From what I gather, e-books are a pretty major part of the market now. I think that part of the reason mass-market paperbacks are a dying format is that e-books have pretty much taken their place.
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- Thread starter Jarrod
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Another, more blasty-from-the-pasty idea is to bring back the anthologies and novella collections, packing multiple shorter installments from the Cinderella series into one book ("Tales From the 24th Century," with a DS9, VOY, and novel-original story in each book, for instance. Maybe RotF, Seekers, and a Kelvin series (the ship, not the timeline) for a 22nd/23rd century equivalent). If they're being published as trades anyway, after all...
On the other hand, I assume there's a business reason the novella and short story anthologies stopped, and it wasn't just a whim.
On the other hand, I assume there's a business reason the novella and short story anthologies stopped, and it wasn't just a whim.
Yeah, my impression is they're more work but often not as profitable as novels. Was Shattered Light the last one?
What would be nice and (presumably) cheap are print collections of the e-novellas. There's the eight Corps of Engineers books, Slings and Arrows, and the various e-books that have followed The Struggle Within.
M
marlboro
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I've mentioned this before, but I'd love to see a "Neapolitan ice cream" style approach used for novella collections, where the most popular series are paired with two of the lesser known ones. I think that there are a lot of great series out there that some people skipped over just because they didn't see Spock or Picard on the cover. This way you would get the sales from having Kirk on the cover while also promoting lesser known series in the hopes of stirring up enough interest that they can get their own full length novels in the future.
As for the editing taking more time: I can see how an anthology would be a pain in the ass (especially SNW) but I can't imagine a collection of three novellas would be that much more difficult than a novel. Particularly when you have a stable of writers as experienced in TrekLit as the current guys.
As for the editing taking more time: I can see how an anthology would be a pain in the ass (especially SNW) but I can't imagine a collection of three novellas would be that much more difficult than a novel. Particularly when you have a stable of writers as experienced in TrekLit as the current guys.
I'm pretty sure we'll probably be getting more novels than the ones that have been announced so far. With the last couple announcements we now have a book everything month from April through August, and I'm thinking if that was all we were going to get they would have spread them out a bit more.
I still don't see any reason to think we've seen the end of the DS9, Voy, and Ent books. If they could continue to sustain themselves this long after the TV series ended, I don't see any reason to think they'd stop now. Even when we do get books for all of the new series, as long as we don't end up with more than 12 series altogether there is still a chance we could just get one book in each series a year. Even if we do end up with 13 or more series altogether, one or two series could just take a year off, and then just rotate back around the year after that. I'm going to continue to be optimistic until we actually hear something from Pocket or one of the writers.If you suggest it I'll back you up
Seriously though, I do think there'd be enough of a market for that, and the pricing seems a bit more flexible on e-books, I guess depending on the size and I suppose other factors.
It was interesting what they did with the last New Frontier story "The Return". Basically if you take the 3 parts you have a full size novel (or close to full size). They could do something like that with other series too. Take a full size Enterprise novel and break it up in 2 or 3 parts---or I guess there's nothing really stopping them from 1 full size E-book as well. I guess it all depends on what you guys and the publisher/editors would want to achieve.
I mean, I'm actually surprised they haven't planned any E-books in the near future. It seemed for a while E-books was becoming the new thing but it seems to have dissipated a bit. I don't read other fiction all that much, are E-books still the future, or has it shifted back to print?
Actually there’s a gap month in there. July I think.
Oops,I just checked Memory Alpha, and you're right, but the gap month is June, July is The Enterprise War. But I would still think they would have spread them out more across the year, rather than one big bunch right in the middle of the year, if they are all we're getting.
I just realized something interesting (sorry if others picked up on it and I missed it).
But Christopher Bennett wrote the last original series novel before the exile (The Face of the Unknown) and he will have the first original series novel after the exile (The Captain's Oath). Now partly that is because Greg Cox's novel (The Antares Maelstrom) was pushed back, but still.
And Dayton Ward had the last TNG novel (Hearts and Minds) before the exile and he will have the first TNG novel after (Available Light).
A nice bit of symmetry
But Christopher Bennett wrote the last original series novel before the exile (The Face of the Unknown) and he will have the first original series novel after the exile (The Captain's Oath). Now partly that is because Greg Cox's novel (The Antares Maelstrom) was pushed back, but still.
And Dayton Ward had the last TNG novel (Hearts and Minds) before the exile and he will have the first TNG novel after (Available Light).
A nice bit of symmetry
There’s also Kirsten Beyer’s Voyager “To Lose The Earth” that might pop up as well, depending on when she finishes it.
Ha-ha, you forgot KRAD as well. As much as I'd love to see that myself, it appears the chances of that are slim (though never say never...). I remember several years ago reading that Peter David had noted he was not getting any calls from Pocketbooks after his last contract ended (though he has since written "The Returned", though I'm guessing that was a one off thing). I think KRAD mentioned something similar along those lines a little while back. A shame because if I read their comments correctly it sounds like they'd both like to write another Star Trek novel again someday.
Peter David does have a new Trek comic that just came out Wednesday.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: IDW 20/20
Star Trek: The Next Generation: IDW 20/20
Trade paperbacks are what many publishers are going to, because unlike with mass-market paperbacks, booksellers buy them outright and can discount them as they please. Which is possible, because the stores’ own discounts on trade paperbacks are much better than for mass-market paperbacks, which are returnable and which the profit margins are terrible for.
The disposable mass-market book was for an age of newsstands, when publishers would print far more copies than they ever hoped to sell; Waldenbooks was really the last chain that tried to make a go of them. Trades result in much less waste (print runs are smaller, and unsold books aren’t destroyed) — but they do cost more, to price in the added discount and higher-quality paper.
An alternative some publishers do these days is the “tall boy” paperbacks you see in grocery stores — these are regular paperbacks, about an inch taller. I’ve had both published, and generally prefer the trade paperbacks.
The disposable mass-market book was for an age of newsstands, when publishers would print far more copies than they ever hoped to sell; Waldenbooks was really the last chain that tried to make a go of them. Trades result in much less waste (print runs are smaller, and unsold books aren’t destroyed) — but they do cost more, to price in the added discount and higher-quality paper.
An alternative some publishers do these days is the “tall boy” paperbacks you see in grocery stores — these are regular paperbacks, about an inch taller. I’ve had both published, and generally prefer the trade paperbacks.
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.
It's going to mess up my collection
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.
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