Got a flashback there to a previous lifetime. I started off on the Simon&Schuster Trek forum, but remember the PsiPhi board being the "cooler" one. And then after a time I recall it being replaced by a new "cooler" forum at something called TrekBBS.
Fine, I'll be that guy. I know everything's in flux and there are shortages and no one knows anything, but it sure would be nice to hear any kind of announcements about any new projects. Even if it's a way off it helps maintain interest and excitement.
I quite agree. I would welcome even a brief statement that some novels are under contract or being negotiated, or I would happily accept cryptic hints that something cool is going to happen in Harm's Way or The High Country. I don't expect a return to the heyday of the 1990's, when we had two concurrent Trek shows, the occasional movie, and two books a month, but this seems SUPER light when there are five or more Trek shows in active development.
I just want Star Trek books to be out in stores again..But I sure have missed not having new Star Trek books coming out earlier this year.
Well, the mass market paperback market has collapsed, and one trade paperback a month is more that Gallery/S&S seems willing or able to support.
Also we ARE still in the grips of a global pandemic and dealing with production issues on pretty much every link in the chain. Delays are inevitable.
It has? And nobody told me? Your post prompted me to do a little quick digging. And... yikes, you're not wrong. According to Publishers Weekly, unit sales of MMPBs were down 31.5% in 2021 compared to 2017. And yet, at the same time, market research by HarperCollins "found that 74% of print book buyers prefer mass market and that it’s the cornerstone of any retailers’ book offering." So I'm not sure how to square those two data points!... Me, I must be an anomaly of some kind. I buy a lot of books... but I purchase almost all of them used, or at least remaindered. I almost never buy one new at retail price, in any format (MMPB, trade, or hardcover), unless it's as a gift. Book prices have been absurd for years. IMHO paying them is just as indulgent (albeit at a different scale, of course) as buying a brand-new car for MSRP.
Just because buyers prefer MMPB doesn't mean it's available - for many books, the choice nowadays is TPB or nothing. Also, that's 74% of print book buyers, not 74% of book buyers. So it doesn't take into account those who prefer digital or audio. And thus your purchases aren't going to show up in any of those sales numbers. Secondhand book sales are irrelevant to publishers.
These days MMPBs are only available as reprints of hardcovers by bestselling authors, and even then they usually have a TPB reprint that comes first.
The MMPB is the format you’re most likely to find in grocery stores, and I suspect the large number of shoppers there plays into whatever polling Harper did. But those outlets aren’t dependent on books or making much money from them — just as newsstands weren’t making much on comic books. The comic shop Direct Market solved the profitability problem and saved the business in the 1970s and 1980s, and I believe the shift in prose formats to more profitable packages is part of what it’s taken for the bookstores to make it. The best thing lately is that bookstores are increasingly getting by on the books themselves — by contrast with how it was a decade ago. (Borders near the end was awash in merchandise.) I’m actually seeing merch racks going out of Barnes and Nobles and more books coming in.
There was a craze here in late-1990s / early-2000s for books shops to have coffee shops within them, presumably to increase sales / revenue. Although it did get to the point where it felt like it was a bookshop within coffee shop as the coffee area increased. Though nowadays most have removed the coffee area.
Btw, this was announced yesterday at Star Trek Day https://intl.startrek.com/news/scripted-podcast-khan-ceti-alpha-v-announce-and-pod-directive-renewal Nicholas Meyer surprised the audience at Star Trek Day with the announcement of Star Trek: Khan: Ceti Alpha V. The scripted podcast will examine what happened in the years after Captain Kirk left Khan on the untamed world of Ceti Alpha V and tells the story of Khan and his followers prior to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. “Nick made the definitive Trek movie when he made Wrath, and we’ve all been standing in its shadow since,” said Alex Kurtzman. “Forty years have offered him a lot of perspective on these extraordinary characters and the way they’ve impacted generations of fans. Now he’s come up with something as surprising, gripping and emotional as the original, and it’s a real honor to be able to let him tell the next chapter in this story exactly the way he wants to.” This original story hails from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan writer and director Nicholas Meyer. Alex Kurtzman, Aaron Baiers, Trevor Roth and Rod Roddenberry will serve as executive producers on this project as well. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and was recently back in theatres as part of the TCM Big Screen Classic series, in partnership with Paramount Home Entertainment and Fathom Events.
This just popped up: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WNFVSH2/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0