Infinite Indenture Loop/Series Rights Paradox

I've mentioned before that I was reading Kirsch's Guide to the Book Contract, which is hands down the most terrifying book I have ever read, surpassing the work of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Ray Bradbury. The reason is simple. The latter are works of fiction while the former is startlingly real.

The driving point of the book is to reinforce in authors' minds the maxim, "never sign anything without reading it." However, if I were allowed to only convey one warning based on my reading of Kirsch's sample contract, it would be for a writer to use any means necessary to delete or mitigate the publisher's automatic option rights and exclusive title/series development rights.

Most standard literary contracts include a clause that, by default, grants all rights to the author's next book-length work to the same publisher under the exact same terms of the initial contract. Almost every option clause also includes a noncompetition rule barring the writer from shopping the story around to any other publisher until after the first publisher has considered and rejected the new manuscript--a process that can take months or over a year.

But perhaps you've spotted the devil lurking in the details up there. Since the option clause specifies that the second book will be subject to the same rules as the first contract, the same option clause will apply to the next work, too: and the next, and the next, ad infinitum until the publisher finally rejects a manuscript. Such clauses are particularly burdensome to authors because they severely limit their output of salable work.

An equally unfavorable yet opposite clause is one that grants all rights to the first book's title, logo, setting, characters, etc. to the publisher for the express purpose of allowing the development of a further series of books based upon the first one. The standard version of such a clause almost always allows the publisher to develop sequels and prequels to the author's work without his consent, creative input, or right to compensation. In fact, Kirsch's version specifically states that the publisher is free to commission other writers to produce additional books in the series, totally preventing the original author from exercising any creative control or receiving royalties for further works.

Each of these clauses is foreboding enough on its own, but combined in the same legal document, they form a mind-scrambling paradox of Zemeckian proportions, wherein a publishing house can force an author to submit the next book to them while simultaneously allowing it to commission someone else to write that book without the original author's creative or economic participation.

Always read the fine print!