I never said dont try. I just said dont go wasting your time trying to get the mainstream to become insterested, as it wont work and stops you focusing on your core auidence. The mainstream, and by mainstream I mean the general public that the person I originally responded to who was saying nuTrek is aimed at meant, simply wont come to buy Star Trek books regardless of what you do to promote them or where you do it. I just think it's better to focus on the people who actually might do so (which this con might do, I neither know nor particularly care about cons as I never go, it's incidental to the point I was originally making). I had a similar discussion about comics and the fallacy of the digital dream on the scifi/fantasy board the other week. Some things just arent meant for a large, general auidence.
How do you define the "core audience"? Is it only the people already inside the bubble of Treklit? Is it Star Trek fans who read (but may not necessarily read Star Trek books)? Or is it Star Trek fandom as a whole? The first is a small, finite, and dwindling number. (Dwindling because it's always easy for people to stop buying the books; maybe they lose interest, maybe they can't afford them any longer.) The second is larger than the first, perhaps by an order or two of magnitude. The third is much larger than the second by serious degrees. You can draw the Venn diagram here; it looks like the Target logo. Possibly made out of pine cones and in negative colors. The chance of getting someone outside the third to read a Star Trek novel is, I admit, almost infinitesimal. (Though I'm curious to see how well the Nightshade reprint sells this summer, because if any book is going to reach outside the Star Trek bubble, it will be that one.) So do you target the first group -- the people already reading Star Trek novels -- or the second group -- Star Trek fans who read? If you target the first, sales will decline over time through natural attrition. If you target the second, you can capture new readers to replace the extant readers leaving the market. Which group does Pocket target? I would argue that Pocket has decided over the past decade to entrench themselves in the first with books targeted specifically at a narrow pocket (pun unintended) of fandom, those already reading the books, using niche concepts that lack a broader appeal. Pocket's business decisions over the past decade in regard to Star Trek fiction, from abandoning the market prestige of the hardcover format to halving the publishing line to a greater emphasis on trade paperbacks (which have a different economic model than mass-markets and can tolerate lower sales because they have greater margin and profit), all indicate a line in financial decline. It's not inconceivable that Pocket could choose not to renew the Star Trek license when it's up for renewal in the next few years because it no longer makes financial sense to them, even though the financial decline arguably rests on the creative choices made by those overseeing the line. Comics can appeal to a wider audience, but there are structural problems in the comic book market, from the collapse of newsstand distribution to price points that inhibit casual, spur-of-the-moment purchases.
Well, it's not like the mainstream audience and the niche audience live on different planets or something. If you broadcast a message to the general public, it's going to be heard by those members of the niche audience who are also in "earshot" of the message. For instance, a family watching TV may include three people who couldn't care less about a niche product and a fourth who'd be eager to buy it, all in the same room at the same time seeing the same ad for that product or news feature about it. Or a thousand people who drive by a billboard for that niche product may include 985 who have no interest, 10 who'd be curious enough to check it out if they knew about it, and 5 who'd be thrilled to discover its existence. So the absolute distinction you're drawing here between addressing the general audience and addressing the niche audience isn't very realistic. They do overlap.
Whoever Pocket are targeting with the NuTrek books,they had better target them a bit faster.The movie has been out for a long time now(by MTV Gen standards anyway).And the second movie hasn't even begun to get off the ground yet so...
Apparently, a big part of the process is out of Pocket's hands. Otherwise, there'd be four books on the stands right now.
I've been meaning to ask, will the Vanguard Declassified novellas be moving the story forward or will they be flashbacks? Or both? The article made it sound like at least some of them will be flashbacks.
I thought the cover was pretty cool too. Although I keep hoping that we'll get to see more of the non-TV characters on more of the covers.
I read the description for 'Paths of disharmony'. I think it describes half the book (which most likely is as follows): After the borg genocide, with the andorian population at an all times low, a solution to their reproductive problem is reconsidered - the reduction from 4 genders to 2. Of course, this causes social strife in andorian society. Furthermore, the andorian-rest of the federation relations are worsening, what with a third of Andor being vaporised on Starfleet's watch. In these conditions, a summit on Andor is convened, the Enterprise attending. But a surprise guest appears as well - the tholians, who offer the andorians a cure to their reproductive crisis (while keeping their traditional 4 genders). In exchange, the tholians ask the andorians to leave the hippy federation and join the typhon pact, an alliance kindred with the warrior nature of the andorians.
^^ Man, how whiny does that make the Andorians sound? "Wah, you might have faced down the biggest Borg invasion fleet ever seen, you might have saved the galaxy from an event that killed over 60 billion people, you might have even done it in a way that removed the Borg threat forever and kept the Federation alive as a viable entity. But did you do it quick enough stop Andoria getting a few scrathes?? No you did not!"
Six months out from publication. That might be a new record for someone dismissing my work before even bothering to read it.
Didn't sound like he was dismissing it to me. Mis-characterizing? Yes. But he never said he wasn't going to read it...
When did I dismiss it? I have it pre-ordered and am quite looking forward to reading it. I just found the blurb, the line about a third of the population dieing under Star Fleets watch particularly, to make them sound a little whiny. Not a criticism or anything, just an observation.
MNM, There seems to be a misunderstanding. What I posted above is a synthesis based on the latest blurb (at memory alpha), previous blurbs (on this site) and various bits of information, mostly from DS9 Relaunch.
well, that's not how i read what you said. your post makes it sound like you're describing the blurb from the book.
"I read the description for 'Paths of disharmony'. I think it describes half the book (which most likely is as follows)"
Man, that sounds like a really obnoxiously snot-nosed dismissal of a book that won't be out for six months, on the sole basis of an unofficial blurb. Not a criticism or anything. Just an observation.