JonLuck Pickerd
Lieutenant Junior Grade
I see Destiny is getting an ombibus, are we getting new content?
Further Destiny
- Thread starter JonLuck Pickerd
- Start date
^ No. I just made some polishing tweaks to the text, but there have been no significant additions or deletions. There had been talk of having someone write a foreword for it, but to the best of my knowledge, that never came together.
Sigh. All it takes is a page of new text and I'll buy an omnibus of reprinted material. Or new cover artwork with an Andorian or mugato on it. Otherwise I pass.
Sorry to hear that, but I don't think this is being marketed toward people who already own the trilogy. And I simply did not have the time or desire to add new material or rewrite the existing text when I had other pressing deadlines with which to contend.
MattWallace
Lieutenant
translation - He was too busy killing everyone on Vanguard with one or two shell shocked exceptions. 
I know, but all it took was Pocket adding Allyn Gibson's timeline to the back of the "DS9: Millennium" trilogy in its reprint trade omnibus form and I bought the thing over again!
And yet I want the trade cover because the cover on my copy of Mere Mortals has split from overuse.
It's my favourite book in the trilogy.
Is there new cover artwork or is the Mere Mortals cover being used?
^ It'll be the Mere Mortals cover.
translation - He was too busy killing everyone on Vanguard with one or two shell shocked exceptions.
How well do omnibus' sell compared to the seperate novels?
Since almost all of current 24th century Treklit spins off of Destiny in some way, this makes perfect sense.
I do think new novels would benefit from a "Previously on...." one or two paragraph preface to bring newbies up-to-date before reading the latest Voyager or Typhon Pact TNG novel.
I do think new novels would benefit from a "Previously on...." one or two paragraph preface to bring newbies up-to-date before reading the latest Voyager or Typhon Pact TNG novel.
^ Except that those "previously on" blurbs would swiftly spin out of control. How much history does one recap in that manner? The bottom line is that the novels have a historian's note to place it in the chronology/continuity, and any details of backstory that are relevant to the current story are (in theory) explained in the text of the novels themselves.
I would think this would be a deterrent to many casual readers. We see it here all the time: "Do I really have to read this other book, that previous trilogy and that comic to enjoy this new novel?"
The authors do attempt to make each book as self-contained as possible. I once read "Fate of the Phoenix" as a newbie fan - who hadn't even seen "The Enterprise Incident" - before realising that the harder-to-find "Price of the Phoenix" had also set lots of (bizarre) wheels in motion.
A separate issue, but perhaps relevant. Will the omnibus be released in hardback? I have noticed that many public libraries do shelve Star Trek novels unless they are in hardback form. Would it behoove TrekLit to release this pivotal trilogy in hard back?
I will be buying this as a gift for a friend at the very least.
ST hardcovers have essentially been replaced by trade PBs in recent years.
Since most of the avid ST readers already have the trilogy in MMPB, many potential sales for a hardcover are already gone. Perhaps not related, but DRG3's best-selling "Crucible" trilogy was once announced as a hardcover omnibus (with three additional, new short stories), but that book was cancelled.
No, it will be a trade paperback.
I am aware of the habit of public libraries not to shelve paperbacks; I suggested Destiny be bound in hardcover, but I was told it wasn't economically feasible.
^That is interesting. Star Wars Novels are often released in hardback, even when they are scarcely 250 pages long.
With the economic downturn, and the reduced budgets of many American families, would it not behoove Treklit to try to promote their books to libraries? Or to try to encourage libraries to promote the novels? I found my first trek novel on the shelves of my local library, and have been a fan ever since. There could be thousands more kids like me, waiting to fall in love with treklit, but without the resources to purchase the books themselves.
With the economic downturn, and the reduced budgets of many American families, would it not behoove Treklit to try to promote their books to libraries? Or to try to encourage libraries to promote the novels? I found my first trek novel on the shelves of my local library, and have been a fan ever since. There could be thousands more kids like me, waiting to fall in love with treklit, but without the resources to purchase the books themselves.
Again, I don't make these decisions, and my opinion seems to carry little weight with those who do.
And "Spock's World" showed Lucasfilm the way, but the SW potential readership is huge when compared to the ST potential readership.
Public library budgets have also been slashed and the USA doesn't have a Public Lending Rights Scheme (Australia does!), so the authors only receive one royalty payment for a book bought for a library, even though hundreds of patrons might read it.
In my experience, many public librarians are SF media and Star Trek fans, but this will vary from library to library. You could always try approaching your nearby libraries. The public library near me has two large, glass, display cabinets and the locals are encouraged to book out the display space for a month - whatever weird collectibles they are into - and the librarians set up a side display of related materials they stock on the current theme.
I thought more public libraries had moved to stocking trade PBs and omnibuses anyway. They are less expensive than hardcovers, have higher quality paper than MMPBs, and seen as less "disposable" than MMPBs.
Similar threads
