We already have to pay for a streaming service no one wants if we want to see the show and now the novel is $11.00 for the paperback and even more ($11.99) for the Kindle version? Trek has been fallow for a long time on TV. This is not the way to encourage people to come back or become new fans.
It kind of feels like Trek fans get gouged.
- Thread starter Quimby
- Start date
Prices go up. It's the way of the world, though I've never really understood why. Really, it's amazing that mass-market paperbacks have stayed at $7.99 for as long as they have, more than a dozen years now. A dozen years before that, they were $4.99, and a dozen years before that, they were maybe $2.50. So that's one period of a dozen years in which prices doubled, another period of a dozen years in which they went up 60%, and then another period of a dozen years in which they remained absolutely constant. That really is remarkable. So, yes, we should count ourselves lucky that book prices haven't gone up more.
Except that Desperate Hours is not a mass market paperback. It's a larger-format trade paperback, a prestige format, and it is officially being published by S&S's Gallery Books imprint. It is meant to be something special, to kick off the new series' tie-ins in style. It is not intended to represent the new status quo in Star Trek book pricing.
Yes, of course, I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. What I meant to imply was that, if all book prices had continued to increase over the past dozen years the way they used to in previous decades, then not only would MMPBs cost a lot more than $7.99, but trade paperbacks like yours would cost a lot more than $11. That part was clear to me in my head, but I forgot to include it in my words.
The first paperback I bought as a kid in the early 70's was 50 cents!
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Amaris
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384 pages is a nicely sized novel. $11 seems just fine for that. I do agree that Amazon often prices their Kindle ebooks quite high, but that said, $12 is still within reason for a brand new novel.
Controlled inflation? Since that's what fuels growth in most economies?
I do think the OP does have a point about quite a fair amount of ST merchandise, which I've seen as phenomenally overpriced on occasion, even if his current examples don't quite fit as clear examples. Home video is one example where ST has been puzzling as greatly higher priced than the average cost of a season of a TV series on DVD or Blu Ray. ISTR seeing those sets first coming out and being priced in the $100 range, and immediately shrugging my shoulders and turning to something else. I may be remembering incorrectly, but the price was high. And I love ST, and ultimately did end up purchasing those same sets a year or two later when they came down in price significantly. And because I was a fan, I was still paying more for a season's worth of ST, but those original prices were outrageous. The later cut rate was overpriced, but at least it wasn't ridiculous. ST is a worthwhile show, but the company that owned it and made it available on video was terribly unkind in trying to takes fans for that much of a financial hit. I kind of get what the OP is saying, is does sometimes feel like exploitation of ST is egregiously cruel, financially. At least the books are priced reasonably, IMO, basically like non-Trek books.
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Amaris
Guest
No, you're right. I remember it being as high as $139 per season of TNG. I waited years until I could buy them used for about $25 a season.
Trek books aren't half as bad as Star Wars books price-wise. Most trek books are released MMPBs; a few are TBPs. Most Star Wars books get released as hard covers which are obscenely expensive, and the MMPB version comes out 10-12 months later, if at all. I'd say Star Wars fans are the ones really getting gouged.
My perpetual rant against eBook prices, but this one is even worse. I hate when they are the same price, because there's no printing, no shipping, no storage, etc. to factor in. Maybe all that is pennies on the dollar, but it IS cheaper to put out the eBook than the the physical edition.
What's the rationale behind the eBook costing MORE than the physical version?
What's the rationale behind the eBook costing MORE than the physical version?
IIRC, $11 is the Amazon price. The MSRP for the book is $16.
What's the rationale behind the eBook costing MORE than the physical version?
It doesn't really. The list price for the trade paperback is actually $16; Amazon has it marked down to $11. The eBook is being sold at its full price of $11.99. So the eBook actually costs 3/4 as much as the TPB, all else being equal.
$11 is actually extremely reasonable for a book.... It's easy to find books that cost upwards of $35. Trek books are a bargain.
My perpetual rant against eBook prices, but this one is even worse. I hate when they are the same price, because there's no printing, no shipping, no storage, etc. to factor in. Maybe all that is pennies on the dollar, but it IS cheaper to put out the eBook than the the physical edition.
What's the rationale behind the eBook costing MORE than the physical version?
Have you seen what rent costs are like in NYC? S&S gotta keep the lights on and their execs in their swanky offices. Overcharging for ebooks is one way to do that.
If you want to see price gouging...check out the "official star trek convention"
The one in New Jersey costs over $800 if you want a front row seat.
The one in New Jersey costs over $800 if you want a front row seat.
A good example of how Paramount would like Trek to be mainstream but really accepts and adapts to that it's a niche product (and prefers it be dependable niche than riskily mainstream).
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