Has Chapters/Indigo Stopped Carrying TrekLit In-Store?

[Idran]

The whole thing is stupid, and the idea that people are just going to want to see merch of only Shatner, Nimoy, Nichols, and Doohan is going to bite them in the ass, as somebody said here a while ago. As well, the audience for merch of the old series is shrinking, with the last generation being Generation X; when they die off, what then? They have to start making prose novels and other merch based on the current continuity.

I think you're misunderstanding the situation (assuming that this claim's correct). It wasn't that CBS wanted to stay just with the old cast and refused to merchandise the new. It's that Bad Robot refused to allow licensing unless CBS abandoned merchandising the original cast entirely. CBS would've been happy doing both, but Bad Robot forced their hand and made them choose between either having merchandise of the original cast or having merchandise of the new cast.

Unless you're saying that CBS should have agreed to stop printing or publishing anything related to the prime universe and should've just let the Abramsverse replace it all?

 

[Paris]

I just spotted a copy of Twist of Faith at Chapters, too! Why would they be ordering copies of that omnibus now...?

Me too. I haven't seen it on the shelves in years until a few days ago. Weird..

 

[BillJ]

That's balderdash of the highest order, considering the comic books that are out new from IDW.

This. There were also Starfleet Academy novels.

 

[Therin of Andor]

and did confirm that there were none on order for their location. Since they were recent releases, he felt that they *should* be carrying them, and seemed confused as to why they weren't...

Sounds like they use previous sales for each store to judge future orders. This is why pre-ordering is important, if they permit it. If you intend to buy/read every new Trek novel, placing a permanent standing order encourages extras for the shelves, which benefits other fans.

I just spotted a copy of Twist of Faith at Chapters, too! Why would they be ordering copies of that omnibus now...?

Maybe it's been sitting around, or perhaps they ordered one for a special order in another store and management got a few other copies. If there are still lots of copies in the S&S warehouse (ie. still "in print"), they get suggested to stores to "reorder". If no reorders, they may get remaindered.

I recall a store here in Sydney once ordered in a box of random old titles to set up a new, dedicated Trek shelf.

That's balderdash of the highest order, considering the comic books that are out new from IDW.

Not balderdash at all. Orci & Kurtzman were already suggesting the direction for IDW's ongoing comic and the new movie adaptations. They were not doing so for the four commissioned Pocket novels.

This. There were also Starfleet Academy novels.

Yes, but tightly constrained as prequels to the 2009 film. Not blazing new trails as the four Pocket novels would have been.

 

[2of1million]

Sight Unseen is living up to it's title. Not available in Canadian stores! Only available by online order. This is about the 3rd month in a row this has happened with Trek books. Since I couldn't go to a store and buy it I borrowed the ebook from the library.

 

[tomswift2002]

"Sight Unseen" I picked up at Coles before the street date. Of course I had pre-ordered the book.

But I haven't bought off the shelf in years, in term's of the novels. But I do check occasionally, and in my local Coles in Eastern Ontario, I have seen the shelf shrink dramatically over the last 5 years for Trek. 5 years ago it was a whole shelf, now it's a quarter of a shelf. And I remember last summer the store had received 5 or 6 copies each of Seekers 1 & 2, and they sat till about Easter, at which point I think the store sent them back to the warehouse, as I haven't seen them since (I realize there's the possibility they sold---but in terms of the quantities, I highly doubt it). And this year I never saw any copies of Seekers 3.

But another thing with my Coles is that they push the Kiosk and website, since from what I understand, any books sold through the Kiosk or shipped to the store from home orders via the website, gives the store a percentage of the sales. So for the store there is profit in pushing Kiosk and website orders.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Sight Unseen is living up to it's title. Not available in Canadian stores! Only available by online order. This is about the 3rd month in a row this has happened with Trek books. Since I couldn't go to a store and buy it I borrowed the ebook from the library.

Huh, I was hoping it was just late, and this one would eventually show up. I'm still holding out hope, but yeah, based on the last couple months, maybe I shouldn't.

I wonder if they realize this is having at least some impact on their sales? You got it from a library, and if I have to order online anyway, I typically order from Amazon. Unfortunately, it must be such a negligible impact that it's not affecting their stocking decisions at all.

 

[2of1million]

Sight Unseen is living up to it's title. Not available in Canadian stores! Only available by online order. This is about the 3rd month in a row this has happened with Trek books. Since I couldn't go to a store and buy it I borrowed the ebook from the library.

Huh, I was hoping it was just late, and this one would eventually show up. I'm still holding out hope, but yeah, based on the last couple months, maybe I shouldn't.

I wonder if they realize this is having at least some impact on their sales? You got it from a library, and if I have to order online anyway, I typically order from Amazon. Unfortunately, it must be such a negligible impact that it's not affecting their stocking decisions at all.

Yeah, I guess most people order online or buy the ebooks, so they aren't shipping them to stores anymore. Kinda sad.

 

[DimesDan]

I read this earlier, but British bookshop chain, Waterstones announced that they will remove their kindle sections from each shop to concentrate on selling books due to the sale of Kindles being, well, rubbish along with an increase in physical books in store.

While we'll bemoan the lack of shops having physical copies and the behemoth that is Amazon, it seems that some genres are doing well with physical sales.

 

[Therin of Andor]

due to the sale of Kindles being, well, rubbish along with an increase in physical books in store.

I would guess that people who like to have an eBook on hand have the files on their smart phone or iPad, rather than carry an extra device as well?

One my last long plane journey, I had two physical books plus two eBooks on my iPhone, just in case. But going through Security was bad enough keeping track of my laptop and my iPhone, let alone be concerned about a Kindle.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I found myself in Chapters this evening. So, I did ask about this, as I said I would. The first thing the employee said was "that's more of a head office decision". But he did look them up on the computer, and did confirm that there were none on order for their location. Since they were recent releases, he felt that they *should* be carrying them, and seemed confused as to why they weren't. So he wrote out a note to leave for another employee, to see if the other employee could look into the situation, and perhaps contact head office and try to determine what was going on. So I thanked him for that, and he thanked me for bringing it to their attention. I guess now I'll just wait and see if anything changes.

So according to their website, the Chapters where I asked about this three weeks ago now apparently has four copies of Atonement in stock. I don't know if that's related to me asking, or just coincidence. Still showing nothing for Long Shot or Sight Unseen, though.

 

[tomswift2002]

According to the website Seekers 3 is available in stores, but 'Sight Unseen' is a website exclusive. I didn't even need to go to the section of the webpage that showed my store. Right above the price Chapters has "Not Available In Stores".

 

[Avro Arrow]

^ Sure. They had the same notation for Seekers 3, too, until they didn't.

It seems the site will list a title as "available in stores" as long as at least one store in the country has it.

 

[2of1million]

I saw a copy of Atonement in an Indigo store the other day. Perhaps the website just doesn't list them as available??? Didn't see Sight Unseen there, though.

 

[tomswift2002]

I just pulled up the location of where Seekers 3 and Atonement are in Canada, and it seems some store in Brossard, Quebec has both, but then the other stores in Canada are in the Ottawa area such as Kanata and Gloucester.

 

[JD]

I would guess that people who like to have an eBook on hand have the files on their smart phone or iPad, rather than carry an extra device as well?

One my last long plane journey, I had two physical books plus two eBooks on my iPhone, just in case. But going through Security was bad enough keeping track of my laptop and my iPhone, let alone be concerned about a Kindle.

I think that's probably what's happening. I originally had a Nook, but I gave it up for a general tablet.
I doubt very many people are going to get an e-reader when they can already read e-books on their phone, or spend just a little bit more money on a general tablet.

 

[BobtheGunslinge]

Oddly, I can't read novels on my iPad. I can get through a short story, but anything longer I just can't do. I wonder if the e-ink screen of a kindle would make a difference, but never pulled that trigger. Since ebooks are not substantially cheaper than real books, there isn't much incentive for me to stop buying paperbacks.

Fortunately, my local Barnes and Noble stocks Star Trek, although they carry very few titles and almost no back stock. The earliest title they carry is The Light Fantastic, and everything else is from the Fall or this current year. Ten years ago, they had a whole shelf, with copies or reprints of the 'classics' in stock.

 

[BillJ]

Oddly, I can't read novels on my iPad. I can get through a short story, but anything longer I just can't do. I wonder if the e-ink screen of a kindle would make a difference, but never pulled that trigger. Since ebooks are not substantially cheaper than real books, there isn't much incentive for me to stop buying paperbacks.

For me, there were two advantages to the Kindle: space (simply running out of physical space for books) and adjustable font size (getting older).

 

[Therin of Andor]

Ten years ago, they had a whole shelf, with copies or reprints of the 'classics' in stock.

Which sat around taking up space.

These days, shops prefer to have a fast turnaround of stock. Trek books still make the bestseller lists, so we can assume sales are still good, but a lot of these are online and eBook sales?

This kind of thing is also cyclic. When Trek reruns finally came back to Aussie TV in the early 80s, when TNG was at the height of prime time TV popularity, and when the 2009 movie hit cinemas, many of my local bookstores revamped their Trek sections - sometimes overtaking "Star Wars" space - and would often get in batches of older Trek titles for the shelves.

 

[BobtheGunslinge]

Ten years ago, they had a whole shelf, with copies or reprints of the 'classics' in stock.

Which sat around taking up space.

These days, shops prefer to have a fast turnaround of stock. Trek books still make the bestseller lists, so we can assume sales are still good, but a lot of these are online and eBook sales?

That's part of it, but it doesn't explain why all the local stores have more Warhammer stock than ST and SW combined, even though there hasn't been a Warhammer bestseller since 2010. They have more Halo books, too. I think part of the issue is the perception that ST and SW are old properties.