Hard to believe....

[PKS8304]

I discovered Star Trek through my older brother and my cousins. They would watch the repeats of the original series which at the time and my age held little interest to me.
I started watching the Next Generation when a local station started airing the series everyday at 5 from pilot on up. I quickly became hooked and was soon backtracking and watching all those old treks that I overlooked.
I was in a Waldenbooks (a now out of business chain sadly) in my local mall and came across the novelization of Descent part 1 and 2. I snatched it because the airing of part 2 was still a month out and I was impatient as to how the whole thing was going to play out.
I didnt realize there was Trek fiction from Pocket Books at the time, my mom however saw how I read that darn book from cover to cover, and always encouraging me to read, she ended up finding the Star Trek section at said book store on her own and bought me 5 books for my birthday.
The first original trek fiction I read was "Strike Zone" by Peter David. I flew through that book and eagerly devoured the rest though I cant remember the other 4 off the top of my head.
With the world of Trek fiction laid before me I rapidly bought and read everything TNG, then DS9 and Voyager and so on, and went back and read a bunch of the Classic stuff as well in just a few short years. I was hooked.
When I met my wife and settled down to raise my son about 7 years ago, I let some things fall to the bottom of my list of priorities, sadly, seeking out and read trek novels was one of them.
Then last Christmas I received a huge box of Trek novels (again from my mom) for Christmas, it included the entire Riker series and all the 20th anniversary TNG stuff. The spark was relit and I ran out to Barnes and Noble to eagerly gobble up what I could get my hands on.
I couldnt believe what I found! I rememberd huge 4 foot sections with 8 shelves, all devoted to just Star Trek, and instead, waaaay on the bottom, tail ending the Star Wars section, was half a shelf with about 12 Star Trek novels, pretty much the new releases for the past few years, none of the old stuff, not even catergorized by series....I was stunned and heartbroken...I know there are new Star Trek books coming out and sites like this are helping to keep track, Ive read the Destiny trilogy and was blown away by it, Ive kept up with the current TNG but not DS9 or Voyager sadly...Im currently starting the fourth book in the Typhon Pact, and I really enjoyed the previous 3.
Seriously though, what happened?? I stared at that partial shelf of books with my jaw dropped thinking, this must be spillover Im in the wrong section of the store but I found no other Star Trek books.
Hard to believe....

 

[Christopher]

^What happened is that Star Trek readers were early adopters of online book buying, so a lot of the sales volume shifted away from brick-and-mortar bookstores. Also, there aren't currently any ST shows on the air and we're between movies, so the bookstores put more emphasis on the currently prominent franchises. They had more Trek books on the shelves around the time the 2009 movie came out, and they probably will again when the second film arrives.

 

[PKS8304]

Makes sense, just a little disheartening to see lol.
I got a Nook recently, and I already planned on getting a copy of Articles of the Federation on there, plus this new Typhon Pact book coming out Im excited about.
Was there an ebook series that came out around the 20th anniversary of TNG? I thought I remembered seeing something about it but I didnt have my Nook at the time.

 

[BillJ]

Makes sense, just a little disheartening to see lol.
I got a Nook recently, and I already planned on getting a copy of Articles of the Federation on there, plus this new Typhon Pact book coming out Im excited about.
Was there an ebook series that came out around the 20th anniversary of TNG? I thought I remembered seeing something about it but I didnt have my Nook at the time.

Slings and Arrows.

 

[captcalhoun]

yeah, basically Amazon happened. it's all their fault.

not that i've got room to talk, they're cheaper than my local bookshop and i can get stuff generally faster than i can ordering it from my local bookshop...

 

[bbailey861]

The last load of books I bought from a 'bricks and mortar' store was just a short time ago from 'Borders' in Watertown, NY - which was in the process of unloading everything in order to close down.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Seriously though, what happened?? I stared at that partial shelf of books with my jaw dropped thinking, this must be spillover Im in the wrong section of the store but I found no other Star Trek books.
Hard to believe....

As I said in a different, recent thread, it's my understanding that avid ST fans and collectors, frustrated that they couldn't always find the new ST titles on the day of release, became early adopters of online shopping. You'll notice that ST novels still often rank very well on Amazon. Bookshops then started to notice this trend and reduced their own monthly intake of ST shelf stock accordingly.

The problem is that general bookshops might order two or three of each new title. These can get snapped up by the first two people to wander in (or perhaps go straight to people pre-ordering at the counter after the original orders have been lodged by the store). The days of general bookshops ordering ten or twenty of each title are long gone.

I predicted here, in the lead-up to JJ Abrams' ST movie getting released, that we might start noticing some reshuffling of shelf ratio allocations. Certainly, while many reported little or no change, here in Sydney (and Melbourne and Brisbane, which I visited at the time), many Australian bookshops actually reduced their stock of "Star Wars" books(!!!) and increased shelf space for all manner of ST releases, including assortments of in-print older stock, lots of copies of the JJ movie novelization and even IDW Comics' trade reprints. Simon & Schuster Australia also stopped sea-freighting (three months) new ST novels and were air-freighting new titles - and not passing on the increase to the shops. Simultaneous releases with the USA!

Funnily enough, when I reported seeing ST stuff in shops all over Melbourne and Brisbane here on the TrekBBS (even posting pics!), locals of those cities had already been complaining they hadn't seen any. Once the ST movie DVD was out, the shelves again seemed to increase their "Star Wars" space again, and allowed the ST stock to whittle down. There seems to be more shelves for "Doctor Who" (again, what's current on TV) and "Twilight" at the moment.

Think about the periods when ST books have been most prominent in general bookshops: when ST IV was in theatrical release, about midway through TNG, around the time of the premiere of "First Contact", and then (in some locations) JJ's movie. Tie-in books peak in popularity when the shops have something tangible and current to hook into.

As for me, in my ongoing quest (since 1980) to own each new ST title ASAP, I groomed a local science fiction specialist bookshop over twenty years ago. For a while, I had several stores on the go - and I'd buy wherever it came in first (plus, in the good ol' late 80s, copies for about five friends who weren't able to make a weekly pilgrimage to check for stock). Now I pre-order months in advance. The store also anticipates my needs (sometimes finding stuff I didn't know about) and puts aside my monthly ST stash as it comes in. They used to be able to order air-freight, via the Diamond comics orderpak, and then top up a few months later with cheaper sea-freighted copies direct from S&SA - but now they get the air-freighted novels direct from S&SA. Lower prices, absorbed shipping. Galaxy rarely lets me down, and my pre-orders kinda force them to stay current with all ST releases, even if the manager-of-the-day is a keen fan of ST or not.

As others have reported, finding a bookshop where the manager is keen on media SF can also make a huge difference.

 

[PKS8304]

The other thing I noticed, and Im aware of why what with no current show on tv and all, but Trek books used to come out on shelves with a more regular schedule, example you would see like 3 or 4 TNG books in one year all about a couple months apart. That type of release schedule has scaled back quite abit since I stopped and came back.
A friend of mine currently reads the Rogue Angel series by Alex Archer, it started in late 2006 and he has been buying it consistently since at our local Kmart that has carried it since book 1. That series has an average of 2 to 3 months release on it. To my knowledge, its only a book series and aside from a comic book here or there has no tie in media.
It just strikes me odd because to me Star Trek is still such a huge thing and this independant series has adopted the schedule over Star Trek that Im used to.
Not saying anything negative about it just something I noticed that made me shake my head for a moment, Im adjusted after being away for awhile lol.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The other thing I noticed, and Im aware of why what with no current show on tv and all, but Trek books used to come out on shelves with a more regular schedule, example you would see like 3 or 4 TNG books in one year all about a couple months apart. That type of release schedule has scaled back quite abit since I stopped and came back.

The time of highest predictability for ST was when there were four novels every two months. One month it would be a TOS and a TNG, the next month it was VOY and DS9.

The schedule has been scaled back to one novel per month (plus the odd MMPB reprint or trade omnibus) for some time, although page counts have approximately doubled. Twelve slots a year certainly makes it harder to service every ST series with a predictable ratio every year.

 

[Christopher]

The other thing I noticed, and Im aware of why what with no current show on tv and all, but Trek books used to come out on shelves with a more regular schedule, example you would see like 3 or 4 TNG books in one year all about a couple months apart. That type of release schedule has scaled back quite abit since I stopped and came back.

By the mid-80s, Pocket had gotten into a schedule of publishing one Trek novel every other month, or 6 per year. When TNG came along, they put out a dozen books per year alternating TOS and TNG, so each individual series was at about the same pace. I think things were a little irregular for a while after DS9 came along, but by the time VGR came along, the line was up to two books a month, or still about 6 per year for each of the four series.

But in the years since, as more book-only series and miniseries events and then ENT came along, it was no longer practical to have a regular release cycle for each series. And then a few years back the line was cut back from two mass-market paperbacks per month to one (plus assorted trades throughout the year), not because the shows ended but because the twice-a-month schedule was glutting the market and intimidating potential new readers. Yes, having too many Trek books on the shelves was seen as a problem.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Yes, having too many Trek books on the shelves was seen as a problem.

Similarly, the booklist in the back of the books was telling new people there was so much they'd missed out on they'd never catch up.

Remember the countdown to Pocket's TOS #100? Pocket stopped short of numbering them, perhaps because of a fear that too many tiring fans might have decided that 100 books was a good place to finish off their collection. Certainly, I knew several fans who intended to do just that.

I remember, also, when The Thing had left the "Fantastic Four" comics to do "Secret Wars", and was replaced by She-Hulk. I promised myself I'd stop buying with the issue where they'd swapped places again... and it never really happened. The Thing came back, but She-Hulk hung around, too, like a quasi Fantastic Five.

 

[PKS8304]

Makes you wonder what would have happened if Thing had taken Hawkeye up on his offer and joined the West Coast Avengers instead of coming back to the fold huh?

 

[bbailey861]

Remember the countdown to Pocket's TOS #100? Pocket stopped short of numbering them, perhaps because of a fear that too many tiring fans might have decided that 100 books was a good place to finish off their collection. Certainly, I knew several fans who intended to do just that.

I have never heard that. I am on record as saying I appreciated the numbering system - if only because it made it far easier for me to know what I had and what I needed. I suppose it makes sense - I just thank God that there are quite a few sites on the net where people have taken the time to post all the books - including covers. I try to keep up, but it is difficult at times.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I have never heard that. I am on record as saying I appreciated the numbering system - if only because it made it far easier for me to know what I had and what I needed.

From http://www.well.com/~sjroby/lostbooks.html:

Answering a question on the Psi Phi bulletin board in June, 2000, about the dropping of numbers from Pocket's Star Trek novels, John Ordover said, "97 will, I think, be a stand-alone by Dayton Ward, then a trilogy by Diane Carey to bring the numbering to an end. Working title is The Last Round-Up. This is all tentative, of course." The plan then was to end the numbered original series novels at 100 and then reboot the series with "Lower Decks"-style novels, looking at major events in original series continuity from the perspective of junior officers and crew. Dayton Ward's novel, In the Name of Honor, was indeed original series novel 97. However, the Carey trilogy has disappeared from the schedule and apparently been replaced by a single novel, The Last Roundup, by Christie Golden. The current schedule shows no more numbered books, so the buildup to 100 has presumably been dropped.

 

[bbailey861]

Mea culpa - I should have known that. Hailing from Ottawa - a scant hour and a half from me - Steve Roby's Complete Starfleet Library site is my most used resource.

 

[Cicero]

The schedule has been scaled back to one novel per month (plus the odd MMPB reprint or trade omnibus) for some time, although page counts have approximately doubled. Twelve slots a year certainly makes it harder to service every ST series with a predictable ratio every year.

Although we haven't seen twelve months in a row with new mass-market novels in several years.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Although we haven't seen twelve months in a row with new mass-market novels in several years.

Sigh. Well, you answer his question. One book per month is the general rule of thumb. Sure, some months have seen no release, but there are usually months where a trade and a MMPB come out together.

And for me, who now has several piles of great, but yet-to-be-read, ST novels, it really hasn't worried me that they reduced from 24 books to twelve. Not to mention that the books are at least double the old average word count.

I find it hard to sympathize with ST fans who complain they've run out of novels to read, or that they polished off a new release in a matter of hours.

 

[JD]

I'm glad they cut down to twelve. I try to read more than Trek, and it takes me a couple weeks to get through a 300-400page book, so I tend to be several books behind the current release. I'm reading Paths of Disharmony right now, and that is the most recent book I've read, but I do already own Indistinguishable From Magic, Watching the Clock and Vanguard: Declassified.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'm glad they cut down to twelve. I try to read more than Trek, and it takes me a couple weeks to get through a 300-400page book, so I tend to be several books behind the current release.

It's all DRG3's fault. I told him to his face.

I was all caught up until that first giant, tiny-font, "Mission Gamma" novel came out... and coincided with a change of work venue, meaning I lost my looooong daily commute on public transport. I spent longer on that book than the Defiant did exploring the Gamma Quadrant.

I've never caught up again.

 

[Cicero]

Although we haven't seen twelve months in a row with new mass-market novels in several years.

Sigh. Well, you answer his question. One book per month is the general rule of thumb. Sure, some months have seen no release, but there are usually months where a trade and a MMPB come out together.

Sorry, I didn't mean to seem critical of your response. I was just lamenting the effective rather than planned frequency of releases.

And for me, who now has several piles of great, but yet-to-be-read, ST novels, it really hasn't worried me that they reduced from 24 books to twelve. Not to mention that the books are at least double the old average word count.

I find it hard to sympathize with ST fans who complain they've run out of novels to read, or that they polished off a new release in a matter of hours.

I'm curious, why do you find it difficult to sympathize?

While I don't have the same difficulties keeping up that have been thrust upon you, it's easy enough to relate to the frustration you express; there is always too much of something for too little time. I would think that you've probably also found too little of something you enjoy.

Unfortunately for me, I read particularly quickly - all novels zoom by for me. Too, I have plenty of time to read (I usually finish 30-50 books a year, and read large parts of a few dozen more). Between that and my not being interested in everything published, I find I'm always short of good reading material - particularly fiction.