That's because these days Star Wars books sell a hell of a lot more copies than Star Trek books do.
one FRICKING shelf
- Thread starter RobertScorpio
- Start date
Oh, yeah I understand that, I just wish that it wasn't the case. I've always been kinda baffled by why Star Wars has continued to be popular and even slightly cool, while Trek has faded. Now don't get me wrong, I do like SW alot too, I just wish things were a little more equal.
I travel a lot, and I stop in a lot of bookstores. It's the same all over; one shelf for star trek, 2 or 3 for Star Wars....and 2 or 3 for Warcraft (I mean...warcraft, really?) right above that.
On a semi-related note, it's also been depressing watching the Trade Paperback section slowly get replaced by stacks and stacks of Manga and Anime the last few years, too. ¬¬
On a semi-related note, it's also been depressing watching the Trade Paperback section slowly get replaced by stacks and stacks of Manga and Anime the last few years, too. ¬¬
I made a point of checking three large book chain stores today on a trip to Parramatta, a large western Sydney suburb. All three devoted about 20 shelves to science fiction and media tie-ins. Each store had one shelf of Star Trek - at least two copies of recent titles - and two shelves of Star Wars. Another of "Doctor Who" and lots of space given over to "Twilight" at the moment. Still lots of "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter". One out of 20 shelves for ST really isn't a bad percentage, when you consider how many other regular SF titles are out there.
What I'm hoping will happen is that stores will get in lots of copies of the Alan Dean Foster novelization and, as this stock begins to move, that there might be demand from new fans - ie. "What other Star Trek books do you have?" - and stores might bring in some backstock to fill the emptying shelves.
I recall Simon & Schuster Marketing did some aggressive lobbying for shops to build up large ST displays of backstock in those last few years of TNG on TV, and the beginning of DS9. By the time "First Contact" came out things were starting to dwindle again.
I visit the book stores pretty regularly, and if there is an increase in the next couple of weeks it should be starting ANY time. I can't wait to go in and be surprised to see at least----one------shelf-----of trek books. I hope I am not setting myself up for disappointment.
On a related note I stopped by two book stores yesterday. The book store with newer titles had NO trek books. None at all.
The used book store I went to was much better. It had a nice little corner display with several of the older books and a few of the newer books. It was the most trek books aside from my own collection I'd seen in years.
On a related note I stopped by two book stores yesterday. The book store with newer titles had NO trek books. None at all.
The used book store I went to was much better. It had a nice little corner display with several of the older books and a few of the newer books. It was the most trek books aside from my own collection I'd seen in years.
Ian, what you're hoping for is bass ackwards.
You want the product on the shelf when the customer walks in, fresh from seeing the movie, and buys the novelization. First, you have a customer already inclined to buy. Second, you have the psychological advantage of telling the customer that there's more where this book came from.
If the only thing a bookstore has in early- to mid-May is the novelization and a couple of other books (which is what I'm seeing locally right now -- my local Borders got two copies of Full Circle, for instance, and B&N wasn't any better), the books on the shelf may not be at all representative of the kind of Star Trek the customer is interested in and, even worse for Pocket, the perception may be that there simply aren't Star Trek books for the customer to buy. Ideally, you want to sell to the customer when they are in the store and have money in their pockets ready to spend. You don't want to tell the customer to come back later; they may not come back at all or, worse, they may go looking elsewhere.
If bookstores don't stock the shelves with Star Trek backlist in the next three to four weeks, it's a surefire disaster for Pocket Books, because Pocket has missed the zeitgeist completely. Look to see what bookstores have on the shelves in the April 15-20 range. If it's not there by then, it's not going to be there at all, and Pocket's sales and marketing departments have missed an opportunity to work some mojo.
Well, from my personal experience, my first ST purchase was a copy of the ST:TMP novelization in December 1979, purchased from a paperback rack beside the cash register at my local supermarket. I had no idea that science fiction bookshops or other Star Trek novels even existed. But my enjoyment of that first impulse buy (and I then realised the novelization was also being sold in cinema candy bars) sent me on a mission to find what else was out there.
It's not me that has it all ass backwards. It's apparently Pocket Books' marketing department, or CBS Consumer Products, or bookshop managers.
It's either #1 or #3. #2 isn't even a factor here; why would Licensing stand in the way of Pocket's Sales/Marketing Department offering bookstores books? #3 is possible; bookstores may have resistance to what they perceive as a dead or dying franchise, but the media coverage Star Trek has received for the past year mitigates against that. #1 would be the most likely cause of any failures to get Star Trek books on bookstore shelves; they're either not offering them at all, or they're offering the wrong books.
And while you can buy books in supermarkets in the United States today, Ian, I'd be gobsmacked to see a Star Trek book there. You look for junk romances in supermarkets. And Twilight. You're not going to find a trade paperback novelization in a grocery store here.
It's very obviously not 1979 now. In 1979, Pocket was promoting the hell out of all their movie tie-in books several months before the movie was released. And they had a lot of tie-in books to promote. The novelization, the photonovel, the paperback reprint of the comic adaptation, The Making of Star Trek - The Motion Picture, Chekov's Enterprise, the blueprints, the pop-up book, various kids' activity books, general interest books like Star Trek Speaks, The Official Star Trek Trivia Book, the Spaceflight Chronology... some of it came out a few months after the movie, sure, but people who read magazines like Starlog knew that stuff was coming by the summer of 1979.
Thirty years later, when publishers' catalogues are online and Amazon lists titles months in advance, we got nothin' but the novelization on the horizon. In 1979, if the new movie interested you, any Star Trek book you found was about those characters. In 2009, if the new movie interests you, a fraction of the Star Trek books on the shelf are about those characters. Star Trek 101 could have cashed in, but Pocket stuck to the original publishing date after the movie was pushed back, so some stores may well not be carrying it any more. There's no visible evidence yet that Pocket's done anything to really cash in on the new movie hype, and for that matter there's no evidence that they could have done so if they wanted to. The book line has been cut, one of the editors was laid off, they've given up on coffee table books and nice big reference books as poor sellers.
I've said it before: I'd love to be proved wrong and find, for example, a really great coffee table book on the art and design of the new movie, but I really have a hard time believing the renaissance you expect, Ian, will happen.
Thirty years later, when publishers' catalogues are online and Amazon lists titles months in advance, we got nothin' but the novelization on the horizon. In 1979, if the new movie interested you, any Star Trek book you found was about those characters. In 2009, if the new movie interests you, a fraction of the Star Trek books on the shelf are about those characters. Star Trek 101 could have cashed in, but Pocket stuck to the original publishing date after the movie was pushed back, so some stores may well not be carrying it any more. There's no visible evidence yet that Pocket's done anything to really cash in on the new movie hype, and for that matter there's no evidence that they could have done so if they wanted to. The book line has been cut, one of the editors was laid off, they've given up on coffee table books and nice big reference books as poor sellers.
I've said it before: I'd love to be proved wrong and find, for example, a really great coffee table book on the art and design of the new movie, but I really have a hard time believing the renaissance you expect, Ian, will happen.
I only recently got into Trek Lit, so I totally missed out on the glory days. (But from the posts before me the glory days were 15 or so years ago right? I just started reading then)
But it is quite depressing to see Star Trek outnumbered by Star Wars and other series.
Perhaps it is due to big difference between how LucasArts treats its books and out Paramount treats its own. Aren't SW books considered canon?
But it is quite depressing to see Star Trek outnumbered by Star Wars and other series.
Perhaps it is due to big difference between how LucasArts treats its books and out Paramount treats its own. Aren't SW books considered canon?
Perhaps it is due to big difference between how LucasArts treats its books and out Paramount treats its own. Aren't SW books considered canon?
In name only. They say they're canonical, but they treat them exactly the way Paramount treats Trek novels, freely disregarding and contradicting them in new screen productions. Although onscreen SW has mined more characters and concepts from the tie-in fiction than ST has.
In terms of sales and the number of books, yes. But a lot of the best Trek books have come out in the last few years.
But not surprising. In the last ten years, Star Wars has been hugely popular, thanks to the prequel trilogy. Star Trek has had a couple of unpopular movies and a couple of unpopular TV series.
No. That's a common misperception, due to the misuse of the word canon by some Lucasfilm employees, but as far as Lucas is concerned, he is in no way bound by what the books do, and only his stuff really counts. The SW books tend to share a common continuity, which is a different thing. They're all supposed to be compatible with each other. But canon means more than that, and it doesn't apply to either Star Wars or Star Trek books.Perhaps it is due to big difference between how LucasArts treats its books and out Paramount treats its own. Aren't SW books considered canon?
In terms of sales and the number of books, yes. But a lot of the best Trek books have come out in the last few years.
But not surprising. In the last ten years, Star Wars has been hugely popular, thanks to the prequel trilogy. Star Trek has had a couple of unpopular movies and a couple of unpopular TV series.
No. That's a common misperception, due to the misuse of the word canon by some Lucasfilm employees, but as far as Lucas is concerned, he is in no way bound by what the books do, and only his stuff really counts. The SW books tend to share a common continuity, which is a different thing. They're all supposed to be compatible with each other. But canon means more than that, and it doesn't apply to either Star Wars or Star Trek books.Perhaps it is due to big difference between how LucasArts treats its books and out Paramount treats its own. Aren't SW books considered canon?
Thanks for the clarification. I didn't realize the Prequel trilogy was considered popular (but it must be compared to ST Insurrection and Nemesis)
I was pleasantly surprised to discover in a small-ish branch of WH Smiths (a general bookseller/magazine/DVD outlet) copies of all of this year's Trek novels, including Mere Anarchy, which technically isn't out this side of the Atlantic til next month. It was one copy of each, and a few back ones (the last Vanguard, Destiny and Greater than the Sum) but it's more than I've seen in recent times...
Paul
Paul
^Popular because they made shit loads of money, not because they were actually good...but that's a discussion for a different board 
The used book stores are even worse. Here in Ottawa, we have a few decent places, but most of them, if not all, won't take in trek-lit as it doesn't sell as well as it once did. I recently got back into trek-lit as well, and looking for books that I was missing was basically fruitless. I had to become an ebay-whore just to catch up with the various books that I couldn't find at Chapters and its various subsidiaries.
The used book stores are even worse. Here in Ottawa, we have a few decent places, but most of them, if not all, won't take in trek-lit as it doesn't sell as well as it once did. I recently got back into trek-lit as well, and looking for books that I was missing was basically fruitless. I had to become an ebay-whore just to catch up with the various books that I couldn't find at Chapters and its various subsidiaries.
I understand your dilemma. For years now i have visited once or twice in this huge bookstore called Akateeminen kirjakauppa in Helsinki, Finland and watched their Star Trek book selection shrink and shrink
Last friday i visited the scifi-section, only two find that there was two DS9 novels..and thats all
Star Wars and other scifi where well available.
I know that Trek has never been huge here but that was bit sad to see
Maybe the new Trek will improve the markets?
I miss the days of Star Trek taking up two whole bookcases. Of course, the bigger worry is that the entire science fiction section is being downsized.
The local B&N has half the stock of a few months ago. They're just turning the books face forward and increasing the size of the "new science fiction" shelves to take up 4/5ths of the science fiction section.
Edit:
I just started a thread in the SF&F forum about the downsizing of the science fiction section in bookstores:
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=87153
The local B&N has half the stock of a few months ago. They're just turning the books face forward and increasing the size of the "new science fiction" shelves to take up 4/5ths of the science fiction section.
Edit:
I just started a thread in the SF&F forum about the downsizing of the science fiction section in bookstores:
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=87153
I don't entirely agree with that. The media coverage is for what I have seen described as a "reboot of the cheesy old sci-fi series". It encourages us to "forget everything you know".
I think that there will be a very clear distinction between "old" Star Trek and "new" Star Trek, even more than that between the modern series and TOS, and people who enjoy the latter may not have much interest in the former.
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