Copyright advice, am I going to get into trouble?

[Owlsintowels]

I've got an older child who is mad about a certain book. Her younger brother is only 2 and far too young to understand it, it's not a picture book.

I have written a brief, 2 year old appropriate version of the book, and added a few vaguely relevant pictures. The toddler loves it, he asks for it repeatedly and it's meant he can play with the older child really nicely, role playing this story.

I was thinking of sharing my version with some friends, my nct group all have toddlers and older ones, so it might be good for some of them too. I'm not thinking about asking for any money obviously, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about asking for feedback with a view to maybe turning this into a business idea further down the line. I'd approach the publisher properly etc obviously.

My question is, is there any copyright or other legal issue with distributing my childish version among friends for free?

TIA

Presumably its something like Harry Potter in order for it to be of interest to your friends. I just wouldn't go there. Why do you need to other than to say "look at me". Let your toddler enjoy it and be pleased he/she is happy.

What you actually could do is email the publisher of the original book and tell them you have a toddler version for private use and would they be interested to read it.

JK Rowling is personally lenient about fanfic but Warner Brothers are not...

Actually it’s not a terrible business idea if you did have a real talent for it. There’s enormous quantities of classic children’s and YA fiction which is out of copyright with which you could do whatever the hell you like. The Wind in the Willows, The Railway Children, The Phoenix and the Carpet, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, the Secret Garden, all of world mythology. The list goes on and on and on.

Why not keep it as a special thing for your DS?

Lightofthephoenix that's exactly what I had in mind to do, just need to work out what to say in my message.

And to the others saying why not just leave this as something for my DS, I'm tempted to flip the question and say why not share a small idea I had which might bring some happiness and amusement to a few friends? Are you the sort of people who come across a really nuce recipe and decide to keep it to yourselves, or would you ping it out to a WhatsApp group of friends saying 'hey I made this and its delicious'? I'm that sort of person, I don't see this as any different. Maybe you're not that sort of person.
If noone ever thought to share their ideas the world would be a much poorer place. I just thought I'd ask on an Internet forum about legality issues with an idea I had as I don't want to inadvertently get in a heap of legal nightmare. Because I'm a conscientious person.

Are you the sort of people who come across a really nuce recipe and decide to keep it to yourselves, or would you ping it out to a WhatsApp group of friends saying 'hey I made this and its delicious'? I'm that sort of person, I don't see this as any different.

Except it is different. The equivalent to the above analogy would be you saying to your friends “DD read this book and really loved it so does anyone want it now she has finished with it?”

Which isn’t what you want to do. You aren’t passing on a book your DC enjoyed. You have taken an original piece of work, chopped it up, c&ped a few photos and are passing it on as something you have created. Which isn’t true. You’ve just altered someone else’s work.

If noone ever thought to share their ideas the world would be a much poorer place.

It’s not your idea! It’s someone else’s.

The reason you’re asking about the legality of it is because you realise you’re on shaky ground distributing an altered version of someone else’s work as your own creation.

If you want children to get joy out of reading your work then do it! Write stories for children and pass them out to whoever you want.

I don’t understand what potential business you could expect to have from cutting other authors books down to 10% of the original?

Reader's Digest

But OP you're not just talking about making some as gifts for close friends, you're talking about a business. Its not a business to rip off someone else's stories and characters.

I really want to know what the original book is.

Retelling stories for a younger age group has always been a thing: from Lambs’ Tales from Shakespeare to Ladybird Classics and at the moment there’s a bunch of ridiculous “Moby Dick for pre-schoolers” imprints.
www.nytimes.com/2016/12/18/business/media/forget-pat-the-bunny-my-child-is-reading-hemingway.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

I can’t see any reason you’d want to share it with friends other than for the praise and attention you’ll receive

Really? How sad for you that you can't see any other reason why OP might want to share something that has made her dc happy with the dc of her friends.

I'm not a lawyer (evidently most posters on this thread are likewise) but i would say from a logical point of view they wouldn't think it worth going after someone doing it for free to their local friends.
I would strongly steer clear of making money out of it without clearing it with the publisher.
They may not be interested due to not much money to be made, although in a similar way it won't be worth suing you for the equivalent damages if you went ahead anyway. But i still think you should draw the line at making money.

I knew someone who did take others work (images) alter them slightly and then sell them, all they got was a cease and desist letter and they got away with it for years. Anything disney is to be avoided apparently they really go for people.