images.jpgIf you wonder why your favorite book isn’t an ebook right now, it may be because it isn’t so simple to just convert a pbook to an ebook. The Bookseller has a great article on this today.

Evidently, children’s book agents are giving priority to film rights over rights to do apps for mobile phones and the iPad. They are afraid that giving app rights might preclude a film company from taking up the book later.

Tanya Tillett at the Rod Hall Agency said one of the main issues is how “enriched” a digital app will be as a highly animated or interactive app could breach film rights. She added: “Normally a studio would pick up electronic rights, unless there was a pre-existing digital rights deal.”

Film companies may want to develop apps themselves, said Penny Holroyde at the Caroline Sheldon agency. “The gaming industry is quite lucrative for producers and it’s a license they could make a lot of money from. A book app may stray into this territory.”

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