Can we as an industry get on the same page that competitive works clauses based on ethnicity, culture, or religion of a main character, ESPECIALLY if this reflects that of the creator, is completely unacceptable. I’ve been seeing this proposed a lot lately. Don’t even suggest it.

White authors are NEVER asked to not sell another work with a white or (insert religion) character for a certain amount of time after publishing a book with that element. This is racist.

It also perpetuates the fallacy that race, identity, and culture are tropes, and that there are only so many publishing slots available for them.

Publishers calling these “competitive works” and trying to restrict a diverse creator’s ability to write and sell more is a huge part of the problem. Just stop. These are not competitive works, and to suggest that they are is an insidious problem in our industry.

I want to clarify: The above is one of the most egregious examples of a problematic competitive works clause. What I see much more often is a more vague iteration that doesn't necessarily specify a main character but is equally problematic:

language that tries to restrict the timing or publication of other books by the author about the same cultural experience, activism, joy, or celebration as the book in question. This is not from just one publisher.

This is an industry-wide issue. It's commonly proposed to picture book authors, and is something a good agent always works to narrow or strike for many reasons.

As an industry, we need to consider how marginalized authors are restricted the most by these clauses, in a way that white authors aren't.