A Monster in Your Book, was published on 29th June.