What's up with the insane price for the DS9 Companion book?

[Navaros]

I see prices for the DS9 Companion book ranging from ~$39 -65 USD for a used copy and from ~$60 -100 USD for a new copy.

What's up with that?

Why is this book out of print? Is there some legal mumbo jumbo story tied into this?

Even with it being out of print, shouldn't it be cheaper anyways since it's not a hardcover?

Is there likely to be a reprinting of this book?

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

This was one of the most candid "official" books I ever read, in terms of comments from the writers. I wonder if that has anything to do with it being out of print? I dunno.

But anyways, that's why the prices are so high, most real DS9 fans would really want this book, so with it being out of print, they are snapping them up driving up demand and price.

 

[Navaros]

Hopefully someone can solve this mystery.

In trying to dig deeper I noticed this comment on Amazon from the author which he made on April 27, 2005:

I am the author of the Star Trek Deep Space Nine Companion. I want to thank all of you for the wonderful reviews you've given to this book. But please do not be confused by Amazon's error: This book is NOT out of print. Both the publisher and I have informed Amazon of their error many times, but the company apparenty does have a system to correct their error. The book is "in print" and available. Period. Again, thanks for your good words. Terry J. Erdmann

Did it go out of print after that date? Or is it still some sort of conspiracy?

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I picked up the Companion about... six/seven months ago at my local Borders. It was about $27, which I found appalling, though I'm suddenly beginning to think of it as a steal...

 

[JohnChod]

I lucked out. It was several years ago - probably at least five - but I found it on the bargain table at the late, great Media Play for $4.95.

One of the best bargain purchases I've ever made.

 

[Smiley]

This book makes up for the somewhat lackluster special features on the official DVD sets. It is still worth the asking price in the secondary market.

 

[Navaros]

This book makes up for the somewhat lackluster special features on the official DVD sets.

That's another thing that ticks me off as much as the insane price for the book. Paramount interviewed them for 1.5 hours each and then on the DVD extras all we get is 1 or 2 minute little bits and pieces of those interviews, and most of that time is wasted by them playing clips of DS9 which everyone already has seen 10 million times and already has on DVD.

In a perfect world Paramount would release all of the full 1.5 hours interviews uncut and without interference from DS9 footage, and the Companion would always be in print and at a reasonable price.

 

[Cronos6939]

I too found it a number of years ago, for $3.99 at Barnes & Noble's discount table. I was quite happy.

This book is, by far, the best of the series companions.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I too found it a number of years ago, for $3.99 at Barnes & Noble's discount table. I was quite happy.

This book is, by far, the best of the series companions.

Absolutely. It goes in depth on the BtS stuff, which, in my opinion, is one of the reasons to BUY the Companion. The Voyager Companion was incredibly disappointing in that aspect. Then again, not a big shock there.

 

[Sean Aaron]

I've got the TNG and DS9 Companions and the DS9 one hands-down is superior in every way. Far more behind-the-scenes stuff and way better than the lame DVD extras. I picked it up years ago and paid a reasonable amount -- maybe it's not out of print, but really limited print runs?

 

[The Caretaker]

I picked this up about 5 years go in a book clearance shop. It was only about £4.99, so a real bargain.

 

[Navaros]

I appreciate you guys' responses so far.

The more time that goes by and no one knows definitive clear answers to all of the mysteries about this book, the more I'm starting to think it's some kind of real-life Section 31 conspiracy going on here.

Any time any other question about any minutiae about DS9 or Trek in general is posted, there is pretty much always alot of posters who know all these obscure answers about it.

Yet, perhaps not so when it comes to the Companion?

Maybe I should try bugging the Publisher directly to try to get some straight answers out of them? Not that I expect they'd give me any. LOL But yeah, I think I'm gonna at least give that a try in a while if no one on this board ends up knowing all the answers.

 

[cultcross]

I too found it a number of years ago, for $3.99 at Barnes & Noble's discount table. I was quite happy.

This book is, by far, the best of the series companions.

Absolutely. It goes in depth on the BtS stuff, which, in my opinion, is one of the reasons to BUY the Companion. The Voyager Companion was incredibly disappointing in that aspect. Then again, not a big shock there.

Agreed. I have the TNG and DS9 companions. The TNg one is good, interesting stuff in it, but the DS9 one blew me away, there's so much interesting stuff in that book.
The VOY one was an enormous disappointment. It was barely a companion, it was an episode guide. There was barely word one about behidn the scenes stuff. Sold my copy of that on ebay pretty darn quickly.

 

[Smiley]

Try the Trek Lit forum. The editors and authors will tell you as much as they can, and there are some very knowledgeable readers over there.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I'm not surprised at all by that price. It is pretty well known that out of all the Companion books, the one for DS9 is the best. Most of the rest contain little more than episode summaries, while the DS9 book is chock full of interesting information about each and every episode, provided by the showrunners themselves.

No propaganda like the rest of the Companions. Just the real scoop.

The book was not hugely popular when they came out, so it doesn't surprise me that it's OOP. But as time wears on and more people who dismissed DS9 originally actually WATCH the show and fall in love with it, the demand for those books grows.

I'm really glad I got my copy when it came out.

But whatever the price is now? It's not likely to get any cheaper.

 

[kevjulian]

Another place to look, if you have any in your area, is the Half-Price bookstores. I find a lot of my Star Trek reading material at a really reasonable and sometimes clearance price.

Kev

 

[Bad Atom]

It's worth much more than the $30 I spent on it when it first came out. A must-read.