Favorite Upcoming Book?

[Rush Limborg]

Yeah, because JJ had so much to do with all the books coming out.

Well, if you think about it, he did.

All the hype about the new movie has, basically, created a renewed interest in Star Trek. ("The guy behind Lost and Alias is directing and producing?" "It stars the guy that plays Sylar?" "COOL!")

Is it not an interesting coincidence that Pocket is unleashing a HUGE amount of new books in the very same year that the new film is coming out?

 

[Rush Limborg]

Well, not as huge as way back when, but still....

 

[Dayton Ward]

Yeah. This is sort of a new thing for Pocket.

 

[Warp Coil]

I'm going to be spending a lot more money on Trek Lit than I usually would over the next 12-15 months, because of the amazing schedule. I must read:

Destiny, books 1-3
A Singular Destiny
TTN: Over a Torrent Sea
TNG: Losing the Peace
DS9: The Soul Key
DS9: The Never Ending Sacrifice
TTN: TBA

I'm even curious about the future of the VOY relaunch. If reviews of "Full Circle" are positive, I may give it a shot (and that's a big deal considering how much I loathe the Christie Golden VOY-R novels).

 

[William Leisner]

Is it not an interesting coincidence that Pocket is unleashing a HUGE amount of new books in the very same year that the new film is coming out?

Not as interesting as the "coincidence" that they put almost exactly the same number of titles out last year, and the year before.

Actually, that's not true, since the original ebook line has gone on hiatus... so there are, in fact, significantly fewer titles than there were when J.J. was still just making shitty Tom Cruise vehicles...

 

[JD]

^Yeah, we've been getting this number and quality of Trek books since long before JJ had anything to do with Trek.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The good o'l days are BACK!

Well, everyone has their own idea of "good ol' days".

There was something to be said for the mystery, frustration and exhilaration of the eight-month waits between ST novels in the early 80s, when the first you knew of an upcoming title was a brief mention of a title, and sometimes an author, in "Starlog" or "Locus", and then, one day, simply seeing it on a shelf. Or hearing it was out from an overseas penpal - in a real letter, written longhand, and the search parties began in earnest, while sea freighted copies started their three-month voyage Down Under. The thrill of the hunt!

There were also times in the early 90s when we had two new novels every month, but the books often weren't as high a word count (even combined) as most titles coming out today. And Richard Arnold had often scoured out some stuff.

All three "My Brother's Keeper" volumes have the same publishing date, but I can't recall if all three arrived in shops on the same day. Three well-defined almost-standalone parts of a trilogy in one month? That's really spoiling your audience (or, for the cynical, splitting a potential "giant" novel into three individual books to increase profits).

And through it all, the real gems can turn up any time!

 

[David Henderson]

All three "My Brother's Keeper" volumes have the same publishing date, but I can't recall if all three arrived in shops on the same day. Three well-defined almost-standalone parts of a trilogy in one month? That's really spoiling your audience (or, for the cynical, splitting a potential "giant" novel into three individual books to increase profits).

MBK was published over two months (December 1998-January 1999), but those happened to be the two months between which Pocket Books changed their "month of" designation in the copyright notice.

The first two books were released in the US in early December, 1998. These had a copyright month of January, 1999, using the old scheme. The third book and The 34th Rule were released in the US in early January, 1999. Using the new scheme, they also had a copyright month of January, 1999. So despite coming out a month apart, if you just look at the copyright dates, it appears that four regular paperback books came out that month.

Interestingly, the paperbacks are once again coming out earlier and earlier the month before the copyright month listed in the books, so I wouldn't be surprised if Pocket does another update on their copyright month designations in the next year or two.

davidh

 

[Therin of Andor]

All the hype about the new movie has, basically, created a renewed interest in Star Trek...
Is it not an interesting coincidence that Pocket is unleashing a HUGE amount of new books in the very same year that the new film is coming out?

The difference won't be in the amount, or the quality, as we head towards May 2009. it will be the visibility of ST in book shops. as we saw at the time of TMP, ST IV and "First Contact", a ST movie that creates a big public profile.

People have complained that, since TNG vanished off the public's collective radar, that shops have diminished the visibility of ST, ordering fewer copies, hiding them on bottom shelves, putting them into general SF, and shelving less ST backstock. I think we'll see a reversal of fortunes in that way. It's been a while since Pocket has had a ST marketing campaign in shops. (I have some nifty Pocket TOS and TNG shelf markers here, and there were also promotional materials shops could order, such as purpose-made cardboard shelving units with ST header cards, sets of four ST books in boxed sets, bookmarks, posters, etc)

 

[Therin of Andor]

MBK was published over two months (December 1998-January 1999), but those happened to be the two months between which Pocket Books changed their "month of" designation in the copyright notice.

The first two books were released in the US in early December, 1998. These had a copyright month of January, 1999, using the old scheme. The third book and The 34th Rule were released in the US in early January, 1999. Using the new scheme, they also had a copyright month of January, 1999.

Aha! Yeah, I was pretty sure I didn't have to buy all three in one go.

 

[LightningStorm]

Is it not an interesting coincidence that Pocket is unleashing a HUGE amount of new books in the very same year that the new film is coming out?

Pocket has been releasing new ST books at this pace for quite a while now.

 

[Defcon]

Is it not an interesting coincidence that Pocket is unleashing a HUGE amount of new books in the very same year that the new film is coming out?

Pocket has been releasing new ST books at this pace for quite a while now.

Not to speak of the fact that Pocket actually released almost twice the number of books per year up until the cutback to one MMPB a month a few years ago.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Oooooh, darn. My bad --again.







Now that that's outta the way...

 

[Dayton Ward]

Pace yourself.

 

[wew]

I'm most looking forward to the next Vanguard book.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Pace yourself.

(Takes deep clensing breaths, does "plexing")

Phew. Thanks, mate.

Now... I suppose by saying that the Golden Age has returned, I should've meant that, as Therin so wisely states:

The difference won't be in the amount, or the quality, as we head towards May 2009. it will be the visibility of ST in book shops. as we saw at the time of TMP, ST IV and "First Contact", a ST movie that creates a big public profile.

But then, I got so excited about seeing all those books on the schedule, I misinterpereted things.

Brings me one step closer to humanity, I guess....

 

[Rush Limborg]

Not to speak of the fact that Pocket actually released almost twice the number of books per year up until the cutback to one MMPB a month a few years ago.

Tell me about it!

(Sheepish chuckle) Guess it kinda authenticates my earlier "Back-in-buisness" statements, eh?

 

[Deano2099]

Aren't there like more trades than ever next year though? And wasn't Destiny made to cash in on the film's original release date? So the two are linked, surely?

 

[Christopher]

^^The increasing number of trade paperbacks is a response to the popularity of TPBs with bookstores. It's an industry-wide trend, and the number of Trek TPBs has been steadily rising for years now. So that would be happening whether or not there was a new movie.

And yes, the Destiny trilogy was intended to be a tie-in to the movie. But that only affects the content of the books, not the number of them, since Destiny takes up three spaces in the regular monthly release schedule for mass-market paperbacks. If it hadn't been Destiny, it would've been three other books.

So while the movie has had an influence on the content of the books this year and next, it's had no effect on the quantity of the books -- except perhaps for the addition of the Crucible hardcover omnibus as a movie tie-in, although maybe something else would've been in its place otherwise. And of course there's likely to be a movie novelization added to the schedule. But still, the total number of titles in '09 is going to be lower than it was back when there were two MMPBs a month or when there were e-books coming out once a month.

 

[William Leisner]

Aren't there like more trades than ever next year though?

Nope.

From Pocket for 2009:
Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows
Mere Anarchy
Seven Deadly Sins
Myriad Universes 3
CoE: Out of the Cocoon

From Pocket for 2008:
Captain Kirk's Guide to Women
These Haunted Seas
MyrU: Infinity's Prism
MyrU: Echoes and Refractions
Star Trek 101
CoE: Wounds

From Pocket for 2007:
MU: Glass Empires
MU: Obsidian Alliances
Twist of Faith
Strange New Worlds 10
CoE: Grand Designs
The Sky's the Limit

Seems that, unless there's a late addition to the schedule, 2009 will actually be a little lighter.

And wasn't Destiny made to cash in on the film's original release date? So the two are linked, surely?

Nope. Unless by "linked," you mean that Destiny avoided using a 23rd century element along with its 22nd and 24th elements, because one of the three books was expected to come out the same month as XI. Otherwise, there's no more link than there was between the Gateways miniseries and the premiere of Enterprise.