I'm still not over Pocket missing a huge trick in 2009, not re-releasing stuff like Final Frontier (because George Kirk) and Enterprise: The First Adventure (because this is how they came together the 1st time). It seemed like an obvious thing to do.
From what I’ve been told by some who’ve been in the used book business for years, they’ve never seen the sales as low as they are now. But they’ve also been finding that in general sci-Fi sales are at their lowest ever. Some of them have stopped taking Sci-Fi books altogether.
Wow, that used to be the only thing they wanted. I wonder if it's because scifi fans are more into computers, etc., so a larger percentage switched to e-readers and tablets.
Same. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. @KRAD has pointed out -- not incorrectly -- when this has come up before, often by me, that the economy was melting down at precisely the moment Pocket could have put together a package like that together, and the Crucible collection didn't happen because of that (due to bookstores going super conservative with their orders), but it still feels like a missed opportunity.
I don’t know, however, with all the controversy lately over publishers “updating” the wording in some books (I.e. the Roald Dahl controversy back in February), for some older books, the used physical market might be the only place to find those original “classic” books as the digital files will most likely be the “revised”.
SW has been doing 4-5 books a year for the last few years. But it also has two companies doing the books: - Del Rey handle the "adult" books, quotes as the term doesn't really fit. - LFL Press handle the YA and Junior ranges. Between them, they've put out a good amount of content.
I've noticed eBooks are quietly revised and updated. I haven't seen a change-log accompanying them, but I've been prompted to download the updated version when I pull up an older book, and I've noticed certain typos and minor errors are no longer present when I revisit books later.
kindles, at the very least, allow users to mark errors/typos and they're presumably reviewed somewhere.
I'm not sure what the trends are overseas, but I can say that the U.S. mass-market paperback unit sales count dropped every year from 2013 to 2021, according to what I have seen from Bookscan. Dollars are down more.
Yeah, even with the differences in UK/Euro/NZ/Aus markets compared to the US, even with any upticks, there's no denying that the glory days of MMPBs are past. I wonder if the format will 'level out' and find a niche where it'll hang on, like the way 'digest'-size magazines and comics still have their own place in the publishing ecosystem...
Interesting article. It also has to be troubling to paperback publishers that half of the top ten MMPB (and four of the top five) in the bestsellers list are books that are most likely being assigned to kids to read. Those sales are most likely to be lost when more schools go completely digital.
Seems IDW is adding a "Day of Blood: Shaxs' Best Day" one shot to the crossover series: https://twitter.com/TheTrekCentral/status/1666864627513163788 Edit: “You’ve seen Captains Benjamin Sisko and Worf with their crews of the U.S.S. Theseus and Defiant stop the fascist, god-killing clone Kahless II from declaring war on non-followers across the galaxy in a brutal battle on Qo’noS. But you haven’t seen it from the eyes of the man, the myth, the legend, Lieutenant Junior Grade Shaxs!” The issue is written by Ryan North, who wrote the 2022 Star Trek: Lower Decks miniseries for IDW, with art by Derek Charm, North’s partner on the latter half of Marvel’s Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series. Charm and Robby Cook both provide covers. More info at: https://www.thepopverse.com/star-trek-shaxs-best-day-ryan-north-idw
HURRAY!! Shaxs is one of The Best characters to come out of the latest Treks!! LOTS to explore with him!!
Every time something about Shaxs' Best Day crossed my desk at work the last two weeks -- the solicitation copy, the covers -- I have busted up laughing. I am in. I am so in.
We have a Seven Of Nine flashback Picard Novel in Feb 2024… https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1668046350...efix=star+trek+picard+firewall,aps,204&sr=8-1 Two years after the USS Voyager’s return from the Delta Quadrant, Seven of Nine finds herself rejected for a position in Starfleet…and instead finds a new home with the interstellar rogue law enforcement corps known as the Fenris Rangers. The Rangers seem like an ideal fit for Seven—but to embrace this new destiny, she must leave behind all she’s ever known, and risk losing the most important thing in her life: her friendship with Admiral Kathryn Janeway.
Amazing news! Hopefully this is the start of things getting back on track. And with the subject and author that I’d most love to see!