Are Trek Authors feeling the squeeze of less books?

[Christopher]

^True, but with the proviso that an advance is considered to be an advance on royalties -- you get that much of your (hypothetical) royalties in advance and don't see any more until you've earned more total royalties than the size of the advance. So for tax purposes, it is counted as royalty income.

 

[Jim Johnson]

No doubt a book sells the most copies when it first comes out but how do the sales hold up over time? Do they fall off to nothing after the book comes out or are there more casual fans picking up copies for months, or years, after?

My most recent semi-annual statement from Simon & Schuster showed a handful of copies of Strange New Worlds VII getting sold, ebook versions I believe. That book came out in 2004, so there's a bit of a trickle after the initial release sales. eBooks will no doubt contribute to the longish tail of some publications.

 

[Andy Mangels]

Among other things too unsavory to mention in public, the dearth of slots for new books and changeover in editorship has affected me greatly. But then, so has the economy and other factors.

With the latest rejection from IDW sealing that door, I pretty much expect that my Trek-writing career of 13 years is officially over, except for an article every now and then for the excellent British Star Trek magazine.

But it's been fun while it lasted!

 

[garoo1980]

Sorry to hear that Andy, I've always enjoyed your work. I guess the answer to the original question of "Are Trek Authors feeling the squeeze of less books?" has to be an unfortunate "yes".

Hopefully things turn around and people start having some more money to spend on books. Maybe between an economic rebound and the generally higher profile ST has now the books sales will pick up and they'll increase the number of titles. Maybe still one/month but also some more omnibus' (omnibi?), collections, etc, to keep the authors busy. If the good writers leave the business because of this it will make increasing the number of books later that much harder

 

[JD]

I'm sorry to hear that, I've enjoyed what stuff of yours I've read.

 

[Christopher]

Maybe still one/month but also some more omnibus' (omnibi?)

Omnibuses. In Latin, omnibus is already plural, the dative plural of omnis (i.e. an adjective meaning "of them all"). It's only in English that it's a singular noun, so it's pluralized by English rules.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Among other things too unsavory to mention in public, the dearth of slots for new books and changeover in editorship has affected me greatly. But then, so has the economy and other factors.

With the latest rejection from IDW sealing that door, I pretty much expect that my Trek-writing career of 13 years is officially over, except for an article every now and then for the excellent British Star Trek magazine.

But it's been fun while it lasted!

have they said "don't send us any more pitches", or are you just fed up with the rejections?

You can't get a hit if you don't go to bat...

Hopefully things turn around and people start having some more money to spend on books. Maybe between an economic rebound

Wouldn't hold my breath...just saying...

and the generally higher profile ST has now the books sales will pick up and they'll increase the number of titles.

Has Trek really gotten all that much of a higher profile? Seems to me from what little I've heard that the movie didn't really boost sales in any other Trek division. Can any of the author's comment there? Have books overall in Trek sold more post XI?

 

[Andy Mangels]

have they said "don't send us any more pitches", or are you just fed up with the rejections?

Read the IDW thread if you want to know the unfortunate answer to that question...

 

[JarodRussell]

Has Trek really gotten all that much of a higher profile? Seems to me from what little I've heard that the movie didn't really boost sales in any other Trek division. Can any of the author's comment there? Have books overall in Trek sold more post XI?

I'd like to know that as well.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The STXI novelization was on the New York Times bestseller list, a first for Trek in ages.

 

[JarodRussell]

The STXI novelization was on the New York Times bestseller list, a first for Trek in ages.

Yeah, but what about the rest of the novels?

 

[Greg Cox]

The STXI novelization was on the New York Times bestseller list, a first for Trek in ages.

Yeah, but what about the rest of the novels?

Well, there haven't been any other nuTrek novels published yet . . . alas.

 

[JarodRussell]

Well, there haven't been any other nuTrek novels published yet . . . alas.

I mean all recently released Trek novels. Was there a rise in those book sales after after the new movie was released? That's what darkwing_duck1 and myself wanted to know in the first place.

Has Trek really gotten all that much of a higher profile? Seems to me from what little I've heard that the movie didn't really boost sales in any other Trek division. Can any of the author's comment there? Have books overall in Trek sold more post XI?

I'd like to know that as well.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Has Trek really gotten all that much of a higher profile? Seems to me from what little I've heard that the movie didn't really boost sales in any other Trek division.

Huh? I know we heard that CBS Home Video and the big stores were reporting significant sales of all ST boxed DVD sets, not just TOS, in the months after the release of JJ's film.

 

[JD]

Yeah, the Wal-Mart I cashier at has been getting the season sets for the shows since they movie. And I think some of them have even been bought by people other than me. I even had a young woman about my age (early-mid 20s) come through my register with a TOS Remastered box set, which she said she was getting because she loved the movie.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Ok, I hadn't heard that, but cool...but has it sold more books is the question?

 

[Therin of Andor]

Ok, I hadn't heard that, but cool...but has it sold more books is the question?

Didn't someone say that "Troublesome Minds", a TOS novel, was polling rather high on Amazon in the months after the JJ movie came out?

 

[Greg Cox]

Ok, I hadn't heard that, but cool...but has it sold more books is the question?

Didn't someone say that "Troublesome Minds", a TOS novel, was polling rather high on Amazon in the months after the JJ movie came out?

I don't know about sales, but TREK books were definitely getting better distribution in the wake of the new movie. I was seeing TROUBLESOME MINDS and other TREK books on sale in my local grocery stores--which had NEVER stocked TREK books before.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I don't know about sales, but TREK books were definitely getting better distribution in the wake of the new movie. I was seeing TROUBLESOME MINDS and other TREK books on sale in my local grocery stores--which had NEVER stocked TREK books before.

Ditto Down Under. For about six months, Simon & Schuster Australia was air-lifting the new titles rather than sea-freighting them. Last time that happened was ST IV.

 

[JWolf]

With the rise in popularity of electronic eBook readers, are you finding that eBooks are bringing in a good amount of money?