Could books be produced on a minimum pre-order basis?

[BrentMc]

Just an Idea. I have heard some books, such as the Voyager Technical Manual, were not printed because the Deep Space Nine Technical Manual wasn't profitable. Some of these books can be pricey, so I imagine a lot of you may have been like me and waited for a discounted or used copy. I didn't think that they would have such weak sales that other great books wouldn't get published. This gave me the thought: what if they let fans put their money where their mouth is and post a pre-order page and say if it sells this many we will green light it?

I am more willing to spend money on these books these days especially if it means getting a book made that might otherwise not be. Any thoughts?

 

[tomswift2002]

They're already doing this with some of the older paperback novels. That's why some of the ebooks of the older novels have jumped in price. But in that case S&S is just reprinting already printed books, just in trade format.

But I guess we also saw it with the Return to Tomorrow release.

But don't forget its not just the printing cost, it's the licensing cost. If it were to be a Techincal Manual, then people would want it to be authorized by CBS.

 

[Avro Arrow]

They're already doing this with some of the older paperback novels. That's why some of the ebooks of the older novels have jumped in price. But in that case S&S is just reprinting already printed books, just in trade format.

This is just print-on-demand. That's not really the same thing as what the OP described.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

This gave me the thought: what if they let fans put their money where their mouth is and post a pre-order page and say if it sells this many we will green light it?

I am more willing to spend money on these books these days especially if it means getting a book made that might otherwise not be. Any thoughts?

In other words, the Kickstarter model? Honestly, if Pocket went the Kickstarter route for a project, I probably wouldn't support it. For an established publisher to go that route with a book, it would almost be an admission that the market doesn't exist to support the book.

 

[BrentMc]

Interesting point Allyn

 

[rahullak]

In other words, the Kickstarter model? Honestly, if Pocket went the Kickstarter route for a project, I probably wouldn't support it. For an established publisher to go that route with a book, it would almost be an admission that the market doesn't exist to support the book.

Well, what would be the harm in admitting that truth about that particular book?

 

[JD]

In other words, the Kickstarter model? Honestly, if Pocket went the Kickstarter route for a project, I probably wouldn't support it. For an established publisher to go that route with a book, it would almost be an admission that the market doesn't exist to support the book.

If they can get enough money to publish it, I don't see the harm. If there enough people interested to get it published, then there will probably be a lot more people who didn't donate but are still interested enough to get it if it is published.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

That pretty much WAS how a lot of books got published in the 15th through 18th centuries. Along with printing and binding just a page block, and if you wanted covers, you paid extra (they still do it that way in Colonial Williamsburg). Oh, and of course, there was the ever-popular 15th-century process of taking your Gutenberg Bible to a monastery, to have it illuminated.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

If they can get enough money to publish it, I don't see the harm. If there enough people interested to get it published, then there will probably be a lot more people who didn't donate but are still interested enough to get it if it is published.

I'm not thinking of it in terms of "harm." Rather, going a Kickstarter-like route sends a message that Star Trek publishing is niche, not mass-market, and can't support itself.

 

[The Wormhole]

That pretty much WAS how a lot of books got published in the 15th through 18th centuries.

Good for six hundred years ago. Things have changed in the interim.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Good for six hundred years ago. Things have changed in the interim.

For the large publishing houses, definitely. Not so much for niche publishers, nor for self-publication.

Self-publication success story:
Some years ago, Dr. Leland Whitson, the lead docent of the International Printing Musuem, and a (now retired) physician, was looking into getting his Uncle Ken's book (The Surgeon Factory, a fictionalized memoir of surgical residency at the hospital we now know as County/USC) published. He ended up doing it as a Museum project, with all the type set by Museum docents on vintage linecasting equipment (I cast the Ludlow slugs for the half-title page myself), and every page of every copy printed by a crew of Museum docents on vintage cylinder presses, over a period of nearly five years (in full view of Museum visitors), with only the 4-color covers and the bindery work farmed out. We've since sold out of every salable copy. I suspect that if we hadn't had volunteer labor (and scrap type metal), and hadn't been able to justify the paper and ink costs as a Museum demonstration, we'd have probably had to go the Kickstarter route.

 

[JD]

I'm not thinking of it in terms of "harm." Rather, going a Kickstarter-like route sends a message that Star Trek publishing is niche, not mass-market, and can't support itself.

I see what you mean now.

 

[Daddy Todd]

This is hard to distinguish from vanity publishing — where the writer pays to have their book printed & bound, then tries to sell/give away the copies piled up in the garage.

This is also pretty much exactly what fanzines/fan fiction exist for. (I’m not disparaging fan fiction, but it’s a different thing from the publishing industry.)

 

[F. King Daniel]

If it were the only way to keep Trek novels viable, I'd pre-pay for a novel with a synopsis or preview chapter I liked.

This differs from vanity fanfic publishing because the book in question would still have to adhere to all the CBS standards and whatnot.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

There is also a fundamental difference between vanity publishing (i.e., subsidy publishing by a vanity house, under a known vanity imprint), and true self-publishing (i.e., doing as much of the work as one is able, and contracting out the rest).

The difference is the known vanity imprint.

The presence of a known vanity imprint on a book will instantly prejudice all booksellers and royalty publishers against the book (they will see it as a sign of both desperation and stupidity), and torpedo your chances of ever getting it picked up. Booksellers will not carry it, and royalty publishers will not read it, much less buy it.

In the Star Trek field, I've seen self-published works get picked up. I have both the self-published edition (May, 1977, white cover) and the Ballantine edition (October, 1977, blue cover) of the Medical Reference. And I know the Concordance had a similar history, and suspect the same to be true of Franz Joseph Schnaubelt's Technical Manual and Constitution Class General Plans ("Blueprints").

 

[Daddy Todd]

There was a 500-copy fan run of the blueprints, sold at an LA convention a year before Ballantine’s edition, but as far as I’ve ever seen, the Technical Manual never had a prior run before the Ballantine edition.

I’d love to find the Equicon edition of the blueprints.

 

[TrickyDickie]

I think it's a good idea. It wouldn't be saying Star Trek is niche....it would be saying that certain individual books might be.

Kevin Marti, at Marti Autoworks, published 'Mustang By The Numbers' because there was sufficient demand. He was asked by our club to do one for the Torino. He said give me enough commitments to make it worthwhile and I'll do it. To date, we have not been able to come up with enough numbers to justify doing it. Ford is not niche, but the Torino is.

 

[Bernd Perplies]

I for one would support this. There are a lot of KS projects for Pen & Paper roleplaying books and often the products end up having a much better quality as if the publishing house had printed them without knowing how much of a market there is for a certain book. I'm not talking about the ordinary novel here, but books like a Voyager Technical Manual could really profit from knowing how much money they can spend in illustrations for example.