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I had a friend "publisher" help with organizing and publishing my children's book through a self publishing company. We have no written contract. He was to help me for gratis as he learned the process of publishing a children's book. During the process he registered the copyright for my book with his name as the author and my name as a Pseudonym.

What does this mean for me and my book and how do I fix it?

It was my concept, my text, my idea concepts for the illustrations, my money. He basically negotiated and sent my book through the process of printing.

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    This doesn't help for this situation, but in the future, never enter into any business relationship, even with a close friend or family member, without a written document setting out expectations. Even in the case --maybe especially in the case --that everyone has good intentions, this will be helpful.
    – Chris Sunami
    Commented Jun 5, 2015 at 13:58

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There are three legal options that I can think of off the top of my head, they are to contest the copyright, sue for breach of contract, and report an Identity theft. There is a time limit on contesting the copyright, and breach of contract gets more muddled the longer you take; so I would recommend getting a good lawyer right away.

It is possible that he meant no harm, but if this is the case you still have a royal mess and a good lawyer will be invaluable in cleaning it up.

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    What @hildred said. Also, try to collect any and all written exchanges (email, SMS, bank account documents showing the transferense of money, etc.) as well as friends that could serve as witnesses. Most of all, see if you have files or printouts or other documents that can show that you created those illustrations and texts. Maybe you have shown them to someone? Take all that to your lawyer.
    – user5645
    Commented Jun 6, 2015 at 15:46

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