2009 Fall Book Preview With Covers

[JWolf]

The thing about TPBs is that bookstores prefer them to mass markets because of the higher price point. It's what they're stocking now. Mass markets are being crowded out on the shelves.

I've been expecting Pocket to transition Star Trek fiction to the trade format for about five years now. The novel anthologies like Mirror Universe and Myriad Universes dipped the toe in the water. Now New Frontier and Enterprise are in trade. I've wondered if Refugees, Alan Dean Foster's new book, might be in trade as well.

If bookstores respond positively to trade format Star Trek fiction, and if audiences support it by buying it, it's not inconceivable that we could see the mass market format phased out in the next few years.

If Trek goes Trade, I hope nobody buys them. I hope they tank. I think TPB are an abomination and should go away forever. All they are is a gimmick to get a higher price for the same book. They take too much shelf space and they feel unnatural to hold. Whoever came up with that really lousy idea should be hung, drawn, and quartered.

 

[Therin of Andor]

3) About 10 bucks cheaper (and with the economy the way it is, saving is everything)

I wonder if it's to late to switch The Romulan War to a MM.

"The Romulan War" was originally announced as a MMPB duology, so it seems to me that the one trade edition is going to be a more economical purchase, and it won't take up two slots in the MMPB release schedule.

I hope they tank. I think TPB are an abomination and should go away forever.

Remind us you said that when you hit 50 and your eyestrain is wishing for bigger size font.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I never really understood why it's a year before it's out in softcover.

One of the ideas with ST hardcovers was to "reward" the authors with a year of higher royalties. If the MMPB came out simultaneously, far fewer hardcovers would be sold, and bookshops would be pressured to stock both editions. You'd end up with people complaining they wanted the hardcover, but only paperbacks were available, and vice versa.

Pretty much any novel that sells well in hardcover will come out in paperback eventually, and it usually takes a year or so. I don't remember thinking in 1988 that Spock's World would be any different.

Well, just recollecting how it happened here. We'd seen something in print about the exclusiveness of that story being in hardcover at the time, and it caused a bit of a frenzy making sure everyone in our club who wanted one was going to be able to secure one.

 

[Marie1]

If Trek goes Trade, I hope nobody buys them. I hope they tank. I think TPB are an abomination and should go away forever. All they are is a gimmick to get a higher price for the same book. They take too much shelf space and they feel unnatural to hold. Whoever came up with that really lousy idea should be hung, drawn, and quartered.

Wow... lol
I'm sure Trek won't go totally trade, and there are always ebooks.
But- there is a richness to bigger books.
And I feel more sophisticated when I have lots of them in my bookshelf.
So, no murdering over it.

In all seriousness, if the word count is high- then I'd rather have a bigger book, then one with tiny font, or so wide that I can't read it without breaking the spine.

And if there is more than 2 stories in it, it's cheaper than buying the novels individually.

 

[Defcon]

I hope they tank. I think TPB are an abomination and should go away forever.

Remind us you said that when you hit 50 and your eyestrain is wishing for bigger size font.

Since he is reading most of his books as eBooks anyway, where you can change the font size yourself (I think), I would say that won't be a problem for him.

 

[Trent Roman]

"The Romulan War" was originally announced as a MMPB duology, so it seems to me that the one trade edition is going to be a more economical purchase, and it won't take up two slots in the MMPB release schedule.

The Romulan War thing was originally announced as a trilogy, if I recall correctly. Whether this upcoming trade will actually have the content of a trilogy, like (for instance) the MyrU books, or whether it will be just a regular book printed in an outsized format like Treason, remains to be seen.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Christopher]

If Trek goes Trade, I hope nobody buys them. I hope they tank.

Oh, that's a nice sentiment to express on a forum frequented by people whose livelihood depends on people buying Trek books! So you want us all to go broke just because you don't like a particular format? How compassionate of you.

And if, as Defcon says, you mostly read eBooks, why should you care whether the hardcopy books are in MMPB or trade?

 

[Stevil2001]

Don't eBook versions of trades cost more than eBook versions of mass markets? That would explain his antipathy-- you don't even get a bigger physical book for your extra money in that case.

 

[Thrawn]

Don't eBook versions of trades cost more than eBook versions of mass markets? That would explain his antipathy-- you don't even get a bigger physical book for your extra money in that case.

Fair enough, but it's all in how you look at it.

I'm ok paying more for better books, and they usually reserve TPBs for big events, and I'm also ok with more than 12 books a year coming out. There are only 12 MMPBs, so more than that has to be trades anyway.

 

[BillJ]

If Trek goes Trade, I hope nobody buys them. I hope they tank.

Oh, that's a nice sentiment to express on a forum frequented by people whose livelihood depends on people buying Trek books! So you want us all to go broke just because you don't like a particular format? How compassionate of you.

And if, as Defcon says, you mostly read eBooks, why should you care whether the hardcopy books are in MMPB or trade?

I know I love paying almost twice as much for what is essentially the same content. Decisions like these are why I went from buying practically everything Pocket publishes with 'Star Trek' on the cover to buying only certain books.

 

[Thrawn]

If Trek goes Trade, I hope nobody buys them. I hope they tank.

Oh, that's a nice sentiment to express on a forum frequented by people whose livelihood depends on people buying Trek books! So you want us all to go broke just because you don't like a particular format? How compassionate of you.

And if, as Defcon says, you mostly read eBooks, why should you care whether the hardcopy books are in MMPB or trade?

I know I love paying almost twice as much for what is essentially the same content. Decisions like these are why I went from buying practically everything Pocket publishes with 'Star Trek' on the cover to buying only certain books.

1) It's NOT the same content. With two exceptions, Treason and Romulan War, every trade so far is a story collection of some kind with a much higher word count than a normal novel.

2) Treason doesn't count either; the previous three NF books were published in hardcover. That makes the trade actually cheaper.

3) Romulan war doesn't count either. It was originally two MMPBs, maybe three. Making the trade, again, actually cheaper.

4) You're really saying that this is annoying you now? In the Ordover years, he routinely divided one story across several MMPB books. THAT was paying twice as much for essentially the same content. Recently, books have been far longer, giving way more content for the same price.

 

[BillJ]

Don't eBook versions of trades cost more than eBook versions of mass markets? That would explain his antipathy-- you don't even get a bigger physical book for your extra money in that case.

Fair enough, but it's all in how you look at it.

I'm ok paying more for better books, and they usually reserve TPBs for big events, and I'm also ok with more than 12 books a year coming out. There are only 12 MMPBs, so more than that has to be trades anyway.

"Gosh, there are only twelve publishing slots! If I want to publish this thirteenth book I'll have to charge the public twice as much.", I call bullshit on this logic.

 

[captcalhoun]

book stores are idiots if they think trades are better. bigger books take up more shelf space, means fewer copies, means fewer sales. even if they do charge more for a TPB. someone could go in looking for Treason and intend to buy something else and not find Treason, then decide buggerit and buy nothing.

 

[Thrawn]

book stores are idiots if they think trades are better. bigger books take up more shelf space, means fewer copies, means fewer sales. even if they do charge more for a TPB. someone could go in looking for Treason and intend to buy something else and not find Treason, then decide buggerit and buy nothing.

Works in theory, but in actuality, trades do make bookstores more money. The shelf visibility is higher, so people are more likely to pull a trade at random to look at, and they get more money per copy sold, enough to compensate for the books taking up more space.

Hardcovers are so much more that people buy them less despite the greater visibility, but trades hit a spot right in the middle that makes bookstores the most.

(Disclaimer: I don't work in a bookstore, and this might be a misinterpretation, but as far as I know that's how it works. I've had this explained to me before, but I might have a couple details wrong.)

 

[Christopher]

book stores are idiots if they think trades are better. bigger books take up more shelf space, means fewer copies, means fewer sales. even if they do charge more for a TPB.

That's not true. They're not just making this up. The reason bookstores prefer trades is because it's already been proven that trades make them more profit. To you, this is merely an abstract matter for conversation and speculation. To them, it's their daily business, and their decisions about it are based on concrete evidence and direct experience.

 

[Trent Roman]

2) Treason doesn't count either; the previous three NF books were published in hardcover. That makes the trade actually cheaper.

The three previous NF books were also reprinted in MMPB. That was cheaper. This isn't.

3) Romulan war doesn't count either. It was originally two MMPBs, maybe three. Making the trade, again, actually cheaper.

As I said, we have no idea what the content size of Romulan War will be, so we can't say yet whether or not it will be a ripoff.

4) You're really saying that this is annoying you now? In the Ordover years, he routinely divided one story across several MMPB books. THAT was paying twice as much for essentially the same content.

Hey, I complained about those too.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Allyn Gibson]

book stores are idiots if they think trades are better. bigger books take up more shelf space, means fewer copies, means fewer sales. even if they do charge more for a TPB. someone could go in looking for Treason and intend to buy something else and not find Treason, then decide buggerit and buy nothing.

Having worked in retail management for most of my adult life, I have some insight on this.

There are two metrics that almost any retail business looks at.

Dollars per hour. Dollars per transaction.

Bookstores like trades over mass-markets because selling a trade is going to mean better stats on both of these. A hardcover is almost never an impulse buy. A mass-market is often an impulse buy. A trade falls somewhere in between.

Yes, some people who would buy a mass-market won't buy the trade. That's basic economics. There's a point where a certain percentage of buyers drop out of the market. So, yes, trades will see lower sales. However, the profit on a trade is higher than the profit on a mass-market. So a publisher can take lower sales, yet make more money on the trade.

Bookstores also know that trades sell less than mass-markets. But because of the higher profit margin, they can sell less, maintain (or increase) their profit, and maintain better numbers on the dollars-per-hour and dollars-per-transaction metrics.

 

[Man of Steel]

Trades Smades. Who cares? Destiny was a trilogy and that sold as a mass market so why should Romulan War be any different?

 

[BillJ]

book stores are idiots if they think trades are better. bigger books take up more shelf space, means fewer copies, means fewer sales. even if they do charge more for a TPB. someone could go in looking for Treason and intend to buy something else and not find Treason, then decide buggerit and buy nothing.

Having worked in retail management for most of my adult life, I have some insight on this.

There are two metrics that almost any retail business looks at.

Dollars per hour. Dollars per transaction.

Bookstores like trades over mass-markets because selling a trade is going to mean better stats on both of these. A hardcover is almost never an impulse buy. A mass-market is often an impulse buy. A trade falls somewhere in between.

Yes, some people who would buy a mass-market won't buy the trade. That's basic economics. There's a point where a certain percentage of buyers drop out of the market. So, yes, trades will see lower sales. However, the profit on a trade is higher than the profit on a mass-market. So a publisher can take lower sales, yet make more money on the trade.

Bookstores also know that trades sell less than mass-markets. But because of the higher profit margin, they can sell less, maintain (or increase) their profit, and maintain better numbers on the dollars-per-hour and dollars-per-transaction metrics.

This all makes sense. But what changes when you're dealing with a very niche product like Star Trek? How many readers can Pocket afford to bleed by making this move before things become unprofitable?

My wife asked me if I wanted New Frontier: Treason last night while we were at the bookstore. My simple answer was, "not at that price" and picked up "The Time Ships" by Stephen Baxter.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

My wife asked me if I wanted New Frontier: Treason last night while we were at the bookstore. My simple answer was, "not at that price" and picked up "The Time Ships" by Stephen Baxter.

The Time Ships? Good choice.

As for how much audience Pocket can afford to bleed if/when they make the jump from mass to trade, only their accountants know for sure.