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Originally Posted by MatthewM
I am in the midst of putting together a Lord of the Rings related book. It's an analytical work looking at the characters, not a fiction drawing off his story. Whenever it's done I plan on looking for a publisher. Does anybody know the legality of this? Would I have to go through the Tolkien estate first, or would the publishers if interested do all of that for me? With proper citing and documentation, is contacting the Tolkien estate even needed? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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Its a copyright thing really - If you don't use any quotes at all (& avoid too much paraphrasing) , & don't defame anyone I don't think there's a need to contact anyone. If you want to use quotes (other than a few sentences here & there) then you need permission - & I don't see much point in writing the thing if you find at the end that you aren't allowed to use quotes & have to re-write it. I suppose contacting the Estate for their opinion would be polite though - you can do it via their website. The family are not ogres & their only real concern is that their father/grandfather's work & person is not abused or exploited - as far as I'm aware most of the profits from Tolkien's works go to various good causes via the Estate charity.
As to getting it published - well, this is a good time - big things happening Tolkien-wise this year (& a TH movie coming up), so publishers will be looking to jump on the bandwagon. Of course, you could self-publish via Lulu.com or the like, then advertise - that way you only print the number of copies people want.