options

Most publishing contracts include not only a grant of rights to publish the work the contract governs but also an “option clause” giving the publisher rights of first refusal to consider the author’s next work(s) of fiction. Carefully tailored option clauses are beneficial to authors as well as publishers, but authors need to ensure the option doesn’t overreach or bind them inappropriately. Appropriately-drafted option clauses have three important features: 1. The option governs the author’s next book length work in the same series or next book-length work in the same genre only. 2. The option gives the publisher a right to review the work and to