Sorry if this has already been mentioned...its a pretty long thread and I don't feel like going back to read every post but is Fall Out going to be a Hardcover? It sounds from KRAD's description of it going to contain a whole lot plot...seems like it is going to be a monster book!!! The cover for Greater Than The Sum looks very purdy indeed...
Do you guys know yet if there will be any HCs during those months? For that matter, have there been or will there be this year?
To the authors? Yes. The royalty is higher, and then they get a second bite at the cherry when it goes to MMPB.
Ah... it always seemed to me there was no rhyme or reason as to which books were released as hardcovers and which weren't. I know HC's are obviously more expensive to purchase, so it would seem to me that they would potentially sell in fewer numbers than MMPBs, I would imagine they would also be a more expensive format to produce, so I was curious how the end profits broke down when stacked up against an average MMPB or Trade Paperback at the end of the day. Though it does seem lame and arbitrary to give authors a lower royalty for the simple virtue of their books being printed in a format other than HC. Sure these guys get our reverence but they also need to pay the bills.
You're looking at it in reverse. When the first Pocket hardcover came out ("Spock's World" by Diane Duane), it raised the prestige of Star Trek fiction. It was a huge event! At the time, hardcover science fiction equated with "quality literature". So certain ST manuscripts were then groomed as hardcovers, sort of a reward to bestselling authors for proven service to Star Trek, or good literature in general.
As much as I like hardcovers it is much easier on the pocketbook (no pun intended) to purchase MMPBs. That said I would really love to see a Vanguard hardcover novel and also another DS9 hardcover. I may even be up for a Voyager relaunch as a hardcover. Anyway, I have every hardcover Pocket ever released and I will buy any future releases. My one question is....If KRAD is the most popular author here how come he has not yet been given a hardcover release? Where is Marco when you really need him? Kevin
It's not. Royalties are a percentage of the book's cover price. Paperbacks have lower cover prices than hardcovers. Nothing "arbitrary" about it at all.
Because trends here don't necessarily reflect wider sales/popularity, and because there's more to the decision-making process with regard to hardcovers than just the popularity of the author.
Like KRAD himself says: "Don't mistake a few fans praising on the internet for any kind of trend" Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
True Brendan but from what I can gather KRAD is way more popular that Peter David and yet David has had several HC releases. It makes no sense to me. I vote for KRAD to be the next HC released author and Shatner be damned! Kevin
Just out of curiosity what do you base the statement about KRAD being more popular than Peter David on? Nothing against KRAD (he is one of my favorite authors in any and every genre), but Peter David has had several books on the New York Times Bestsellers List, and - as sad as it may be - KRAD hasn't.
Because being the most popular author here is rather like being the most popular person on the floor of your apartment building. It's nice, but it doesn't really mean much outside your apartment building. I do appreciate the kudos from folks hereabouts, truly, but it's a drop in the proverbial bucket. Peter has more hardcover releases because a) he's been doing this a lot longer than I have, b) has built (and, honestly, earned) a huge fan base while doing so, and c) has appeared on the New York Times best-seller list more than once, something I've never managed. And since Pocket is cutting back on their hardcover releases, the likelihood that my next hardcover will be a Trek novel is slim.
Hilarious! In earlier times, I could see the final book of "A Time..." deserving of a hardcover, but many people seemed really annoyed by "NF: Excalibur: Restoration" and "Gateways: What Lay Beyond" finishing up MMPB mini-series with hardcover finales.
I had no doubt that there was some rationale in place, but my comment was solely in reference to Therin's statement that HC authors receive higher royalties, the criterion for that division wasn't readily apparent to me. I made no claim that there was no reason to the system, only that it was not obvious to me. Even now, the selection process for which books are produced in hardcover, thereby providing the author the opportunity for greater royalty earnings, are unclear and seemingly arbitrary to me.
I seem to recall John Ordover saying that not only was the cover price being percentaged higher, but that the percentage itself was slightly higher than for MMPB, too.