Options, Clauses

This week I have been talking with an author about a book of his we are going to publish next year. It will be the third book of his we will publish. I have also been talking with an author about a book of hers we will be publish; it will our second time working together. Last week I received a draft of a manuscript for a second book by another author and in a few months the second of yet another writer will be released. A surprising percentage of our authors have or will publish multiple books with us.

This makes me inordinately proud.

Many publishing contracts include an option clause giving the publisher the right of first refusal on the writer’s next project. These clauses vary widely from publisher to publisher, but look something like this:

The right of first refusal is not legally difficult to get around if an author does not want to work with the same publisher again; they could submit a book in an entirely different genre, for instance, or simply send a crappy proposal, I s…