PA contract expiring

[mjhmurphy]

My PA contract expires next year. I think I've read that PA authors must send a termination letter of some kind or they'll automatically renew the contract for seven years.

I haven't found anything in the contract that would make me think this is true, at least in my case.

Do I still need to send them a letter? It doesn't make sense to me, but if it stops them from renewing my contract against my wishes and prevents the long drive from Missouri to Maryland that would certainly follow then I'll do it.

[Komnena]

It's PA. It doesn't have to make sense. They hold contracts out of spite. Were it me, I'd pm Dave Kuzminski and James Macdonald for advice.

[kaitie]

You can also paste the part of your contract in here that deals with renewals. Part of the problem is that different people have different clauses, so it might be that yours is different than someone else's. You can also attempt to get out of your contract early (though success is kind of arbitrary). I'm sure someone smarter than me will come along shortly and give you better details on how to go about doing that. :)

[Little1]

As it is only a year I would not try to get out of the current contract. I would send them a letter (registered of course so you know they got it) stating that you DO NOT want to renue. What could sending a letter hurt?... Well they do like to send snarky letters back..

[James D. Macdonald]

Check your contract.

Here is the relevant clause from the PA contract that PublishAmerica offered for Atlanta Nights (http://critters.critique.org/sting/):


1. The Author grants and assigns to the Publisher during a period of seven years from the date of the
signing of this agreement by both parties thereto the exclusive right to produce, publish, sell or
export, or cause to be produced, published, sold or exported, the above work in book form in any
language or languages, in the United States of America, its Dependencies, and in Canada; and the
exclusive right to arrange for the publication of the above work in book form in all foreign countries,
and/or to export copies to these territories and countries. The Author and the Publisher agree that
this agreement is renewable upon the date of its expiration during an additional and successive
period of seven years, on the same terms and conditions as specified herinafter, provided that both
parties to this agreement shall mutually ratify such renewal in writing at least three months prior to
the date of expiration as hereabove set forth.

The way I read that, unless you agree in writing to have your contract renewed three months or more before it expires, then it will expire without any further action on your part.

BE AWARE THAT THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE PA CONTRACT. Yours may say something entirely different.

To be safe, I'd send a written notice at least three months prior to expiration saying that you do not wish your contract to be renewed.

I am not a lawyer. For real legal advice, talk to a real lawyer.