Where are all the new Trek books?

[Cadet49]

I've noticed in the past couple of years that the section for Trek books in my local bookstores is getting smaller and smaller, and they didn't even order in copies of the latest Next Generation book, Takedown. I've checked numerous stores, and can't find it anywhere, except online...

I remember a time where there were whole shelves filled with Star Trek and Star Wars books. I was wondering why the volume has become so sparce. Is it because:

A) the books are still as popular, but are being sold mainly online now?
B) not enough novels set in the JJ Abrams reboot, beyond comic books? Does this reduced number of novels on shelves reflect less interest in stories set in the original continuity (TOS/TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT/ ST films 1-10)? (Much as I was wondering how the announcement recently by The Star Wars Force Awakens production teams that the Expanded Star Wars Universe of previous years (comics, novels, video games, etc) are now "legends of Star Wars", not part of the same continuity, has impacted book sales in that franchise. The book shelves at my bookstore are still filled with Star Wars books, but many are labelled with the designation, "Legends". Are they still selling as well since the announcement?

C) the publishing company reduced the number being published due to sales changes?

Anyone know why it seems so much harder to find new Trek novels in printed form?

 

[Christopher]

^Mostly A), I gather. Trek readers were early adopters of online purchasing. And readership is probably down somewhat from the peak of Trek's popularity when there were two weekly TV series on the air.

You can ask bookstore employees to order a book for you and call you when it reaches the store.

 

[Greg Cox]

The books are still coming out just as regularly, one per month, but, yeah, it's possible more readers are doing the ebook thing or simply ordering on-line . ..

 

[Kilana2]

Here in Germany the novels have been translated and published by Heyne, a big publisher. At that time there were many novels in the local book stores, even in smaller cities or towns. Several years ago they stopped translating and publishing. English originals could be acquired via Amazon. The a new German publisher (Cross Cult) took over. It is a smal publisher and they struggle with the level of awareness of their products, even though they create new covers for some of the novels.

I didn' t know that there are problems in American book stores regarding the availability of ST novels.
Many fans switched to ebooks. I'm not one of them. And according to Cross Cult's facebook page ebooks polarize: many love them, many hate them.
I don't know if people who love the new ST movies are interested in reading novels at all, except the movie novelizations.

 

[JD]

Several of the books that have come out over the last few years have made it onto the NYT Bestsellers list, so obviously people are still buying them. I'm thinking the lack of books in the stores is probably just because people are buying them online more now. It also could be that the people in charge of deciding what's in the stores think there isn't enough interest in the Prime Universe series, since there aren't anymore shows or movies based on those specific series. I have a feeling if they did a new show or movie with Prime Universe characters, and it was a huge hit, we'd probably be seeing books all over the place.

 

[Greg Cox]

One could also argue that the popularity of the new movies has had a spillover effect, boosting even the old-school Trek novels back onto the bestseller lists . . . .

A rising tide and all that.

 

[Christopher]

^Right. I don't think the casual fans care that much about the distinction between the Prime and Abrams universes. They just want to see adventures of Kirk and Spock and the Enterprise.

 

[Csalem]

Here in Germany the novels have been translated and published by Heyne, a big publisher. At that time there were many novels in the local book stores, even in smaller cities or towns. Several years ago they stopped translating and publishing. English originals could be acquired via Amazon. The a new German publisher (Cross Cult) took over. It is a smal publisher and they struggle with the level of awareness of their products, even though they create new covers for some of the novels.

I didn' t know that there are problems in American book stores regarding the availability of ST novels.
Many fans switched to ebooks. I'm not one of them. And according to Cross Cult's facebook page ebooks polarize: many love them, many hate them.
I don't know if people who love the new ST movies are interested in reading novels at all, except the movie novelizations.

I was impressed a couple of years ago when I was in Germany because the book shops in the railway stations had a very good selection of Trek books. It was better than what we have here in Ireland. Though here it seems to come in waves and troughs. I assume that has to do with the ordering from America and the nature of the shipping.

Personally speaking I have switched to ebooks. I like getting the book on the day it is released and not a month later. Plus it is less weight to carry in my bag. Only downside is I have to pay in sterling as I get it through Amazon UK as there is no Amazon Ireland (although their customer service department is based here).

 

[Kilana2]

I was impressed a couple of years ago when I was in Germany because the book shops in the railway stations had a very good selection of Trek books. It was better than what we have here in Ireland. Though here it seems to come in waves and troughs. I assume that has to do with the ordering from America and the nature of the shipping.

Personally speaking I have switched to ebooks. I like getting the book on the day it is released and not a month later. Plus it is less weight to carry in my bag. Only downside is I have to pay in sterling as I get it through Amazon UK as there is no Amazon Ireland (although their customer service department is based here).

It depends on which railway station you are. Here in my hometown is only one ST book: ST Voyager - Unwürdig (Unworthy).
You can find almost everything Cross Cult has to offer at Leipzig train station. I order English novels via Amazon. Older novels by Pockets or Heyne, too. Some of the older out-of-stock paperbacks are offered at exorbitant prices.

 

[Greg Cox]

I was once thrilled to find Italian editions of my "Q Continuum" books on sale in Rome.

 

[Csalem]

I was impressed a couple of years ago when I was in Germany because the book shops in the railway stations had a very good selection of Trek books. It was better than what we have here in Ireland. Though here it seems to come in waves and troughs. I assume that has to do with the ordering from America and the nature of the shipping.

Personally speaking I have switched to ebooks. I like getting the book on the day it is released and not a month later. Plus it is less weight to carry in my bag. Only downside is I have to pay in sterling as I get it through Amazon UK as there is no Amazon Ireland (although their customer service department is based here).

It depends on which railway station you are. Here in my hometown is only one ST book: ST Voyager - Unwürdig (Unworthy).
You can find almost everything Cross Cult has to offer at Leipzig train station. I order English novels via Amazon. Older novels by Pockets or Heyne, too. Some of the older out-of-stock paperbacks are offered at exorbitant prices.

There were a few stations I was passing through. Trying to remember the year because I seem to visit Germany once a year but cannot at the moment. Maybe 2012. As I like to photograph trains I passed through a few stations and all the book shops had a good selection. It was the chain of shops you find in most stations (Press + Buch?). I remember I went looking for the books to see the nice covers in the flesh and often the books were in a prominent position within the shop.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

My local Barnes & Noble minimized their Trek inventory during the whole Simon & Shuster squabble from a few years ago and Star Trek books haven't regained that lost shelf space since.

Maybe we're still seeing the backlash from that corporate dispute -- on B&N's part by reducing their on-hand inventory of S&S titles chainwide and on the book buying consumer's part by driving them to online sellers.

Speaking for myself, I used to buy my Trek novels from B&N exclusively, but now I pre-order them all from Amazon because of that period of time when my local B&N just did not carry new Trek releases.

 

[tomswift2002]

Another reason a lot of stores and book stores are not carrying as many physical copies is that demand is going to their websites. I just heard a few days ago that, here in Canada, while in-store grocery sales are increasing, in-store sales of non-grocery items is decreasing. But on the upside sales of non-grocery items from online sales is increasing, so the companies are stocking their warehouses with lots of variety for online sales while cutting back on the variety of things you find in store.

I still pick my Trek books up at my local Coles, but I always pre-order the books either from home or through their instore kiosk that's connected to the Chapters-Indigo website.

 

[Ktrek]

I used to buy all my Trek books at my local B&N but it got to be such a hassle. Every release day I would journey out to the store to pick the latest release and it would never be on the shelf. I'd have to hunt down an employee, who would have to hunt down a stocker, who would hunt down the book and sometimes it would take an hour. So, I started buying via Amazon. One because their price is lower, two I'm a Prime member and get free shipping, three they package well and the risk of a damaged copy is low. Fourth, I have an Amazon credit card which earns me 5% back on all Amazon purchases. And lastly I save $5.00 in gas to go to the mall and back. My local store in the 90s used to have full bookshelves full of Trek and now they stock about 15 books total and sometimes even less. I'm not a Kindle owner but I do own a Nook and so B&N does get some online sales from me for the ebook only publications. I just can't go all ebook. I tried once and wound up having to go back and find copies of all the books I missed. I'm just the kind of person who needs something physical to show for my money spent. Fortunately I have room for them. Occasionally I think about just stopping the collecting of the books but then an announcement comes along that makes me excited about the upcoming titles and so I just keep buying them. Probably will as long as they keep making them and the stories are worth reading.

Kevin

 

[vegaslover62]

In my neck of the woods, Barnes & Noble is the only game in town, so I always go in there to reserve the latest novel. Though I wish they weren't such Nazis about pushing rewards membership on me every single time. I tell them(through gritted teeth, every month) that I've done the math and I don't buy enough there in order for the membership to pay for itself.

 

[Starbreaker]

Barnes & Noble is the only bookseller here and they have a whole shelf full of Trek books. The used bookstore has racks on racks on racks. I've been buying strictly e-books for about 7 years now, though.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I've noticed in the past couple of years that the section for Trek books in my local bookstores is getting smaller and smaller, and they didn't even order in copies of the latest Next Generation book, Takedown.

I've spoken to numerous US bookshops during my two recent OS trips and, due to many posts here expressing concern about the books being hard to find, I was surprised to see a considerable representation of new Trek books in most of the US shops I visited. And I took pics! (And posted them here.)

But... Trek fans do need to do their part. If you wander in, look at the shelves, then wander out empty-handed, the bookshop staff has no idea that you are seeking new Trek titles. Each announced book is on their computer ordering systems up to three months before publication. Ask if they have the next three or four titles on order, or place actual orders yourself.

When shops have to place a single pre-order for a customer, they will often add in a few shelf copies. If they order shelf copies that just sit around getting dusty, they stop ordering Trek books.

I have a standing order with my local bookshop here in Sydney, Australia. They put 15-20 copies away for pre-orders every month, depending on whether TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, NF, or whatever. A few times, last-minute pre-orders exhaust supply, and they get a top-up of new titles a few weeks later. (Esp. up till a few years ago when the first batch arrived by air and the rest by sea.) But we have helped to prove there is a demand over several decades, and our loyalty has been rewarded.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I actually have been buying all my Trek books from a local grocery store for the past two years or so. It's been consistently coming out with the latest paperback release, and I think as long as it seems that people are buying them, they'll keep ordering them.

 

[Stephen!]

I remember a time where there were whole shelves filled with Star Trek and Star Wars books.

Maybe it's a "chicken and the egg" type of situation. There's less Star Trek books on the shelves, so less people are buying them. And because less people are buying them, there's less reason to have Star Trek books on the shelves.

 

[Reanok]

My local Barnes& Noble has 2 book shelves full of Star Trek books. They have a lot of other Science fiction and fantasy novels. They have the older Star trek books and the newer Trek books. I bought Dave Galanter's novel Criss of Consciousness it's a great tos novel. I highly recommend it.