2019 Releases

[Damian]

Book size has never been a dealbreaker for me because my obsession has been with organizing books chronologically -- either in-universe chronology for the Trek books I count in my personal continuity, or publication order for everything else (well, alphabetically by author and then chronological or publication order within each author's works), or by catalog number when I worked in the university library. So I've mixed and matched books of various sizes all the time; I've never really liked it, but it hasn't outweighed my other ordering priorities. There was a time when I even had Trek comics stuck in chronologically between the books, but I finally gave that up because of the risk that they would sag or bend, even with cardboard backings in the sleeves.

The only drawback I can see to the switch to TPBs is that you'd gain less shelf space by stacking them vertically. But on the other hand, they might be slimmer than MMPBs of the same word count, so you could stack more of them.

Ha-ha, true. I was partly just joking. I'm not really too concerned as all future books will likely be Trades (I think the only exception might be if Pocketbooks ever does a hardcover again--but I keep my Hardcovers together on a separate shelf anyway). So I can continue with my system and it will just be after such and such a book they will all be trades. I think I have enough height on my shelves for Trades so that shouldn't be a problem. It would probably drive me crazy if they mixed it up, a trade, a MMPB, back again--but since they will all be the same it won't be too bad.

I keep mine separated primarily by show (Enterprise, original series, TNG, and so on) and series, like my New Frontier books are all together, or my Vanguard-Seeker novels. And in publication order (though in the early days when Pocketbooks used to do the 'Giant' novels that weren't numbered I keep those separate from the numbered novels).

Where it got a bit dicey was crossover series, like Destiny or the Typhon Pact. I had to decide did I want to keep them with a show, or separate them like I do my New Frontier books. But then because later stories, sometimes series stories, built off those books it would create a problem in the sense that they'd sort of be out of place. What I ultimately decided to do was keep crossovers that take place in the relaunch litverse with TNG. The Deep Space Nine relaunches have stayed with my DS9 collection even though there is some crossover there. And there is less Voyager crossovers so it was easier to just keep those separate. And of course Enterprise is all together (though as I noted that first Romulan War book sticks out like a sore thumb--I have the trade paperback version, I suppose I could have bought the MMPB version that came out later, but my obsessiveness isn't so bad that I'd spend an extra $8 or $9 just to make my collection look prettier).

 

[JJMiller]

I will say you are right about pricing. I bought Discovery: "The Way to the Stars" on Amazon for $11. I thought I just won the lottery . And if someone is patient and hold out a bit, they may find it cheaper later down the road.

That’s entirely the idea. Amazon hates MMPBs because their margin is too low per copy; you never see them discounted by more than 10%. And handling returns is a pain. It is the exact same reason that newsstands lost interest in comic books in the 1970s, and why the Direct Market prospered. More than half the cover price of nonreturnable comics is profit, but since a retailer buys the books outright, he has to know his audience well.

The larger size is also preferable to Barnes and Noble and modern bookstores, which are equal parts showroom and library. You can’t really put a MMPB face out on a stand or shelf and have it catch the eye as you can with a trade.

I can say that I also far prefer trades as an author because, since the books are sold outright to retailers, we get a much better picture of demand. You get to second printings and higher a lot faster. One of my 2012 trades is on its fourteenth printing — which means it’s pretty much certain that most of the other books found homes. A big chunk of any MMPB printing is destroyed, even when it survives to go back to press.

 

[JD]

Ha-ha, true. I was partly just joking. I'm not really too concerned as all future books will likely be Trades (I think the only exception might be if Pocketbooks ever does a hardcover again--but I keep my Hardcovers together on a separate shelf anyway). So I can continue with my system and it will just be after such and such a book they will all be trades. I think I have enough height on my shelves for Trades so that shouldn't be a problem. It would probably drive me crazy if they mixed it up, a trade, a MMPB, back again--but since they will all be the same it won't be too bad.

I keep mine separated primarily by show (Enterprise, original series, TNG, and so on) and series, like my New Frontier books are all together, or my Vanguard-Seeker novels. And in publication order (though in the early days when Pocketbooks used to do the 'Giant' novels that weren't numbered I keep those separate from the numbered novels).

Where it got a bit dicey was crossover series, like Destiny or the Typhon Pact. I had to decide did I want to keep them with a show, or separate them like I do my New Frontier books. But then because later stories, sometimes series stories, built off those books it would create a problem in the sense that they'd sort of be out of place. What I ultimately decided to do was keep crossovers that take place in the relaunch litverse with TNG. The Deep Space Nine relaunches have stayed with my DS9 collection even though there is some crossover there. And there is less Voyager crossovers so it was easier to just keep those separate. And of course Enterprise is all together (though as I noted that first Romulan War book sticks out like a sore thumb--I have the trade paperback version, I suppose I could have bought the MMPB version that came out later, but my obsessiveness isn't so bad that I'd spend an extra $8 or $9 just to make my collection look prettier).

I have mine organized by a mixture of all three, some are by series, like the prerelaunch books, Enterprise, and New Frontier, most of the rest are a combination of release and chronological. It's kind of a mess right around the release of Desting, with all of the series and standalones all kind mixed up by chronological order.
The e-books are apparently going to be cheaper than the TPBs of the new books. All of the currently announced upcoming books are $11 instead of $16 and from what I can tell this is regular price.

 

[Damian]

I have mine organized by a mixture of all three, some are by series, like the prerelaunch books, Enterprise, and New Frontier, most of the rest are a combination of release and chronological. It's kind of a mess right around the release of Desting, with all of the series and standalones all kind mixed up by chronological order.

The Typhon Pact books was the first time I really had to think about where to organize. Destiny, for whatever reason, I automatically put with my TNG books. I guess because it had built off stories from previous TNG books so it seemed a natural fit there, even though it included characters from DS9, Voyager and Enterprise. It felt more naturally like a TNG book. But the Typhon Pact was pretty well mixed up between TNG and DS9. DS9 didn't feel right though because the Typhon Pact built off storylines from Destiny, which I had already put with my TNG books. So I thought about separating them in their own section. But future TNG and DS9 books built off them so that felt wrong too. So I fell back to putting them with my TNG collection, as imperfect as it was because of their ties to Destiny. I also put my DTI books with my TNG collection even though they might be more at home with DS9, mainly because I had already put other 24th century non-aligned novels with TNG. It felt simpler to do it that way than it was to stick them with my DS9 books. The only thing extra I put with my DS9 books were the recent Section 31 novels, because in that case they were mostly focused on DS9 characters.

 

[JD]

The Typhon Pact books was the first time I really had to think about where to organize. Destiny, for whatever reason, I automatically put with my TNG books. I guess because it had built off stories from previous TNG books so it seemed a natural fit there, even though it included characters from DS9, Voyager and Enterprise. It felt more naturally like a TNG book. But the Typhon Pact was pretty well mixed up between TNG and DS9. DS9 didn't feel right though because the Typhon Pact built off storylines from Destiny, which I had already put with my TNG books. So I thought about separating them in their own section. But future TNG and DS9 books built off them so that felt wrong too. So I fell back to putting them with my TNG collection, as imperfect as it was because of their ties to Destiny.

My Typhon Pact books were all e-books, but I still ran into this issue while organizing my Goodreads shelf. Since there is no actual interaction between the characters from the different series and they're all more or less standalone, I just put each one with it's respective series.
I

also put my DTI books with my TNG collection even though they might be more at home with DS9, mainly because I had already put other 24th century non-aligned novels with TNG. It felt simpler to do it that way than it was to stick them with my DS9 books. The only thing extra I put with my DS9 books were the recent Section 31 novels, because in that case they were mostly focused on DS9 characters.

I just have my DTI books off by themselves since it's it's own separate series. I have all of the book only series in their own sections, I have NF after Voy, SCE between the VOY relaunch and the pre-Nemesis movie era TNG books, Vaugard between TOS and the Lost Era, which goes between TOS and TNG, and Titan after the A Time To... books.

 

[Damian]

Since there is no actual interaction between the characters from the different series and they're all more or less standalone, I just put each one with it's respective series

I guess that's true. I never thought of it that way. But I think I'd rather keep my Typhon Pact's all together since they are sort of loosely tied with one another. But I can see how that would work.

I have all my Titan books together. They are on the same bookshelf with my TNG books, but I have them separated in their own section after TNG. I almost forgot about those, since some of the books overlap TNG and Titan. But I put anything without a Titan branding with TNG--with crossovers I'll give more priority to the show series over the novel only series I guess.

 

[Christopher]

The idea behind the original set of Typhon Pact books was to be a set of standalones about the various series' characters dealing with the same astropolitical entity, sort of like how TNG, DS9, and VGR all did stories about the Maquis (and featuring Gul Evek) in the same span of time. Or like the earlier loose thematic crossovers in the novels like Invasion! and Section 31. They were designed to work as parts of their own series first and parts of a crossover second.

 

[Little_kingsfan]

My paper books are separated by series (TOS, TLE, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, SCE, Stargazer, Gorkon/Klingon Empire, DTI, and finally crossovers such as Destiny, A Singular Destiny, Typhon Pact, the Fall, Mirror Universe, and Myriad Universes) and then by either publication date or series date depending on the books themselves (anything with Captain Pike such as The Children of Kings or Burning Dreams is shelved before the five-year mission books); for the most part, all of the TNG-Relaunch and beyond stuff is in both chronological and publication order. Meanwhile, all of my Kindle books (including but not limited to all of my Star Trek books) are organized by author which does sort series like Titan or Vanguard (of which I only have on Kindle) out of order.

 

[Stevil2001]

It's going to mess up my collection I have all these nice MMPB's on my bookshelves (I'm close to having every Star Trek novel produced) and they look all nice and lined up. Because of my obsessiveness I even have them arranged by series and in order (though that is a challenge for crossover series---but I found a system for that as well) and now the bigger trades are going to mess that all up (Discovery wasn't a big deal because they've all been trades and being a different series they are already separated). It's funny in a way because I have them all in my attic and with all the novels I need 4 bookshelves and my attic looks like that scene from the film Fahrenheit 451 where they go to the old ladies attic and she has all her books there.

Ok, I kid a bit. I am obsessive about organizing my books (and movies and CD's for that matter). In fact, it drives me nuts that the first Enterprise: Romulan War book was a trade and the 2nd a MMPB so I have this one big Enterprise book stuck in the middle of a bunch of MMPB's But I'll find a way to make it work, since most or all future novels will be trades (assuming Pocketbooks doesn't do any more hardcovers) it makes it easier because they'll all be the same. After a couple books it will all work out.

My bigger complaint was just the big price jump. Christopher rightly points out the MMPB's were the same price for years, and perhaps had the prices increased on them over the years then it might not be as noticeable. But it's almost a 100% jump in price on Star Trek novels so it's a bit jarring to those of us that buys pretty much every Star Trek book that comes out. It'll take time to get used to it. And the other concern I have sometimes is it makes me wonder if the higher price may impact future books in the other series like DS9, Voyager and Enterprise. Will Pocketbooks decide people may not be willing to pay $16 for one of those books? (Unless they'd be willing to do E-books for those which could potentially be a bit cheaper--and of course there's the other issue if the nu-TNG show makes it impossible to continue the 24th century relaunches this may be moot anyway--at least for DS9 and Voyager).

Now I will say you are right about pricing. I bought Discovery: "The Way to the Stars" on Amazon for $11. I thought I just won the lottery . And if someone is patient and hold out a bit, they may find it cheaper later down the road.

I separate my books out by size because it lets me pack them in more efficiently. So all my Star Trek MMPBs are on one shelf, organized by series (and the publication order within series), and then all my TPBs and HCs are on another shelf, organized alphabetically by title. So the change in format means my MMPB shelf will soon reach its point of maximum expansion, but my TPB shelf will need to expand.

 

[Cloud]

My books are separated out into 2 distinct shelves - read and unread. Then there is a hardcover section for the old TNG books, trade paperback section and a mass paperback section for each shelf. MMPB order is TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, NF, TTN, Vanguard and all the random mini-series/tie ins that exist.

Currently, my unread shelf remains larger mostly because of the number of unread TOS books I have (they are currently double stacked to save room). Although I did make some good headway with the lack of new books recently. Right now, I'm finishing up the recent Titan books. Not sure where I'll move on to next. The next book choice is ALWAYS my favorite part of reading. There's so many great options out there, digging through the shelves is a ton of fun.

 

[Damian]

Just an fyi, 'Available Light' and 'The Captain's Oath' are currently available on Amazon for $11. I just ordered my copies for when they are released. The future books this year are still $16 but keep your eyes open. It seems as the time gets closer they drop the price for a time. But it seems they go back up after they are released.

 

[JoeP]

Just an fyi, 'Available Light' and 'The Captain's Oath' are currently available on Amazon for $11. I just ordered my copies for when they are released. The future books this year are still $16 but keep your eyes open. It seems as the time gets closer they drop the price for a time. But it seems they go back up after they are released.

This is why preordering is the best on Amazon. If you preorder you will get it at the lowest price it reaches before release, even if it goes back up. Currently I've scored all of the future releases, save Enterprise War and Collateral Damage, for around $8.99 on Kindle. We're still a ways out from those two so I'm sure it'll lower at some point before they get released.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Currently I've scored all of the future releases, save Enterprise War and Collateral Damage, for around $8.99 on Kindle. We're still a ways out from those two so I'm sure it'll lower at some point before they get released.

I don’t believe Amazon does price-matching on e-content. If the price is $12 the day you pre-order, you’ll be charged $12 the day it’s released, even if the price dropped to $8 in between.

Which sucks!

 

[Damian]

I don’t believe Amazon does price-matching on e-content. If the price is $12 the day you pre-order, you’ll be charged $12 the day it’s released, even if the price dropped to $8 in between.

Which sucks!

I'm old school. I always get the hardcopy if available. I only get the e-books if it's the only version released.

I'm not sure about e-book pricing, though it does say for the paperback if the price drops between now and delivery date I'll get the lower price. Though I honestly don't expect it to drop below $11

 

[Christopher]

I'm old school. I always get the hardcopy if available. I only get the e-books if it's the only version released.

I can go either way. Just the other night, I decided to request a certain book from the library through their website, and when I saw that I could borrow it electronically as a download, I went that route so I could read it immediately rather than waiting days for it to be shipped to my local branch. Though of course, that's borrowing rather than owning.

 

[ATimson]

I don’t believe Amazon does price-matching on e-content.

Their support pages say they do.

 

[Damian]

I can go either way. Just the other night, I decided to request a certain book from the library through their website, and when I saw that I could borrow it electronically as a download, I went that route so I could read it immediately rather than waiting days for it to be shipped to my local branch. Though of course, that's borrowing rather than owning.

Yeah, I could see it in that situation. It's not that I mind reading from my IPad. It's more when I own it I like to have a hardcopy if possible. That goes for movies and CD's too. I'd much prefer buying a CD for instance as opposed to downloading music (I'm almost embarrassed to say I'm not even all that familiar with downloading music). As a result I have over 200 CDs. Same with DVD's and Blu-Rays (though in that case it's probably wise because from what I'm reading licensing is changing all the time--one day you might find Netflix dropped your favorite TV series---whereas CBS is not coming to confiscate my Voyager DVD's because they say Paramount on them instead of CBS).

Now it's probably different than e-books. Since Pocketbooks is the only publisher in the US for Star Trek books there's probably not much chance of my e-books disappearing from my IPad. I guess if that were ever to change---well I'm not sure. Can my e-books disappear in that case? I'm not sure if it's the same things as movies and shows. But regardless I like the hardcopy more. So like my CD's, DVDs and Blu-Rays--I have 5 bookshelves in my attic full of nothing but Star Trek books (arranged by series and then release dates of course ).

And speaking of books, because I was 3 dollars shy of my free shipping I also bought Mere Anarchy (hardcopy of course :P ). Now that put me well over the $25 but I needed it and they still had copies for sale. My next Star Trek conquest will be the IKS Gorkon series--which somehow I neglected to get, though in that case if I want hardcopies I'll have to go used.

 

[David Weller]

Yeah, I could see it in that situation. It's not that I mind reading from my IPad. It's more when I own it I like to have a hardcopy if possible. That goes for movies and CD's too. I'd much prefer buying a CD for instance as opposed to downloading music (I'm almost embarrassed to say I'm not even all that familiar with downloading music). As a result I have over 200 CDs. Same with DVD's and Blu-Rays (though in that case it's probably wise because from what I'm reading licensing is changing all the time--one day you might find Netflix dropped your favorite TV series---whereas CBS is not coming to confiscate my Voyager DVD's because they say Paramount on them instead of CBS).

Now it's probably different than e-books. Since Pocketbooks is the only publisher in the US for Star Trek books there's probably not much chance of my e-books disappearing from my IPad. I guess if that were ever to change---well I'm not sure. Can my e-books disappear in that case? I'm not sure if it's the same things as movies and shows. But regardless I like the hardcopy more. So like my CD's, DVDs and Blu-Rays--I have 5 bookshelves in my attic full of nothing but Star Trek books (arranged by series and then release dates of course ).

And speaking of books, because I was 3 dollars shy of my free shipping I also bought Mere Anarchy (hardcopy of course :P ). Now that put me well over the $25 but I needed it and they still had copies for sale. My next Star Trek conquest will be the IKS Gorkon series--which somehow I neglected to get, though in that case if I want hardcopies I'll have to go used.

Microsoft's eBook store: When this closes, your books disappear too https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47810367

 

[Christopher]

It's more when I own it I like to have a hardcopy if possible.

Sure, I understand having a preference, but I don't understand being absolute about it, saying "I don't want it at all if it doesn't fit my ideal." I like print books when I can get them, but that doesn't mean I'll refuse to get something as an e-book if that's the more convenient or affordable option. Life is about making compromises. We rarely get exactly what we'd prefer to have, so we have to settle for what we can get.

 

[Damian]

Sure, I understand having a preference, but I don't understand being absolute about it, saying "I don't want it at all if it doesn't fit my ideal." I like print books when I can get them, but that doesn't mean I'll refuse to get something as an e-book if that's the more convenient or affordable option. Life is about making compromises. We rarely get exactly what we'd prefer to have, so we have to settle for what we can get.

No, I get that. It's just that when given an option I'll get the hardcopy. But if a book is only released as e-book I'll still get it. I have several in fact that only came out in e-book, including the Typhon Pact novellas, the DTI novellas, the movie era novellas, among others. And if any future books came out in e-book format only I'd still get those (p.s. I'd love to see Enterprise continued, even if it were just e-books, just sayin ).


Now in Mere Anarchy's case, that was actually released before I had my IPad (I'm a bit behind the times with new tech) and somehow I just never got around to picking it up before. But in that case I got lucky because they've since released a hardcopy version so I can get that now.

Another series I have to pick up sometime is the S.C.E series, now in that case, if I'm not mistaken, those are only in e-book format so I'll get that in e-book format if that's the case.