[Generic message of doom and gloom regarding the future of Treklit]
2018 Releases
- Thread starter aventinelover
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That's an interesting thought. As the publication of the translations of the Prometheus novels shows, Pocket's license for Star Trek fiction was non-exclusive. This isn't completely unheard of; Disney has licensed Star Wars out to three different comics publishers (Marvel, IDW, Yen Press)
I wonder if that would be counted as part of the expired contract (like the Discovery novels and the forthcoming Voyager novel) due to when it was originally contracted or if it would have to wait for a new contract to be signed.
It doesn't really show that. Pocket's contract would've been an exclusive contract for English novels to be written and published. Whereas the Prometheus novels were originally written and published in German, and the English-translations were a secondary right that Titan picked up, just like they had picked up the UK rights to a number of the Pocket novels back in the 80's and 90's. Now then if Pocket had the exclusive contract for all the languages in the world, then CBS would not have been able to grant CrossCult permission for books to be written in German, otherwise they would've been in breach of contract.
But it could be that other English publishers, like Titan, have expressed interest to CBS in writing and publishing English novels based on Trek, but they have not been able to do anything because Pocket has been the exclusive English publisher since 1979 for all Star Trek fiction.
Two? There's Titan, of course, but who else?
Tor and Del Rey (assuming the Star Wars contract doesn't entangle Del Rey) are both possibilities - they're both SF publishers with other active tie-in lines.
I came here hoping for good news, since Drastic Measures arrived in my mailbox today and I was hoping there was something else to look forward to... Alas, the wait continues.
I have a question. If the worst-case scenario goes down (And it very well may not. I prefer to be an optimist here.) and Pocket loses the Trek license for whatever reason, what happens to the e-books? I've made all my Trek Lit purchases as e-books through Amazon and have put quite a bit of money into it.
Would they still remain mine and be easily accessible? Or would they disappear like tears in rain or farts in the wind or Topher Grace after Spider-Man 3?
Again, I prefer to remain an optimist, but I always like to be prepared for worst-case scenarios too. An ex-boy scout yada yada yada.
Would they still remain mine and be easily accessible? Or would they disappear like tears in rain or farts in the wind or Topher Grace after Spider-Man 3?
Again, I prefer to remain an optimist, but I always like to be prepared for worst-case scenarios too. An ex-boy scout yada yada yada.
[Baseless speculation extrapolated from bits of info I severely misunderstood]
Like I said, the license is about permission to do new books, not about permission to publish old ones. Bantam was able to go on reprinting its Trek novels for decades after Pocket got the license to do new ones. So I wouldn't expect there to be a problem there, if it happened.
Oh, thank God. I know Big Finish is no longer able to sell some of their non-Doctor Who ranges after they lost those licenses (I think Stargate is one of them), so I was worried. It's good to know the Litverse and all the amazing work that you and others have put into it will continue to live on regardless of lost licenses and Trump-induced nuclear holocausts.
^Well, I can't really say for certain that I'm right. Different contracts might have different parameters, and I'm no expert. I'm just saying there's no reason to fear the worst. And speculation about Pocket losing the license is premature anyway. To the best of my knowledge, this is still just a delay.
Believe me, I'm feeling the impact of it far worse than you are, because this is about my income, not just my recreation. But I still know of no evidence to suggest that Pocket could lose the license or that anyone else is competing for it. I don't know what the hell's going on, but I'm not going to fill my void of knowledge with reckless and unsubstantiated speculation. The thing to do when you don't have the facts is to wait for facts, not try to invent your own.
At this point Pocket has lost the license, though. They're trying to get a new one, but they currently don't have a license to produce new material.
No, the license has expired and negotiations are underway for renewal, at last word. The expiration and renewal of the license has happened numerous times before, just more expediently. The only way Pocket would have "lost" the license is if those negotiations had been terminated and someone else had already picked it up. Think of it like fishing -- as long as the fish is still on the line, you haven't lost it, no matter how long it takes to reel it in. (Although it is starting to feel a bit like The Old Man and the Sea at this point.)
No offense, Christopher but your fishing analogy, for the current situation, is poor. It's more like there's a fish (the right to publish Star Trek fiction) out there in the sea, but Pocket's line broke (their license to publish expired) and other people now have a chance to cast their own lines and reel it in (they can make their own pitches to CBS for the license) while Pocket tries to cast another line and reel it in themselves (Pocket continues to negotiate). I think ATimson's read is correct -- Pocket has lost the license, and they are presumably attempting to reacquire it. (We are all sort of assuming that Pocket wants the Star Trek fiction license. Probably a safe assumption, but you never know.)
The mystery at this point, really, is whether or not anyone other than Pocket is negotiating for the license, and Pocket may have had a period of negotiating exclusivity as well, even if the license expired, if that were written into the contract. It's in CBS' fiduciary interest to take other offers for the license (so that their shareholders are getting the best possible value for CBS' properties), which means that re-upping with Pocket is not a foregone conclusion; if, say, Titan makes an offer in which they pay more than Pocket has on offer, CBS will take Titan.
I prefer not to speculate beyond the evidence. The last evidence was a report that the deal was nearly done. Obviously something happened to delay it, but I've heard no evidence that anyone else is competing for the license, merely speculation. Give me facts, not just conjecture, and then we'll have something to talk about. "Data! Data! Data! I can't make bricks without clay."
Yes, it's taking forever, but publishing is a slow business, often quite frustratingly so. I'm used to waiting months for a contract or approval or advance to come through. Right now, I'm in the frustrating situation of having nearly all my writing projects and payments delayed by an inexplicably long time, simultaneously. In a couple of cases, I know they're going to happen, and in another, I know it's likely to happen, but everyone is taking forever to get back to me. So either there's something going on that's delaying the entire publishing industry, or it's just a run of really bad luck. That's why I can't get too nervous about the delay with Pocket -- because it's just one of multiple bizarrely long delays I'm dealing with right now. Any number of things can hang up contracts and approvals and so on in this business. Sometimes the people in charge of approvals only do it at certain times of year, so contracts or manuscripts build up for months until they finally get around to clearing them. Sometimes other matters take priority for them, personally or professionally. Heck, back in 2016, our Trek novel contracts had their approval delayed for months on end, even before the license expired. I suspect it was because the licensing people were focused on Discovery and all the deals they had to make for the new show, so novel approvals had to wait their turn. That was a frustrating delay, but it inoculated me against the current delay. My career has been saddled with delays for the past two years. Almost everything I've done has been absurdly delayed. The only things that have come through promptly have been the rejections. I guess that's why I haven't lost faith that this will work out eventually.
On the other hand, Simon & Schuster is owned by CBS, so that gives them an edge over other publishers. That's why they've held onto the license for 38 years. That, and the fact that Pocket and the CBS licensing people have a long-established relationship. They know and trust each other. So there's more involved here than just numbers.
I'm walking into this conversation late to the show, so forgive me if this question's already been asked and answered previously or in another thread, but...at what point will we see the Voyager title "To Lose The Earth"? I know "Architects Of Infinity" is slated for March 27th or thereabouts, from elsewhere in the forum, but I don't remember hearing anything about a release date for TLTE. I do know KMFB is busy writing for Discovery, but didn't know if TLTE is already in the pipeline.
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