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Going through permission requests for my upcoming folktale collection. I'd just like to note that publishing permission for the average folktale costs somewhere between $250-400

Folktales are expensive y'all

#folklore #folktales #publishing
#publishing #folklore #folktales
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
Yes, if I work from more than one source.
Charnock
eeek...

Who gets the money from that? The translators or the publishers or the ... ?
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
The publishers, likely. I doubt the author of the previous collection gets any?

I usually either work from public domain sources, or from multiple versions of the same folktale. But every once in a while I find one story only from one recent source, and then I need permission.
Robin Palotai
sounds interesting. IANAL, but I would have thought the definition of a folk tale is that it is some kind of common knowledge (thus no copyright).

Being put into a collection should not change that (now the collection itself has copyright protection, so if you take multiple folk-tales from the collection, that is protected, but I would have thought not a single individual). Interesting question.
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
That is how it works in Hunagry with Hungarian folktales, yes. But if someone writes their own version of the story, that is subject to copyright. Also, translators still have rights too as far as I know. And laws are different in other countries.
Robin Palotai
slightly off-topic, but mentioning Hungarian folktales: I'm starting to realize what is available as "stock" folktales is kind of a safe tip of the iceberg. Downloading Benedek Elek's "Magyar mese és mondavilág" from the electronic library, part 2 and 3 has some truly weird stuff in there. But was it a more fair sampling of the time, which we just filtered down to remove disturbing stuff?
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
Oh a whole lot. I work from a lot of archival collections, and from books published by folklorists that were transcribed word for word. Benedek Elek wrote for children for a reason :D But Hungary is very lucky that we have an abundance of actual folklore records. So, yes, we have a lot of fair sampling and it is weeeeiiiiiirrrrd :D

(My latest book has folktales from Csíkszentdomokos, they are both weird and awesome.)
Charnock
There is probably a suite of lawyers who watch over it all who get paid more than anyone else in the foodchain @robinp
@Robin Palotai
Charnock
It's one of those things I'd forget to do and get caught in a total minefield because I'd foolishly have assumed something was PD
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
If you publish them you do
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