E-Book Status

[Scott Pearson]

I had fervently hoped to join the ranks of SCE/CoE writers, to serve alongside the many upstanding men and women, as well as Ward and Dilmore, who had contributed to the series. I threw a bunch of pitches at KRAD, but, due to his martial arts training, he was able to dodge most of them, leaving only a couple of them on his desk when the decision came down. He had to return them with tears in his eyes over what might have been . . . okay, I may have embellished that last part. And by "may have embellished" I mean "completely fabricated."

Seriously, coming off SNW it was a great reward just to be able to send pitches to KRAD, after I had almost all but given up on the whole writing thing. So here's to the engineers: it was a good run, but still too short.

 

[trampledamage]

Well, I suppose the good thing is that the CoE crew are such fun that they're bound to appear in other stories - which means they won't be forgotten!

 

[JD]

I was just wondering, would an increase of sales of the TPBs have any impact on the E-books?

 

[CaptainGold]

To say the least, this is very disappointing, even though I was not a big fan of the series (as you can tell from my screen name).

Since I have not been on the BBS for a while, I am just reading this thread today, and while I appreciate the information, IMO some questions need to be asked-- specifically why is this happening?

Any responses appreciated!

1. Who made the decision? Was it the corporate types, or the creative people?
2. Was it a case of CoE e-books not selling at a certain rate that satisfied the S&S/ebook suits?
3. If the CoE books were selling at a rate to justify their existence, is this a decision of another set of suits to change the direction of e-books at S&S?
4. Are e-books now just going to be the top 25 books on the NYT best seller list, or that and the latest pulp romance novel junk?

I have a hard time believing that the costs of the series was so much to S&S that they decided to pull the plug on the series. I mean, the whole idea of e-books was to make it cheaper to produce books so more people can buy them. The quality of the work had not suffered, even with all the changes in the franchise itself during its run.

So, was it that the books were not selling, or not selling well-enough to some bean counter somewhere, or some other reason?

It is not a good day.

 

[CaptainGold]

Please remove!

 

[Defcon]

Uhm, you already said all that 7 minutes earlier.

 

[Turbo]

1. Who made the decision? Was it the corporate types, or the creative people?

Well, it certainly wasn't KRAD's decision. Beyond that, I don't know. I would assume it was the corporate types.

2. Was it a case of CoE e-books not selling at a certain rate that satisfied the S&S/ebook suits?

More or less.

4. Are e-books now just going to be the top 25 books on the NYT best seller list, or that and the latest pulp romance novel junk?

Most likely, unfortunately.

I have a hard time believing that the costs of the series was so much to S&S that they decided to pull the plug on the series. I mean, the whole idea of e-books was to make it cheaper to produce books so more people can buy them. The quality of the work had not suffered, even with all the changes in the franchise itself during its run.

So, was it that the books were not selling, or not selling well-enough to some bean counter somewhere, or some other reason?

From what I've seen and heard, the eBooks were hardly selling at all. S&S was likely losing money on the eBook version of the line, which IMO is due in no small part to their inability to A) promote the line and B) release the eBooks in a timely manner. KRAD has suggested that people buy the compilations to support the line, which says to me that they are much more profitable than the eBooks, and since there is such a delay between the eBook and deadtree releases, the suits decided to halt production of the eBooks until all of the stories have been released in deadtree form.

 

[sparky99]

Since reading this bit of news, I’ve been stewing. What I really wanted to say would probably get . I figured it would be best if I marinated on it before replying.

First off, please accept my condolences. I have been a fan of the ebook form for many years and have supported it many ways (with purchases and turning many a friend onto the format). I have not bought a dead tree book in a long, long time (unless there is no chance of it being released in e-form). I find having a library of reading material literally at my fingertips to be very convenient. The idea of not having my recreational reading on a PDA to be inconceivable.

While I was originally suspicious of the quality of the ebook original series, I soon found they we every much as enjoyable as the e-versions of the paper books. In some ways, more so, since more frequent releases made it easier to keep up with the characters and their lives.

Secondly, I have a question. Does this decision impact the release of the ebook versions of the paper books? I get that there will be no new CoE in ebook, but will this impact the release of, oh say Destiny, as an ebook?

Thirdly, I have another question. Will this decision impact the release of the final books in the Slings & Arrows series? T'would be a bummer if we didn't get to finish that series until it came out in paper book form. And also if we were forced to buy it as a compilation...since many of us have already bought the first 3 books.

 

[Defcon]

Secondly, I have a question. Does this decision impact the release of the ebook versions of the paper books? I get that there will be no new CoE in ebook, but will this impact the release of, oh say Destiny, as an ebook?

Thirdly, I have another question. Will this decision impact the release of the final books in the Slings & Arrows series? T'would be a bummer if we didn't get to finish that series until it came out in paper book form. And also if we were forced to buy it as a compilation...since many of us have already bought the first 3 books.

1) No, the eBook releases of print books are not affected, only the original line.

2) No, according to KRAD the final two S&A books are not in danger.

 

[Christopher]

Right. As KRAD said, the decision to end the original eBook line was made last May -- before any of Slings and Arrows had even been written. In fact, it was before the last CoE installment was written, which enabled Terri Osborne to tweak Remembrance of Things Past a bit to make it work as a series finale (albeit one that left room for continuation).

In publishing, plans are usually made many months in advance. Whenever the public hears an announcement about what the publishers are doing, it's a safe bet that the plans have been in the works for months already. (Although usually the announcement is made months before the event actually happens; I'm surprised this one took so long. I guess they thought that if the eBook line was known to be ending, people might've stopped buying them or something.)

 

[CaptainGold]

Thank you for the reply, Turbo. To say the least that is very frustrating to hear. But then it is not the first time Star Trek stuff has been messed up by clueless suits who have no idea what is going on.

 

[ATimson]

(Although usually the announcement is made months before the event actually happens; I'm surprised this one took so long. I guess they thought that if the eBook line was known to be ending, people might've stopped buying them or something.)

If that were their concern, then they should've added junk to the catalog so it didn't look like the line was ending after Slings and Arrows.

 

[KRAD]

First off, sparky, thanks very much for the support. It's greatly appreciated.

First off, please accept my condolences. I have been a fan of the ebook form for many years and have supported it many ways (with purchases and turning many a friend onto the format). I have not bought a dead tree book in a long, long time (unless there is no chance of it being released in e-form). I find having a library of reading material literally at my fingertips to be very convenient. The idea of not having my recreational reading on a PDA to be inconceivable.

Thanks!

Secondly, I have a question. Does this decision impact the release of the ebook versions of the paper books? I get that there will be no new CoE in ebook, but will this impact the release of, oh say Destiny, as an ebook?

Not in the least. This is just ending the original eBook program. Simon & Schuster is still doing eBook releases of their books.

Thirdly, I have another question. Will this decision impact the release of the final books in the Slings & Arrows series? T'would be a bummer if we didn't get to finish that series until it came out in paper book form. And also if we were forced to buy it as a compilation...since many of us have already bought the first 3 books.

Again, not in the least. If anything, this decision gave you the back half of S&A sooner, since the original schedule called for Books 1-3 being released in October, November, and December, then three new COE tales in January, February, and March, and then the final three Slings and Arrows eBooks in April, May, and June.

But, as I've said elsewhere, the actual decision was made waaaaay back in May of last year, with the idea that everything that was still under contract would still be done. That meant all of Slings and Arrows and the COE eBooks through to Remembrance... And, as Christopher said, it was in enough time so that Terri could do Remembrance... as a series finale of sorts. (To give one example, the original intent was to leave Gomez's revelation about her sister to be resolved down the line, but once we knew it was going to be the series ender, Terri wrote in the scene with Gomez contacting Belinda.)

The upshot of all this is that you'll get all of S&A. In fact, Book 5 has (finally!) gone live on Powell's and at the Sony eBooks store (though not anywhere else, go fig'), and Book 6 will be along soon enough.

 

[William Leisner]

Right. As KRAD said, the decision to end the original eBook line was made last May -- before any of Slings and Arrows had even been written.

Actually, FWIW, the first three had been written by April. The back three hadn't, though Terri, Bob and Keith suddenly had their deadlines cut by three months when it was decided there wouldn't be more CoE's before the final three S&A installments.

 

[S. Gomez]

Glad to hear the reprints will be continuing. Speaking of reprints, I learned recently that the DS9 Relaunch will get another omnibus of the first two Misson: Gamma books. Nice!

 

[Technobuilder]

I'm upset by the decision to end the SCE/COE series.

I'm currently in the middle of reading Orphans in the collection Grand Designs and am loving it, just as I have enjoyed each one before it.

I waited a long time to read the SCE/COE series due to personal reasons, but I have to say that it is without a doubt THE series I point towards when looking for an example of what Star Trek is supposed to be.

Others include: Vanguard, Gorkon (Klingon Empire), New Frontier, Titan, & of course the wonderful Deep Space Nine Series (Post-WYLB)

Hopefully, great characters such as these will be seen again.

e.g.- Destiny. (*wink wink, nudge nudge*)

 

[KRAD]

I'm upset by the decision to end the SCE/COE series.

I'm currently in the middle of reading Orphans in the collection Grand Designs and am loving it, just as I have enjoyed each one before it.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, you've got a long way to go before you're done. Orphans was #38 of the S.C.E. series, and, counting the eight eBooks in the COE reboot, there were 74 altogether. So you're only halfway through. Plenty of stories still to go!

And thanks very much for the kind words.

 

[JD]

I'm about 30 pages into The Riddled Post, as it appears in the 3 collection, and I just want to once again express my sadness about the series end. It's been about a year since I read the first two paperbacks, and I had forgotten just how great the series is. Luckily I still have a whopping 65 novellas and 2 short stories to get through. Maybe by the time I get caught up the series will have been brought back.:thumbsup:

 

[JWolf]

The upshot of all this is that you'll get all of S&A. In fact, Book 5 has (finally!) gone live on Powell's and at the Sony eBooks store (though not anywhere else, go fig'), and Book 6 will be along soon enough.

The problem though at Powell's is that the eBook is only in PDF whoch is not going to work for reading on a portable device such as a Sony Reader, Kindle, Palm/PDA.

Anyway, I do appreciate all the work that has gone into the SCE/CoE series. I'm up to #44 and I do have all of the SCE/CoE in eBook form. I also purchased Mere Anarchy and have the first 2 eBooks of Slings and Arrows. I decided to wait till 5 & 6 were out and get them with 3 & 4. I've been a fan of the Ebooks and have even purchased a Sony Reader PRS-505 to read them on. I will miss the CoE series. It's quite a good series filled with a lot emotion, drama, humor, and sadness. It's taken us on a bumpy ride and it's been a good one. Well, I just have to say to all the eBook nay-sayers out there who refused to get the series because they were not in paper format, you should have listened to us and gotten the eBooks. Then maybe the series would still be going. I do hope that some time in the future the eBook might make a comeback.

Now if we want to help the hiatus end early, go get the eBooks of the entire SCE/CoE series even if you never plan to read them. Just purchase them. Get your friends and family to purchase them. Let's see if we can get the series back.

 

[MarciaCat]

The final Sling and Arrows book, Enterprises of Great Pitch and Moment is available at the Sony ebook store! Just got mine-it's $3.99 (20% off).