No Escaping the 1 Big Escape Clause

I recently introduced a new feature into my contracts: the escape clause.

It arose because I had a prospect who insisted on it, and because my business advisor recommended it after I told him about this prospect.

But first things first. Escape clauses (sometimes called “out clauses”) let a party leave the contract before the project’s finished with no penalty.

Ghostwriters can benefit from such a clause for the following reasons:

Risk mitigation/protection against unforeseen circumstances. By outlining conditions under which a party can terminate the contract, escape clauses help manage potential risks for both parties involved, especially when dealing with uncertain factors. If these unexpected factors occur that make fulfilling the contract impractical or excessively burdensome, an escape clause allows a party to withdraw without facing legal repercussions.

No one can predict how things will work out. Life happens, and since a book project takes about a year to complete, so many things can happen that can derail the whole endeavor. Better to include outs to avoid lawsuits, bad feelings, and hits to reputations. 

Clarity and transparency. Clearly defined escape clauses promote transparency by outlining the conditions that would allow for termination, reducing potential disputes regarding contract breaches.

I had never had such a clause before this year. It had never crossed my mind that I might need one—until I did.

I had recently had an attorney rewrite the contract, and this prospect was the first to receive this new version. He came back with multiple changes, one of which was the ability to exit the contract if he didn’t like the direction he saw the book taking after I submitted the first quarter of the book.

Related to this was his suggested payment structure. Instead of the monthly payments I usually wrote into contracts, he wanted to backload the payments so he’d pay out only about 29% before seeing the first draft of the first quarter of the book.

I was taken aback. Never had anyone so brazenly thrown contract terms back at me like he had. I told him I wouldn’t accept these terms, and it appeared we were at an impasse.

Then I spoke to my business advisor. He told me he includes an escape clause as a normal course of doing business. When a client is paying tens of thousands of dollars, the client is going to want some protections, he said. This is one of those protections.

But pick a time it can be exercised, and only let it be once, he urged.

He instructed me to go back to the prospect and tell him I had given it a lot of thought and could work with him on the escape clause.

I did, and I added I wanted it understood that if the prospect didn’t exercise his right to exit, he was committed to finishing the project and would be responsible for the entire amount if he exited after that. 

The prospect agreed, and he became a client. 

I realize that right now I am only guaranteed 29% of the full contract from this client, and I will work hard to ensure I’m on the right track so he won’t exit the contract.

Since then, I have offered the escape clause each time. A new prospect became a client at the end of November and chose a specific date to escape or commit.

I guess there’s no escaping escape clauses anymore, and I have my business advisor to thank for that.

I needed to learn another lesson: If you want to be a top ghostwriter in Agoura Hills, What’s better, some money or no money?

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