2018 Releases

[MadeIndescribable]

CBS Licensing or the next license holder could pay S&S not to publish, essentially buying out the remainder of the contract.

But in the long run what would be the problem with this? surely the only reason to do that would be because any new licencee would want the only Trek books published to be their books, thus meaning more they had some big plan or some such for their own Trek books??

 

[Christopher]

surely the only reason to do that would be because any new licencee would want the only Trek books published to be their books, thus meaning more they had some big plan or some such for their own Trek books??

I doubt any publisher would get so up-in-arms about a single leftover book from the previous licensor. Besides, whoever got the license (IF it actually did change publishers, which is still strictly hypothetical) would probably need a couple of years to get new books commissioned, written, edited, and published anyway, and Kirsten's book would probably be out by then.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Pocket still has to bid on the rights, so there's always a chance someone, like Titan, or Tor, could come along with a better bid and get the contract. I'm not sure, Pocket might get some kind of priority, I'm not sure, but I do know that they aren't guaranteed to always get the contract again when it runs out.

I would imagine, but do not know, that S&S's exclusive negotiation period expired at the end of 2017 when their contract expired.

 

[David Weller]

I would imagine, but do not know, that S&S's exclusive negotiation period expired at the end of 2017 when their contract expired.

I would imagine that the licence expired before then.

Remember, it’s a license to commission not publish.

If the license was still in force during 2017 Pocket would have been commissioning novels to be published during 2018.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, the license expired at the end of 2016.

 

[Damian]

Wow, I didn't realize it expired that long ago (I thought it was sometime during 2017).

Now that is a bit concerning. It's been more than a year, close to a year and a half since it expired and there's still no word.

Plus that probably means if a license isn't signed soon, it may very well be late 2019 before we see anything. I would think 2018 is out of the question at this point.

 

[Christopher]

Wow, I didn't realize it expired that long ago (I thought it was sometime during 2017).

Yeah, publishing is a slow business. With major publishers, there tends to be a year and a half to two years between the start of a process and its final impact. Although smaller publishers can get a book out in less than a year, maybe as little as 6 months if things go smoothly. They have fewer books to deal with at any one time, so a single book doesn't have to wait its turn for quite so long.

Now that is a bit concerning. It's been more than a year, close to a year and a half since it expired and there's still no word.

Well, as recently as a few months ago, the word was that renewal was nearly a done deal and it was only a matter of time. That's the strange thing about this. I keep hearing "Don't worry, it's almost renewed," and then nothing happens. It hasn't been lost, as far as I know; it's just stalled somehow.

 

[Damian]

Well, as recently as a few months ago, the word was that renewal was nearly a done deal and it was only a matter of time. That's the strange thing about this. I keep hearing "Don't worry, it's almost renewed," and then nothing happens. It hasn't been lost, as far as I know; it's just stalled somehow.

Right, I forgot sometime last year them mentioning about the whole Abramsverse negotiation. It seemed something was immement, then poof. Nothing since then.

I still say Klingon pain sticks might move things along a little faster

 

[JD]

I figured when they started talking about the new contract allowing stuff from Kelvinverse that the contract was pretty much done, and that we'd start hearing about the next batch of books in a few weeks.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

The next Shore Leave convention is in July. I understand from MA that novels get announced then.

 

[Christopher]

The next Shore Leave convention is in July. I understand from MA that novels get announced then.

Oh, it's been quite some time since that was the case. That was something Marco Palmieri liked to do when he was at Pocket. Now that he's at Tor, we tend to get Shore Leave announcements of Tor's upcoming SF/fantasy books instead. These days, Trek books get announced when they get announced.

 

[Lonemagpie]

That's the strange thing about this. I keep hearing "Don't worry, it's almost renewed," and then nothing happens. It hasn't been lost, as far as I know; it's just stalled somehow.

It's a bedtime story I've heard many times for manybooks and licences.

 

[David Weller]

Now that is a bit concerning. It's been more than a year, close to a year and a half since it expired and there's still no word.

It’s probably been longer than that. I would assume that negotiations would have started sometime during 2016 (or even earlier) so that they could be concluded by the time the license expired and there would be no break in the publication schedule.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Oh, it's been quite some time since that was the case. That was something Marco Palmieri liked to do when he was at Pocket. Now that he's at Tor, we tend to get Shore Leave announcements of Tor's upcoming SF/fantasy books instead. These days, Trek books get announced when they get announced.

2015, which was when TFOTU was announced? Or was that an exception to the new rule?

 

[Christopher]

2015, which was when TFOTU was announced? Or was that an exception to the new rule?

Well, yeah, a couple of times, we've tried to organize a panel to announce new stuff, but it's not some big formal event, and it's often just a summing up of things that have mostly been announced already online. In that case, the timing was right for me to choose to hold off on announcing TFOTU and DTI: Time Lock until then, but that was just the way it happened to work out.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Okay. Thanks for clarifying that.

 

[Greg Cox]

And we didn't even do the Tor Books dog-and-pony show last year since Marco couldn't make it to Shore Leave.

 

[JD]

StarTrek.com has had a few announcements for new books since they stopped the big Shore Leave presentation. Most of the time the books have already been announced in other places first, but there have been a few times where that was the first time I'd seen anything about it.

 

[Christopher]

StarTrek.com has had a few announcements for new books since they stopped the big Shore Leave presentation.

Yeah, come to think of it, I think that's the preferred forum for announcements these days. At least, I recall being advised at least once to hold off on announcing a project until StarTrek.com could do it. (Although it somehow ended up getting unceremoniously revealed elsewhere before then, like on Amazon or something.)

 

[Damian]

StarTrek.com has had a few announcements for new books since they stopped the big Shore Leave presentation. Most of the time the books have already been announced in other places first, but there have been a few times where that was the first time I'd seen anything about it.

They have gotten better. I still go to Memory Alpha though because it's a bit more organized (and it doesn't always seem the official site releases news on books timely). I just do an upcoming projects search there and everything is there by month which is nice. On the official site it's not as orderly.