Aw, crud! Margaret Clark is gone now, too.

[darkwing_duck1]

Christopher, why are they targeting the senior editors? The most experienced and knowledgeable ones? Why not let the "lesser" editors go instead? (This is by no means a slight on the two remaining editors...they are doubtlessly good editors, but their knowledge and experience in dealing with Trek is not as great as Margaret and Marco's...)

I'm not Christopher, but I can probably answer that. The most experienced and senior editors, while most knowledgeable, are also the highest paid. Therefore removing them cuts a good chunk out of the budget while only losing one person instead of removing a lot of "lessers" to add up to the, uh, "non-lessers".

I know, that's a bad choice of words, but I don't know a better one..."less experienced"?

It seems to me that laying off your most experienced and knowledgeable people, while making the short term payroll numbers look better, is a double-edged sword. Will the remaining people be able to do the job as well as those let go?

 

[Christopher]

Christopher, why are they targeting the senior editors? The most experienced and knowledgeable ones? Why not let the "lesser" editors go instead?...

I'm not Christopher, but I can probably answer that. The most experienced and senior editors, while most knowledgeable, are also the highest paid. Therefore removing them cuts a good chunk out of the budget while only losing one person instead of removing a lot of "lessers" to add up to the, uh, "non-lessers".

You're exactly right. The performance or experience of the editors makes no difference to the people making these decisions, because they aren't creative decisions, they're strictly budgetary. The company needs to cut costs, so if they have to lay off one editor out of three (or four), they're going to lay off the highest-paid one.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

It might soon be time for CBS/Paramount to look for another publishing house to take the license. I know S&S are tightening their belts, and it could be another few years before anything comes of it, but I seriously think that their long term plan is to tighten the tie-in division out of existence. Better they sell it off than just shut it down. Forgive the negativity, but it looks to be heading that way, though of course I will be more than happy to see myself corrected.

That's what I'm thinking too...their sales are down 11% but PROFITS are down 70% (according to the article). S&S must have been carrying "less profitable" titles and lines with the profits from a relatively few "earners" (big profit lines/titles).

Trek (and tie ins generally) obviously isn't one of them.

Nothing of the sort is "obvious." S&S is more than tie-in books, and their balance sheets are based on far more than the one or two Trek titles that are released in a given month. Even if a given Trek title completely stiffs, its such a small piece of the S&S pie it would probably never be noticed, and the most successful Trek novel ever isn't going to help the bottom line if Stephen King or Mary Higgins Clark dropped a bomb.

But if SK or MHG drops a bomb, it's one bomb in a string of how many wildly successful efforts? And they only need ONE editor to handle the client.

It's a matter of expenses to earnings. One editor for a huge hit like a SK book has a HUGE earnings/expenses ratio.

Multiple editors for a division like tie-ins that is marginally profitable relatively speaking looks to bean counters to be the better place to cut.

 

[Greg Cox]

It seems to me that laying off your most experienced and knowledgeable people, while making the short term payroll numbers look better, is a double-edged sword. Will the remaining people be able to do the job as well as those let go?

I'm upset about Margaret's ouster, too, but, again, I feel obliged to point out that Ed has been editing STAR TREK novels for at least five years now, and Jen has been editing sf, first at Roc and then at Pocket for as long as I've known her, which stretches back at least a decade now.

So it's not like we're dealing with a couple of inexperienced newbies here.

In fact, I'm probably selling Jen's TREK experience short, just because I'm not personally up on which titles she's handled.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

It seems to me that laying off your most experienced and knowledgeable people, while making the short term payroll numbers look better, is a double-edged sword. Will the remaining people be able to do the job as well as those let go?

I'm upset about Margaret's ouster, too, but, again, I feel obliged to point out that Ed has been editing STAR TREK novels for at least five years now, and Jen has been editing sf, first at Roc and then at Pocket for as long as I've known her, which stretches back at least a decade now.

So it's not like we're dealing with a couple of inexperienced newbies here.

In fact, I'm probably selling Jen's TREK experience short, just because I'm not personally up on which titles she's handled.

You may very well be right...I have little knowledge of their "credentials" as Trek editors. I know all the newer Trek books that I really liked were either Marco's or Margarets's AFAIK.

 

[Greg Cox]

And, certainly, no one is disputing the Margaret's departure is a tremendous loss. As was Marco's.

I just didn't want people to get the impression that Ed and Jen were a couple of clueless interns who had just been thrown in over their heads. They're both veteran editors with years of experience.

 

[Jean-Luc Picard]

What a shame Good luck, Margaret. Your work on the Trek line has been great.

 

[Thrawn]

Man. I came back into TrekLit purely on the strength of Marco's projects, and just when I'm getting used to the idea that this guy who I'd thought had the best outlook on Trek I'd seen from the editorial staff was gone, and just when I'm feeling ok about that (on the strength of Losing The Peace, in particular) the next one's gone too.

I know that, by and large, It Will Be Ok, but as a fan, this stuff is agonizing!

Best of luck, Margaret, and I'm hoping we hear something soon about what this means for the coming novels. I was getting all excited.

 

[CaptainDonovin]

Well this just sucks. I like where Trek Lit was going, especally in the ENT & TNG eras.

Best of luck Margaret.

 

[Christopher]

Best of luck, Margaret, and I'm hoping we hear something soon about what this means for the coming novels. I was getting all excited.

Presumably those projects that have already been announced will be completed under the new editor/s. It's happened before; Ed Schlesinger took over most of John Ordover's titles when he left, and of course Margaret took over Marco's stuff (briefly, as it turns out).

 

[Thrawn]

^ Sure, but it also meant the Crucible hardcover was cancelled and almost all the trades in the second half of the year were pushed.

 

[David Mack]

Take heart; according to an article just published on TrekMovie.com, Pocket remains committed to the Star Trek books license, will continue with previously announced 2010 titles, and will be reassigning editorial responsibilities:

Quoth Jean Anne Rose, Pocket’s director of publicity:

Pocket will be going forward as planned with its current schedule and the editorial responsibilities will be announced shortly.

That said, I will miss working with Margaret. She is a good editor and a good friend, and I hope her professional path and mine cross again someday soon.

 

[William Leisner]

But if SK or MHG drops a bomb, it's one bomb in a string of how many wildly successful efforts? And they only need ONE editor to handle the client.

I'm sorry... Are you under the impression that more than one editor works on each individual Trek/tie-in book? Or perhaps that the S&S General Fiction Department employs only a single editor?

You also seem to think editor salary is a major expense in the cost of an individual book, which I'm sure most editors would like to be the case, but I suspect it's not. And, needless to say, SK and MHC get something like 100x more per book than any Trek writer does (and probably 100x more than their editors, too).

 

[shanejayell]

I wish her the best of luck. Hopefully she'll get rehired, eventually

 

[fleetcaptain]

Damn, this sucks. I'm sad to see Margaret gone too. At least the upcoming novels for next year are still coming out in the spring. Hopefully we will see her around somewhere in the near future.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Take heart; according to an article just published on TrekMovie.com, Pocket remains committed to the Star Trek books license, will continue with previously announced 2010 titles, and will be reassigning editorial responsibilities:

Quoth Jean Anne Rose, Pocket’s director of publicity:

Pocket will be going forward as planned with its current schedule and the editorial responsibilities will be announced shortly.

That said, I will miss working with Margaret. She is a good editor and a good friend, and I hope her professional path and mine cross again someday soon.

That's a relief!

 

[Bob Greenberger]

When I first reached out to Pocket to coordinate the comics and novels, it was Mimi I started dealing with. We had several lovely lunches although she stiffed me on the last bill -- haven't seen her since.

 

[Christopher]

Damn, this sucks. I'm sad to see Margaret gone too. At least the upcoming novels for next year are still coming out in the spring.

They say they're committed to the schedule, so presumably the summer, fall, and winter 2010 books will still come out as well. And more books in 2011 and after, though probably not the same books Margaret would've done. (I don't know how far she'd gotten in planning '11. I have the impression that it was still in the very early stages.)

 

[F. King Daniel]

It's bad news. Best of luck Margaret with whatever comes next!

Let's just hope her replacement has a clue and doesn't insistute a second Richard Arnold-esque Dark Age of TrekLit.

Let the panicky posts predicting doom and gloom commence!

 

[Thrawn]

My only real concern is that we're in the middle of a bunch of ongoing plots, and DS9 in particular has been building to a lot of stuff that I'm hoping was going to be paid off at some point soon. I hope the ongoing stories are plotted or sketched out on paper, so the new editors can pick up where Palmieri and Clark left off; I hope we don't just lose all that buildup and go in a random different creative direction with everything.

How far along are the Typhon Pact books? Outlined?