I have a number of books published with Publisher A (2 published and available, 1 finished and just sent to publishers (no contract yet), one wip (contract signed) and another wip which has been agreed but no date signed.)
I was approached by a writer and a publishing house, Publisher B and asked if I would like to a book contribute towards a themed ‘boxset’.
Publisher B is a ‘partner publisher’ of Publisher A and a number of authors (including the one who approached me) publish books with both Publisher A and Publisher B. Publisher B’s books are sold on Publisher A’s website.
I am very, very keen to do this. The author in question is a bestseller in our niche and I think contributing to this will have a great effect on my current and future sales.
However, I have a clause in my contracts which says:
Author agrees that for a period of one year from the signing of this contract Author will not publish romance fiction or romance erotica for any other company or under a self-publishing arrangement using the Author name associated with this Work
I contacted Publisher A to ask whether it would be possible to publish a book with Publisher B as part of this collection.
Publisher A have got back to me to say that I cannot use my existing author name. She also said that they (Publisher A) are also planning a similar-themed boxset and that Publisher B ‘borrowed’ their idea. She said that they could still use writers on that and offered to match the advance being offered by Publisher B.
I am wondering if anyone else has had similar clauses included in their contracts?
Participating in Publsiher A’s boxset seems to me to be an act of bad faith towards towards Publisher B.
I therefore think my options are:
1. Participate in Publisher A’s boxset. I don’t want to do this as it seems like an act of bad faith towards the author and Publisher B who sought me out.
2. Not do either of the boxsets.
3. Do the boxset for Publisher B under a different name (I am assuming this has to be properly different. I can’t just rename myself from Daffodil Thursday to Daffodil J Thursday for instance. Presumably this has the potential to piss off Publisher A who are still handling all my books.
4. Contact Publisher A again and try to wangle some kind of a deal. I am not sure the best way to approach this. Presumably other authors on their books aren’t under the same restriction. However, I do recognise that it is a stipulation in my contract and am asking for special dispensation in this one instance.
This was insanely long. Thank you if you got this far. I would appreciate any feedback at all on this one.
I was approached by a writer and a publishing house, Publisher B and asked if I would like to a book contribute towards a themed ‘boxset’.
Publisher B is a ‘partner publisher’ of Publisher A and a number of authors (including the one who approached me) publish books with both Publisher A and Publisher B. Publisher B’s books are sold on Publisher A’s website.
I am very, very keen to do this. The author in question is a bestseller in our niche and I think contributing to this will have a great effect on my current and future sales.
However, I have a clause in my contracts which says:
Author agrees that for a period of one year from the signing of this contract Author will not publish romance fiction or romance erotica for any other company or under a self-publishing arrangement using the Author name associated with this Work
I contacted Publisher A to ask whether it would be possible to publish a book with Publisher B as part of this collection.
Publisher A have got back to me to say that I cannot use my existing author name. She also said that they (Publisher A) are also planning a similar-themed boxset and that Publisher B ‘borrowed’ their idea. She said that they could still use writers on that and offered to match the advance being offered by Publisher B.
I am wondering if anyone else has had similar clauses included in their contracts?
Participating in Publsiher A’s boxset seems to me to be an act of bad faith towards towards Publisher B.
I therefore think my options are:
1. Participate in Publisher A’s boxset. I don’t want to do this as it seems like an act of bad faith towards the author and Publisher B who sought me out.
2. Not do either of the boxsets.
3. Do the boxset for Publisher B under a different name (I am assuming this has to be properly different. I can’t just rename myself from Daffodil Thursday to Daffodil J Thursday for instance. Presumably this has the potential to piss off Publisher A who are still handling all my books.
4. Contact Publisher A again and try to wangle some kind of a deal. I am not sure the best way to approach this. Presumably other authors on their books aren’t under the same restriction. However, I do recognise that it is a stipulation in my contract and am asking for special dispensation in this one instance.
This was insanely long. Thank you if you got this far. I would appreciate any feedback at all on this one.
