What happens when a Trek book is sold out and out of print?

[Greg Cox]

CNash wrote:

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How do our authors feel about buying from second-hand booksellers (on eBay etc.) while their novels are still in print? I'm in the computer games industry, and there's a growing movement to demonise second-hand game sales, as the developers don't get any money for them and the consumer still gets the same experience as if they'd bought the game new. I'm curious as to whether the publishing world has the same concerns.

I admit I cringe a bit when I see used copies on sale at amazon practically the moment a new book sees print, but I've spent too much time rummaging through used bookstores myself to get too worked up about it, which would be horribly hypocritical on my part. And I have many fond memories of scouring through boxes of used paperbacks at some convention dealer room looking for a bargain.

The way I see it, I got paid the first time the book sold, so what happens after that is none of my business (as long as somebody doesn't post the entire text on the internet, of course). It's like a library sale. I got paid when the library bought the book, but I don't expect to get paid every time somebody checks it out.

Beyond that, there's always the hope that you'll find new readers that way. Maybe somebody will pick up a dog-eared old STAR TREK novel at a yard sale, fall in love with it, and decide to swing by the STAR TREK shelf the next time they're at a bookstore . . . .

At least that's how it's supposed to work.

[Astraea]

JD wrote:

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One of the advantages of going over to E-books is that pretty much every Pocket Trek book is available in that format. Of all of the Trek books Pocket has published, I've only come across two or three that aren't available as E-books.

^This is very true (although I don't think that the older children's/YA novels have been released in e-Book format.) The main disadvantage to some of the e-Books is that there's something wrong with the formatting. I just got a NOOK and have been re-buying copies of my favorite Trek books in NOOK form, but some of the older books have issues with not having any quotation marks or apostrophes. Two of the older TNG novels I've purchased so far have had that problem, while others have had more minor but slightly annoying issues, like randomly hyphenating a character name or having a font that doesn't take well to being altered. So if you do buy e-Books, download the preview first to see if it's okay, and if you can live with an imperfect version if it's not. Thus far, the newer books like Destiny or The Eternal Tide seem to be better about it, but it's probably best to check.

Also, this is a slightly OT question, but does anyone know why the eBook prices vary so much? It makes sense to me that newer books are generally more expensive, but some of the numbered books will bounce between $5.99-$8.99. (It was really odd to me that the e-Book versions of some early numbered novels are more than the giant novels.)

Anyway, Destiny is terrific and definitely worth the price, whether you're getting it as an eBook, used book, or omnibus.

[Patrick O'Brien]

Greg Cox wrote:

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Beyond that, there's always the hope that you'll find new readers that way. Maybe somebody will pick up a dog-eared old STAR TREK novel at a yard sale, fall in love with it, and decide to swing by the STAR TREK shelf the next time they're at a bookstore . . . .

At least that's how it's supposed to work.

It still works Greg, that's how I got started

[Therin of Andor]

Greg Cox wrote:

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I got paid when the library bought the book, but I don't expect to get paid every time somebody checks it out.

In Australia, my friend Libby Gleeson led a campaign that resulted in the successful Public & Educational Lending Rights schemes:

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s317429.htm

http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/c..._right_73.html

[Therin of Andor]

Astraea wrote:

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Also, this is a slightly OT question, but does anyone know why the eBook prices vary so much? ... (It was really odd to me that the e-Book versions of some early numbered novels are more than the giant novels.)

IIRC, some of the electronic files of older Pocket novels were damaged/lost/incompatible with modern eBook-formatting programs, requiring the novels to be re-typeset. Different authors used different word processing files. A similar incompatibility results in some files losing quotation marks, etc., in the conversion process. There is usually insufficient $$$ left in the eBook publishing budget to employ a new round of tight line-editing.

[tomswift2002]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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IIRC, some of the electronic files of older Pocket novels were damaged/lost/incompatible with modern eBook-formatting programs

Not too mention that a lot of those early books (like Star Trek The Motion Picture & The Entropy Effect and even the original version of Probe as per Voyages of the Imagination) were written on typewriter, and as such there would probably be no original digital file of the manuscript, and if they put it out in ebook, someone would have to re-type or scan in the whole book.

I've got the ebook version of The Hardy Boys Casefiles #89 Darkness Falls and it looks like someone just ripped apart a printed copy and scanned in each and every page into Adobe and just created a PDF of the book that way.

But getting back to the original post, I think the original three books of the Destiny trilogy will probably fall into the out-of-print listings as the remaining stock runs out, and Simon & Schuster probably won't authorize any more printings since they have the omnibus edition out and that will be the "Destiny" book.

[Therin of Andor]

tomswift2002 wrote:

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Not too mention that a lot of those early books (like Star Trek The Motion Picture & The Entropy Effect and even the original version of Probe as per Voyages of the Imagination) were written on typewriter, and as such there would probably be no original digital file of the manuscript

Sure, but then the typed manuscripts were placed in some kind of electronic form for publishing in book form. For a time, the programs used were not compatible for economical eBook conversion.

[Christopher]

^No, back at the time of TMP and The Entropy Effect, I don't think typesetting was done with computers yet.

[Therin of Andor]

Christopher wrote:

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^No, back at the time of TMP and The Entropy Effect, I don't think typesetting was done with computers yet.

I had the college yearbook I edited in October 1979 professionally typeset. It produced a long length of hole-punched tape, which was then converted into typeface on photosensitive paper.

[Greg Cox]

Christopher wrote:

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^No, back at the time of TMP and The Entropy Effect, I don't think typesetting was done with computers yet.

Yeah, never underestimate how slow and creaky publishing was when it came to embracing computers. As I mentioned in another thread last week, when I first started working in publishing, around 1987, all the editors and assistants were still using typewriters in the office. There was one computer in the editorial department and it was stuck in a storage closet because nobody knew how to use it. And cover mechanicals were still made using Exacto knives and glue . . . .

Remember, you're talking book people here, not high-tech early adopters . . . .

[TenLubak]

Dream wrote:

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Pocket collected the three books into one novel?! Thanks for telling me this! I just put the omnibus on my Wish List.

This is actually nice. Don't need another three small books on the shelf when it can be combined. I'll make sure to check if a trilogy is collected as a single omnibus in the future if one of the segements get sold out.

Amazon is my go to place for books. Whever books get out of print, I become so disappointed.

Yeah but people go out of print to and there is no way I am going to read all the Star Trek books I own currently again before I die, theres just not enough time!

so if one is out of print- get it used
or read another book
or re read one u already own
or do something else