I wonder if it's possible to get books published without handing over the rights to someone. I'll probably never be a good writer, but if I did manage to start and finish a story, I wouldn't want to give the rights up just to get it published.
Nope, not really, but the publishers don't actually own the rights, they have a license for a certain amount of time. When an author signs a contract, they are granting the publisher the temporary right to use their [the author's] property. Generally, rights revert to the author when the book goes out of print (this can be a bone of contention with print-on-demand since someone could order one copy and the book would be "in-print").
Once the author signs the contract, their control is slim. They usually don't get a say in the cover design for instance. With the reprint, it's really up to Scholastic, since they're taking the financial risk of the reprint. They really SHOULD consult the authors, in the name of good relations. But the contract probably says that Scholastic doesn't HAVE to.
And I'd think Applegrant would retain movie/tv rights. Lots of agents will make sure that those rights are NOT given to the publisher. Sometimes it happens; I don't think they expected Animorphs to be so successful, so maybe they didn't bother to hold onto those rights. It's all down to the contract that was signed.
By the way, I work in publishing, LOL.
For the reprint--hopefully they'll fix some typos/consistency errors. I would like new covers. I just didn't like the old ones. I loved the megamorphs 4 cover, very dark! Holographic covers sound . . . tacky. Either way, I'm going to buy up the five or so books I didn't get the first time around. Maybe I'll get doubles of a few of my favorites. Maybe I'll just go to the bookstore and go, "YES! ANIMORPHS ARE ON THE SHELVES AGAIN!"
