Next Picard novel: Second Self by Una McCormack, coming April 2022

[Stevil2001]

Pocket [...] were up to 24 per year during Voyager's run. They didn't start to decrease their output again until after Enterprise ended.

Thinking back on this twenty years on, it seems insane! Who puts out so many books in a line in 2022? And somehow I kept up with them!

That's a bit of a story. When Doctor Who returned to TV, they had to stop publishing novels based on the Classic Doctors at request of then showrunner Russell T Davies and focus strictly on tie-ins for the current Doctor. Over the years, tie-ins for the incumbent Doctors have become increasingly fleeting due to successive showrunners Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall not being particularly enamored with the novel lines and not signing off on approvals on them as a result.

My understanding (this is based on a fuzzy memory of a DWM article from ~2006) is that it was a financial decision based on how well they sell. Why should BBC Books spend x on a book and make x + y, when they could spend x and make (say) x + 3y, tripling their profit for the same upfront costs? Of course, these days we don't get new series novels, either!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

My understanding (this is based on a fuzzy memory of a DWM article from ~2006) is that it was a financial decision based on how well they sell. Why should BBC Books spend x on a book and make x + y, when they could spend x and make (say) x + 3y, tripling their profit for the same upfront costs?

That's the same reason John Ordover became so trilogy-happy in the late-90s. Trilogies sold 2-3x better than the non-trilogy Star Trek novels.

Of course, these days we don't get new series novels, either!

From what I understand in the book trade, the last batch (which came out with Jodie's first series) did not sell at all. Given when they were released, I doubt that's a reflection on her and probably more to do with the general malaise around Doctor Who. Doctor Who can support tie-ins pitched (and priced) at a niche audience (Big Finish, Candy Jar, Obverse, etc.), but it seems it can't support tie-ins pitched at the mass market.

 

[Ronald Held]

I presume we will not be going back to 12 books a year, in the near future?

 

[Reanok]

One of the authors Either Dayton Ward or Greg Cox mentioned it will only be 6 books this year.

 

[ATimson]

And somehow I kept up with them!

Easier to do in high school than once you have a day job and a family.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Easier to do in high school than once you have a day job and a family.

Also there’s the fact that wages have stagnated and prices have increased over the last twenty years, so the disposable income isn’t there...

 

[The Wormhole]

I presume we will not be going back to 12 books a year, in the near future?

That's a definite no. As we're discussing on this page here, no franchise puts out that many tie-in novels these days.

 

[Avro Arrow]

And somehow I kept up with them!

In addition to the points already made, weren't the books also (generally, on average) shorter when they were doing 24 per year?

 

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, back then I think the books were typically around 270-ish pages back in the 24 a year days, definitely under 300. Since they switched to 12 a year they became 350-400, which is what they still are, typically.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, back then I think the books were typically around 270-ish pages back in the 24 a year days, definitely under 300. Since they switched to 12 a year they became 350-400, which is what they still are, typically.

That's incorrect. The trend toward longer books started years before the annual output was halved. The reason for it, basically, was that when Marco Palmieri took over as editor, he preferred longer books than John Ordover had. Indeed, both before and after the output was halved, Marco's books tended to be longer than the ones edited at the same time by Margaret Clark. As I recall, my novel contracts from Marco generally asked for around 100-120,000 words while my contracts from Margaret tended to ask for around 80-90,000. Although now that we've switched to trade paperbacks, the standard is back up to 100-120K.

I'm pretty sure that Mission: Gamma -- Twilight from 2002, edited by Marco, had a higher word count by itself than the entire DS9: Rebels trilogy from 1999, edited by John Ordover. And those were both from the time when we got 24 books a year.

 

[James Swallow]

That's a definite no. As we're discussing on this page here, no franchise puts out that many tie-in novels these days.

The Warhammer franchise is pretty healthy - releasing at least two books a month at present. Last year was around 30+ novels, reprints, collections and anthologies.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm pretty sure that Mission: Gamma -- Twilight from 2002, edited by Marco, had a higher word count by itself than the entire DS9: Rebels trilogy from 1999, edited by John Ordover.

I'm pretty sure The 34th Rule, published a few months before the Rebels trilogy, had a larger word count than the Rebels trilogy.

 

[Stevil2001]

The Warhammer franchise is pretty healthy - releasing at least two books a month at present. Last year was around 30+ novels, reprints, collections and anthologies.

Wow! Impressive.

 

[Dr Bonezee]

Is there any chance for new Picard Novels?

 

[The Wormhole]

Is there any chance for new Picard Novels?

I doubt it. There really aren't that many novels being released anymore, and based on 2025's lineup, the priority seems to be SNW novels (as its the current TV series) and TOS (the well known bestseller). And although nothing's known about the 2026 lineup, we can expect another SNW novel, maybe another TOS novel given it's the franchise's anniversary* and maybe a tie-in for the Starfleet Academy series.

*It should be noted the TOS novel coming November 2025 has in its blurb that it's the 60th anniversary novel, if that means anything.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I wouldn't say "no." I would say not for a little while at the least, considering that the standard rule of marketing is to tie in to what's in production. That said, I think there can be room on the schedule for more, especially in the event that any further content comes along that makes references to the events/characters of Picard. But, again, the focus is obviously going to be on the shows that have new episodes in production.

It's going to depend on how many slots are open for new novels going forward and how much it's decided by the higher ups that the interest exists to see more.

Don't say no, because this is Star Trek - there are always possibilities. But the focus is going to stay on the tie-ins that are connected to what is in active production.