Are the Voyager novels not as popular?

[zarkon]

TOS books are best books for me anyway, character wise and setting wise.

Hopefully Devil's Bargain is better then Allegiance in Exile though

[Christopher]

Scout101 wrote:

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A big-budget movie featuring Kirk and the gang is coming out in a couple months, why's anyone surprised (or grumbling) that the first half of this year is TOS-heavy? They're not straight-up tie-ins based on the nuTrek vs TOS Trek, but if people are about to go spend money to see Kirk and Spock, kinda a no-brainer to put more TOS products in front of them and ride the free publicity wave...

Actually that's kind of become the normal pattern these days. 2010 had several TOS-era novels in the first half of the year and Typhon Pact toward the end of the year. 2011 was heavy on 24th-century content in the first half and 23rd/22nd-century in the second half. 2012 devoted the first third of the year to the 23rd century and the rest of the year to the 24th. And this year we get a lot of TOS (and Rise of the Federation) in the first half or so, and The Fall in the second half.

So I don't think this is about the movie. This is just the way Pocket's schedule works these days.

[Relayer1]

Whatever the rationale for the release schedule (and I would love it if there were less TOS novels) we have to trust the publishers to maximise income. Without strong sales, there's no future for Treklit...

[JD]

^Exactly. The ratio of 24th/23rd/22nd century stories must be working out pretty well for Pocket, because it's been close to what we got this year for the last 3 or 4 at least.
I know I've been pretty happy with the output for the last few years. Sure some series might get a few more books one year, or one might not get any, but usually the next year the spread ends up more even.
Since 2009 we haven't gone more than 1 year without at least one book or story for each current series.

[ryan123450]

Well I don't read 5 year mission stuff, but I'm satisfied with Pocket releasing only 6 or 7 books I want to read each year from now on instead of them publishing 12 great books a year for like 2 years and then going broke.

[Ktrek]

I know I'm only one reader but I would be happier with the Trek line if Pocket worked on a little more balance every year. Six TOS books this year is just too many in my opinion. A couple TOS books a year I think is good and leaves enough months to do justice to all the other series and even make room for a new original series now that Vanguard is ended. I have been reading and collecting Trek books for over 20 years and in all that time the TOS books are usually the weakest and poorly written stories. I still buy them and I still read them but out of what is over 100 TOS novels ever published only a handful are anywhere near "classic" reads that I would call top tier books in the series.

I have been really pleased with Ms. Beyer's approach to the novel series and think she has done an excellent job but I would like to see more authors produce some VOY material. They don't leave other series to only one author so why should VOY be so restricted? I understand that a new direction had to be taken with the series but now that that has been established there is really no good reason to leave the franchise only in Beyer's hands.

Kevin

[Patrick O'Brien]

JD wrote:

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^Exactly. The ratio of 24th/23rd/22nd century stories must be working out pretty well for Pocket, because it's been close to what we got this year for the last 3 or 4 at least.
I know I've been pretty happy with the output for the last few years. Sure some series might get a few more books one year, or one might not get any, but usually the next year the spread ends up more even.
Since 2009 we haven't gone more than 1 year without at least one book or story for each current series.

Agree. The release schedule feels right to me and no active series is absent from the book stores for too long.

[Christopher]

Ktrek wrote:

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I know I'm only one reader but I would be happier with the Trek line if Pocket worked on a little more balance every year. Six TOS books this year is just too many in my opinion.

Lots of readers evidently disagree, since TOS is the strongest-selling series to this day. It dominates the schedule because it sells well.

[Relayer1]

Christopher wrote:

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Lots of readers evidently disagree, since TOS is the strongest-selling series to this day. It dominates the schedule because it sells well.

And therefore helps keep Treklit viable ! I'd prefer more 24th century novels, but if TOS sells well, so be it.

I would, if it was done so as not to put off casual readers, prefer more interconnectedness in the TOS stuff though. I liked the way it was done in Vanguard. Can we have another TOS era miniseries ?

[ryan123450]

Yeah if TOS was connected in some way to the Lit-verse, I would be all over like any other series.

[Ktrek]

TOS may sell better but that doesn't mean that the TOS books are very good. Popularity by the general public says very little as to what is good and what is not because the general masses settle for mediocre most of the time. I would not be as opposed to TOS books being published if they were well written but sadly, in my opinion, the majority of them come off as no better than throw away pulp fiction of the 1940s variety. Fast reads but easily forgotten. The really well done TOS books are so far and few between it's actually amazing that they sell at all.

Kevin

[Relayer1]

Ktrek wrote:

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TOS may sell better but that doesn't mean that the TOS books are very good. Popularity by the general public says very little as to what is good and what is not because the general masses settle for mediocre most of the time. I would not be as opposed to TOS books being published if they were well written but sadly, in my opinion, the majority of them come off as no better than throw away pulp fiction of the 1940s variety. Fast reads but easily forgotten. The really well done TOS books are so far and few between it's actually amazing that they sell at all.

Kevin

It doesn't matter what you (or I) think about TOS novels - they sell and money talks. Besides which, the people that buy and enjoy them have a right to a say too, and they obviously want them to continue.

As to quality, I've read a few good ones and a lot of poor to average ones. More fool me for buying them all. I've just ordered the next few...

[The Wormhole]

Relayer1 wrote:

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And therefore helps keep Treklit viable ! I'd prefer more 24th century novels, but if TOS sells well, so be it.

I would, if it was done so as not to put off casual readers, prefer more interconnectedness in the TOS stuff though. I liked the way it was done in Vanguard. Can we have another TOS era miniseries ?

Thing is, I think it's because they aren't interconnected that's a big factor in why they're the best selling.

[Christopher]

The Wormhole wrote:

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Thing is, I think it's because they aren't interconnected that's a big factor in why they're the best selling.

Probably. Not everyone's invested enough in Trek Lit to want to follow a whole series. Many readers just want to pick up the occasional standalone adventure that piques their interest.

[Greg Cox]

Christopher wrote:

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Probably. Not everyone's invested enough in Trek Lit to want to follow a whole series. Many readers just want to pick up the occasional standalone adventure that piques their interest.

You also want to be faithful to the original source material.

Presumably, people who pick up a TOS book want it to be like the original TV series--which was not exactly big on "interconnectedness."

In other words, making TOS books more interconnected would make them feel less like the actual show!