Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
The publisher must be on dodgy legal grounds here, unless there's an explicit "do not publish anything with anyone else until your book comes out with us" clause in her contract. And I can't believe that there is such a clause.
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I don't know specifically about publishing contracts but "covenants not to compete" are very narrowly construed at least in the U.S. and are often invalidated for public policy reasons (i.e. the public benefits from competition and you can't contract away your freedom to make a living). So, even if there is a broad boilerplate clause in a publishing contract (thou shalt not self-publish anything), I would suggest talking to a lawyer about challenging it or having the court narrow it. Alternatively, (after legal advice) the author could just ignore the clause as long as she does not self-publish the same book(s) that was specified in the publishing contract.