Where are all the new Trek books?

[Christopher]

Maybe it's a "chicken and the egg" type of situation. There's less Star Trek books on the shelves, so less people are buying them. And because less people are buying them, there's less reason to have Star Trek books on the shelves.

As mentioned before, Trek books are still showing up on bestseller lists from time to time. People are still buying them, just not so much in brick-and-mortar stores. Looking over my sales figures from S&S, it looks like e-books account for over 40 percent of sales on my last few Trek novels. And though I can't tell from the provided info, I'm sure a large percentage of the print copies sold are going through Amazon and other online retailers rather than physical stores.

 

[RandyS]

In my neck of the woods, Barnes & Noble is the only game in town, so I always go in there to reserve the latest novel. Though I wish they weren't such Nazis about pushing rewards membership on me every single time. I tell them(through gritted teeth, every month) that I've done the math and I don't buy enough there in order for the membership to pay for itself.

They do the same to me. Just smile and say "no, thank you".

It's what I do.

 

[Idran]

Maybe it's a "chicken and the egg" type of situation. There's less Star Trek books on the shelves, so less people are buying them. And because less people are buying them, there's less reason to have Star Trek books on the shelves.

As mentioned before, Trek books are still showing up on bestseller lists from time to time. People are still buying them, just not so much in brick-and-mortar stores. Looking over my sales figures from S&S, it looks like e-books account for over 40 percent of sales on my last few Trek novels. And though I can't tell from the provided info, I'm sure a large percentage of the print copies sold are going through Amazon and other online retailers rather than physical stores.

I think Stephen was talking specifically about why numbers might be falling at B&M stores, not necessarily talking about sales numbers as a whole. And while the rise in e-book popularity is certainly a factor, the sort of feedback loop he's talking about could potentially be playing a role too, helping to encourage a transition from physical to e-book or B&M to online due to lower availability and thus driving B&M demand down even further.

 

[dstyer]

I used to always buy my new Trek books at a local book store, whichever one provided the best deal. Then, when they got shoved out of business in the later 80's due to the mall opening and the Waldenbooks offering loyalty programs, I went there. Then, it was Wal-Mart with the standard 10-20% off retail. I even got them through the comic store from time to time.

These days, however, B&N is the only place to get them physically, and the loyalty program doesn't pay for itself. With a family to support, I've had to resort to asking the library to order copies of the new books for the last year or so. I simply can't justify $8 per month on something that, while I love the escape, I'll likely only read once.

 

[JD]

I haven't been to my local B&N, which is the last surviving book store in my area, in years. The last time I was there I think they were down to only 1 or 1/2 a shelf of Trek books. We actually used to have three bookstores in our area, the B&N, a Borders and a bookstore in the mall, but the Borders shut down with all of the rest, and the bookstore in the mall disappeared during a big change over of stores in the mall years ago, and hasn't been replaced.

There are a hand full of books I want to read that aren't available as e-books, and if I decide to get them at B&N, I plan to see what the Trek selection looks like now.

 

[Stephen!]

I think Stephen was talking specifically about why numbers might be falling at B&M stores, not necessarily talking about sales numbers as a whole.

Yes. Although, I've never been in any Barnes and Noble stores personally. I don't think we even have them in the UK. Although the situation is similar to Waterstones and WH Smith.

Oddly, when The Fall series was released, "The Crimson Shadow" never seemed to be available anywhere, despite the other four books being available. I haven't seen DS9 "The Missing" either. Discrimination against Una's books .... I'll probably buy them as ebooks at some point, since I still need to use my Amazon gift voucher.

 

[ZappaDanMan]

I'm about 50-50 in my split between e-books and physical. Being in Australia, I've found local brick and mortar disappearing. I buy from bookdespository.com (which I beleive is now a amazon company in the UK), which is very cheap way to buy books with no shipping, if your fine with waiting a week.

 

[20fridge]

I've been able to find most of the recent treklit at my local Barnes and Noble. They have about a shelf and a half of treklit with the tree or four most recent books and a strange collection of books from the last two years (like one of the Cold Equations books, three books from the fall, two typhon books, etc).

 

[Greg Cox]

I still see the most recent Trek books in stores, but when it comes to the older, backlist titles, my royalties are almost all from ebooks these days.

That's actually one of the positive aspects of the ebook thing. People are rediscovering some of my older books, like Dragon's Honor, that had been hard to find for years.

 

[Kilana2]

I still see the most recent Trek books in stores, but when it comes to the older, backlist titles, my royalties are almost all from ebooks these days.

That's actually one of the positive aspects of the ebook thing. People are rediscovering some of my older books, like Dragon's Honor, that had been hard to find for years.

I prefer paperbacks. And I keep on asking `Where is my Khan novel´?. (It will be released these days, but I still think `why does it take so long?´). (Cross Cult has already sold almost 40 of the Khan Vol. 1 novels at the FedCon )

Some of the (German) novels are nowhere to be seen. Ordering them online is the only option left for me. In my local book store at the train station they have always only one ST novel (sadly not the latest ones).

 

[Greg Cox]

I actually prefer physical books, too, but will happily accept ebook royalties.

 

[Kilana2]

I actually prefer physical books, too, but will happily accept ebook royalties.

I hope the German Khan novels sell well enough to make Cross Cult reconsider the release of `To reign in Hell´. No matter the format . There are many ebook refuseniks to be found on their Facebook page. I wonder if ebooks sell better in the US.

 

[20fridge]

Huh, I guess I'm spoiled then... I live not too far from a used book store with a whole wall of treklit. It's mostly numbered TOS, numbered TNG (including Dragon's Honor), and two shelves of newer treklit (including the first few typhon pact books). I've filled quite a few gaps in my collection from it, including a few books from the last couple years.

 

[Kilana2]

Huh, I guess I'm spoiled then... I live not too far from a used book store with a whole wall of treklit. It's mostly numbered TOS, numbered TNG (including Dragon's Honor), and two shelves of newer treklit (including the first few typhon pact books). I've filled quite a few gaps in my collection from it, including a few books from the last couple years.

That's what I used to do between 1995 and 2002 .

 

[Idran]

I actually prefer physical books, too, but will happily accept ebook royalties.

I hope the German Khan novels sell well enough to make Cross Cult reconsider the release of `To reign in Hell´. No matter the format . There are many ebook refuseniks to be found on their Facebook page. I wonder if ebooks sell better in the US.

Based on this report, ebook sales are still fairly low in Germany overall, but they've been growing, going from 0.8% of book sales for private use in 2011 (the first year sales of ebooks specifically were tracked by the German Publishers & Booksellers Association) to 3.9% in 2013. For comparison, the Association of American Publishers reported in 2013 that at the time ebooks made up around 25% of all book sales, fiction and nonfiction alike, though they didn't distinguish between sales for private use and sales for educational use. Still, the growth of ebooks as a market share has been slowing in recent years in the US; it's still on the rise, but at a much slower rate than it had been just a handful of years ago.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

I love the term "ebook refuseniks."

 

[Kilana2]

I love the term "ebook refuseniks."

Being SciFi fan and rejecting ebooks is a contradiction in terms.

 

[Greg Cox]

I love the term "ebook refuseniks."

Being SciFi fan and rejecting ebooks is a contradiction in terms.

Nah. It just means you're old and set in your ways.

Kids these days with their new-fangled gizmos . . . .

 

[Kilana2]

Obviously only few people read hard copy books in the 24th century, Picard among them (Shakespeare edition etc.). Who wants to read Shakespeare with one of the fancy gadgets?
People prefer holodecks and holonovels in the future.
I wouldn't be into playing Jane Austen or Theodor Fontane stories in a holodeck, if I had the chance to do so.

I appreciate the covers of the printed novels. On the other hands, a huge book collection needs space (that I'm gladly be willing to provide)

 

[Christopher]

Well, ideally, one shouldn't read Shakespeare for the full effect. It's meant to be performed. Holodecks are probably an ideal way of experiencing it, since they're not unlike the experience of live theater.