I coauthored a book on prostate health back in the 1990s, and would now like to do another. Unfortunately, the “Competing Works” clause in my contract makes that impossible. According to the clause: “No Author shall, without the Publisher’s prior written consent, prepare or assist in the preparation of any other Work on the same subject as the Work that might, in the Publisher’s reasonable judgment, be directly competitive with the Work.”
My prostate book, titled The Healthy Prostate, was published in 1996. Now 15 years old, it’s out of date and no longer selling well. But it’s still in print, which means I can’t write another book on the prostate.
Why is it still in print if it’s selling so few copies? Because today, publishers can keep books in print by making an electronic version available. With the e-version, they don’t have to tie up lots of money in the printing and storing of thousands of copies of the actual book – they just allot a tiny bit of space on their computers and if a few copies are purchased via download, fine.
I called the publisher to ask if they would put the book out of print. This means the rights to the book would revert to me, the Competing Works clause would no longer be applicable, and I could write another book on the subject.
My original editor is long gone, so I spoke to the editor to whom the book had been assigned. She was surprised at my request, saying authors usually asked her to keep their poorly selling books in print longer, not take them out of print. Why did I want mine to go out of print? When I explained why, she promised to raise the issue with her boss at the editorial meeting the following Tuesday.
What happened next is the subject of Part III.
