However, telling this board a "fifty gazillion" times that novels stand alone doesn't mean the casual reader or even the reader who hasn't bought a book in awhile is aware of it. Fact is, this board is frequented by the "true readers" who are the exception to the rule, for the most part. We get the message. How do we get the message to the casual reader?
Casual ST fans would likely pick up a copy of Titan's ST magazine - and there is always a good coverage of the latest ST novels in there, often with illustrated excerpts and then reviews of the latest batch.
The "average" fan who might read a novel once in awhile hesitates to purchase one for fear that enjoyment of it requires familiarity with the "new" characters and current plot line established in previous books.
But this is not new, by any means. When the wonderful novelization of ST III came out, I told many, many ST friends about it.
"Why would you want to read a book about the search for Spock when the movie is coming in a few weeks?" they asked.
"But the book has all these extra scenes and characters that won't be in the movie!" I said gleefully.
"If it's not really in the movie, why would I want to read it?"
Sigh.
And they continued to refuse to read it even after the movie came out, and they had burning questions about aspects of what was on screen. (eg.
"Where was Amanda?")
Chances are that their hesitation has a basis in experience--they may have purchased a novel, been disillusioned or confused in the first few chapters, and put it aside--because they didn't find the characters or ships that they saw on TV or in the movies.
That would only apply to... um? I can't think of
any Star Trek novels that have
no TV characters in them. Maybe "Andor: Paradigm", which has a brief Nog cameo - but the whole novel is
about Andor, a planet whose aliens we know from TOS, TAS, TNG and ENT! And it comes in the same book as "Cardassia: The Lotus Flower", which is all about the O'Briens (of TNG and DS9 fame).
Sure, there are
numerous ST novels that start out on a new alien planet, and it takes several chapters until Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway or Archer does a log entry, but the same goes for many canonical ST episodes. And movies.
You could also say that fans are shunning ST novels because they are
thicker than the old days and have, on average, higher word counts. Or have less starships on the covers than Bantam novels. Or are more expensive. Or are no longer numbered. Or don't come with free bookmarks.
I know many fans who have complained about that very experience and have stopped buying books. No matter how much you insist otherwise, no matter how unfair it is, that is what's happening to many readers. Honest.
And I've been around ST fans since December 1979 - and they were saying it
then! I've ran ST clubs, been MC at ST conventions, written columns about ST comics and novels, written for and published fanzines... and there have
always been pockets of fans who get tired of some aspect of ST, hate something (or some character) outright, or refuse to buy and read tie-ins.
There is still a situation where more ST fans are buying ST novels in 2007 than there were in 1980, though. Just maybe not as many now as around the time between ST's 20th and 25th anniversaries, when ST fandom hit its peak. But that's not the fault of the current novels or editorial policies.
