Popularity of Trek Literature

[Kosst Amojan]

Popularity of Trek Literature

Hello everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster.
I remember in the not too distant past there used to (almost!) be more Star Trek books coming out then I could buy. Then it went down to something like one book being published a month. Now I’m seeing there won’t be any new material til October?

I’m sure having the nuTrek novels canceled had something to do with that, not that I had a problem with THAT but are Star Trek novels losing their popularity? Does anyone have any sales figures or some anecdotal data to help answer that?

I’ve also heard Star Trek sections in book stores have been shrinking but I haven’t stepped foot in a bookstore in years as I have an ereader and only buy ebooks.

Thanks.

BTW: had a cool avatar picked out too but now I see I can’t even create one, bah.

 

[Christopher]

The gap in this year's novel schedule has nothing to do with sales figures. It was because the makers of the new movie decided, rather late in the game, to pursue a different direction for tie-in fiction.

The cutback from two novels a month to one was done because it was decided that Trek books were glutting the market too much, to the point that potential readers were being scared off by the sheer quantity.

It is apparently true that Trek novels aren't quite as popular as they were a couple of decades ago, but the same can be said of the franchise as a whole. Everything has its ups and downs. But the new movie has revitalized interest, and there are more movies to come, so I expect there will be more ups in the future.

 

[Steve Roby]

I’ve also heard Star Trek sections in book stores have been shrinking but I haven’t stepped foot in a bookstore in years as I have an ereader and only buy ebooks.

Effect, meet cause.

Well, not necessarily ebooks, but things like Amazon -- if people aren't going to bookstores to buy Trek books, bookstores aren't going to stock Trek books.

As for the broader subject, until the 2009 movie, the Trek franchise as a whole was in a steady decline for over a decade, with shows reaching ever smaller audiences until Trek went off the air, and meanwhile Insurrection and Nemesis failed to generate any excitement at the box office. Fading franchises sell less stuff, especially when there's as much competition as there is now.

 

[ryan123450]

The ironic thing though is that as the demand for Trek books has decreased over the past decade, the quality of the book line has actually increased dramatically.

 

[JarodRussell]

But the new movie has revitalized interest, and there are more movies to come, so I expect there will be more ups in the future.

I read that all the time, but are there actual sales figures which show that?

 

[JD]

The ironic thing though is that as the demand for Trek books has decreased over the past decade, the quality of the book line has actually increased dramatically.

Agreed. It's really kinda sad if you ask me. I wonder what would have become of the line if they had been this constantly awesome during the height of the franchise's popularity?

 

[Kosst Amojan]

[I read that all the time, but are there actual sales figures which show that?

That's what I was wondering. In any event, thank you all for your responses.

Agreed. It's really kinda sad if you ask me. I wonder what would have become of the line if they had been this constantly awesome during the height of the franchise's popularity?

I've been reading Trek books for about 15 years now. I don't know if the writing is 'better' then 10 years ago, I'm not a writer but it's definitely more awesome like you said. Actually I think the right term is more epic; I'm glad authors (or maybe PocketBooks) realized that books aren't TV shows and you don't have to write them as a long, one off episode but can instead be simply segments of one long continuous epic.

 

[Starbreaker]

Pocket doesn't release sales figures to the public.

 

[BillJ]

But the new movie has revitalized interest, and there are more movies to come, so I expect there will be more ups in the future.

I read that all the time, but are there actual sales figures which show that?

Since there are no sales figures it would be impossible to tell. But I watch Trek shelf space continue to dwindle at local book retailers and I never see Trek novels at local retailers (Wal-Mart, Target, etc...). Now whether this is a local, regional or nationwide trend I don't know. I can only speak for what I see in the Greater Cincinnati area.

According to TrekMovie.com the last Trek novel to make the New York Times "printed" best-seller list was "Avenger" in 1997 (prior to the Star Trek 2009 adaptation) and it doesn't look like any have made it since.

http://trekmovie.com/2009/05/21/star-trek-adaptation-makes-new-york-times-bestseller-list/

 

[Xenu Cruise]

The gap in this year's novel schedule has nothing to do with sales figures. It was because the makers of the new movie decided, rather late in the game, to pursue a different direction for tie-in fiction.

A new direction or no direction at all?

 

[Starbreaker]

Well, they're publishing YA novels this year, so it's entirely possible that these books will see the light of day soon.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I read that all the time, but are there actual sales figures which show that?

Pocket never releases actual sales figures. But...

Didn't Alan Dean Foster's novelization hit the New York Times Bestseller list?

I also seem to recall that advance orders for the first "Titan" novel exceeded the first print run and it had to go into a second printing immediately just to meet demand, meaning that some shops were unable to stock a "first printing".

Well, they're publishing YA novels this year, so it's entirely possible that these books will see the light of day soon.

The YA novels are prequels, as have been the IDW tie-in comics set in JJ's movie era.

A new direction or no direction at all?

Other direction = prequel stories.

 

[Christopher]

A new direction or no direction at all?

As stated, there are Abramsverse books coming out; it's just that the filmmakers want tie-ins to be prequels only at this point, and the four shelved novels were set after the movie.

 

[Reanok]

I saw a schedule at the Trekmovie site for Pocket Books to have a booth at Comic con and they were giving out sample chapters of the new YA StarTrek novel coming out in November.and also some free copies Dean Alan Foster's StarTrek movie novel .I haven't heard any other news about the other StarTrek books.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I wonder what would have become of the line if they had been this constantly awesome during the height of the franchise's popularity?

Well, most of the new novels are about double the word count of novels coming out at the height of TNG's popularity. What many of the more casual fans might have picked up enthusiastically, as light reading, in those early days might not have as much appeal if the story was often darker, the font smaller, the word count meatier, the plot and characters more interconnected with other novels in an ongoing saga.

There were certainly some early novels (and authors) that were described as "awesome" and/or caused incredible excitement in fandom. "The Entropy Effect" (Kirk's death was debated for months!), "Yesterday's Son" (Spock fathered a child during TOS?), "Spock's World" (ST goes hardcover and doesn't even have "Star Trek" written on its spine!)...

 

[Smellincoffee]

A new direction or no direction at all?

As stated, there are Abramsverse books coming out; it's just that the filmmakers want tie-ins to be prequels only at this point, and the four shelved novels were set after the movie.

I imagine that's so they don't lose control of the nuVerse's development, given the possibility of future movies. It's not as if average movie-goers are going to sit there fuming because the movie is breaking from what the books have established, but maybe they want a little interference as possible.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Well, not necessarily ebooks, but things like Amazon -- if people aren't going to bookstores to buy Trek books, bookstores aren't going to stock Trek books.

Also, many regular bookshops get in two or three copies of a new ST title (to "see how they go"). The ones with good pre-publicity and positive word-of-mouth sometimes end up being held behind the counter when customers have enquired and it's suggested they pre-order the novel. By the week of official release, perhaps no copies are available for the shelf. A savvy shop then orders a few more copies on backorder. Other shops are simply happy to have sold all copies and are ready to stock the next one.

We have a science fiction specialist bookshop here in Sydney. They still order a large air-freighted batch of each new ST title (at least 15 to 20 copies go on the shelf, but I see many more in piles behind the counter with little pre-order leaflets hanging out of each book). By the time these air-freighted books have sold, a second (much cheaper) batch arrives via Simon & Schuster Australia's sea-freighted order - these are locally-distributed to regular bookshops as well.

Once again, though, the regular Aussie bookshops might only get in two or three copies of the sea-freighted titles from S&S. Sometimes they'll sit there for months, sometimes they vanish within days, but if the shelves are already full of previous unsold titles, getting more and more dog-eared as people riffle through them wondering whether or not to pay money for a copy, the shops are understandably reluctant to order too many more of the latest titles. These days many shops do prefer that their customers pre-order titles they really, really want.

Bookshop shelves, these days, tend to get filled up with all manner of things that are not books. Some of my local book chains seem to sell toys, action figures, bars of chocolate, cans of drink, stationery, jigsaw puzzles, gift cards, world globes, mobiles... People are no doubt buying less books in stores and more via the Internet. Or eBook versions.

When there's a new ST series on the air, or a new movie in release, awareness of ST in the public consciousness goes up. People here doubted very strongly that JJ's movie would make a different to ST book sales in shops. I can only speak for parts of Australia, but I made a point of checking out bookshops in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and many country towns in between, in the lead-up to the release of the last movie. During that time, shelf space to SW actually diminished and ST at least doubled. What amazed me was that, for about six months, S&S were air-freighting new ST titles! We had items like the "Destiny" trilogy and the movie novelization on regular bookshop shelves at the same time as the US stores. I haven't seen that happen since we had local printings of the ST:TMP and ST II novelizations.

Since JJ's movie, I've noticed SW creep back in again to reclaim its shelf space... but "Twilight", "Doctor Who" and those pesky little Japanese manga graphic novels are commanding huge amounts of shelf space Down Under these days.

Casual ST browsers just have to take their chances. Or pre-order.

 

[JD]

According to TrekMovie.com the last Trek novel to make the New York Times "printed" best-seller list was "Avenger" in 1997 (prior to the Star Trek 2009 adaptation) and it doesn't look like any have made it since.

http://trekmovie.com/2009/05/21/star-trek-adaptation-makes-new-york-times-bestseller-list/

Not the NYT list, but I believe that A Time to Kill / Heal, and maybe War, Peace, the first Titan book, and I think maybe Serpents Among the Ruins were all on some of the other lists. I know at least some of them were on the US Today list.
ETA: Actually I just checked and since 1994 there have been 109 Trek books on the USA Today list, including some Section 31 books, a bunch of NF, Avatar 1 and 2, Diplomatic Implausability, the Gateways books, and a bunch of others. The vast majority of them are from before the current era of awesomeness, but it's still not to bad. Here's the list of Trek books.

 

[Xenu Cruise]

A new direction or no direction at all?

As stated, there are Abramsverse books coming out; it's just that the filmmakers want tie-ins to be prequels only at this point, and the four shelved novels were set after the movie.

Ah...hadn't heard about the switch to prequels. Thanks.

 

[Kosst Amojan]

Ah...hadn't heard about the switch to prequels. Thanks.

Are the Abramsverse novels going to start replacing regular Star Trek novels? Cause that would suck as my interest in nuTrek when down the same black hole as Vulcan did.