Important: Save Trek Profic Campaign

[tish]

Excellent article, Aquarius! I will continue to sent the twitter for more ENT periodically. Who knows, maybe one oth those authors will pick it up as well!!

[Aquarius]

Thanks -- but I believe ShannaG deserves the credit.

[Glory1863]

Shaanna I just read your article it's very disappointing that there won't be anew Enterprise novel.Nice to see you commenting about fans concern about the Startrek book franchise. and the new editors refuse to answer writers concerns and fans alike about why certain Startrek books series won't be published anymore.

This lack of communication leads me to ask:

At what point does one stop working with the license holder and work directly with the franchise holder to get the license revoked and awarded to another entity that would be more responsive to fans and authors alike?

What's involved with revoking a license? Is a license typically a long term deal that is up for renewal every, let's say, 10 years? Or is it easier than that? Harder than that? What happens to the product produced by the old license holder in terms of reprints?

Just curious and looking for information.

[Reanok]

The lack of Communication from the book editors nottalking to the writers and fans , certainly is a concern.With no answers from them about the future of the Startrek book line future being precarious .One thing I noticed about when 10 years ago when you had editors Like John Ordover ,Marco Palmieri and Margaret Clark.They were Startrek fans and a variety of writersbeing Startrek fans you certainly had better storries with emphasis on the Startrek characters. Last week I bought some Startrek books from the early 2000s and the book I'm reading now Star Trek Gemini the story is all about the characters. I was glad to see some of the new TOS books coming out this year are weiters like Gred Gox and Dayton ward who areTOS fans finally got their books published . It should have happened a long time ago.Paramount movie studios own the book companies Simon&Schuster and Pocket books so It does make you wonder with a new Startrek movie being filmed the lack of book news right now or support for their novels. A friend of mine who used to do book reviews of the Enterprise novels at Trek movie told me there was a major falling out between the website and the bookpublishers .No more early book releases for the reviewers to read and review for trekmovie also no more book news updates.Which I think is really unfair to fans of all the different Startrek book series.

[EntAllat]

Shaanna I just read your article it's very disappointing that there won't be anew Enterprise novel.Nice to see you commenting about fans concern about the Startrek book franchise. and the new editors refuse to answer writers concerns and fans alike about why certain Startrek books series won't be published anymore.

This lack of communication leads me to ask:

At what point does one stop working with the license holder and work directly with the franchise holder to get the license revoked and awarded to another entity that would be more responsive to fans and authors alike?

What's involved with revoking a license? Is a license typically a long term deal that is up for renewal every, let's say, 10 years? Or is it easier than that? Harder than that? What happens to the product produced by the old license holder in terms of reprints?

Just curious and looking for information.

That's a good question and something worth poking around about. I actually had a similar thought (though not one I was inclined to act on - I dont want to get into the publishing business) when I was looking at the state of Stargate franchise novels. I'd like to write for that franchise but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. The books that have been published by the small company don't seem to be hitting any high notes with fans of the series, they don't have many coming out and everything is by invitation only, to already published writers.

Without knowing the business side of the industry, that still doesn't seem like a recipe for sucess to me. If I'm an already published writer with a decent following and royalties, why the heck would I be interested in writing for a sci-fi franchise when I would typically get a LOT less in royalties from that contract?

Anyway. I dunno what would be the right way to publish these sorts of books, but it seem like the publishers don't know either. I strongly suspect that a company that focused entirely on these sorts of books (like Creation Con focuses entirely on fandom conventions) would be far more effective and lucrative than trying to shoe-horn in a line into a traditional publisher. I.e. publish everything from Star Trek to Star Wars, to Eureka, to Supernatural, to ... you see what I mean? And only those kinds of books, partnering with other money-making aspects of fandom that seem to be doing well, like Comic-Con, etc.

[lfvoy]

I strongly suspect that a company that focused entirely on these sorts of books (like Creation Con focuses entirely on fandom conventions) would be far more effective and lucrative than trying to shoe-horn in a line into a traditional publisher. I.e. publish everything from Star Trek to Star Wars, to Eureka, to Supernatural, to ... you see what I mean? And only those kinds of books, partnering with other money-making aspects of fandom that seem to be doing well, like Comic-Con, etc.

Which leads back to the idea of getting into the publishing business, which I don't particularly want to do either.

But I had another thought, one that combines with the eBooks comments that were made upthread. There are a number of small publishers already who focus exclusively on eBooks (though they'll partner with a printing press if demand gets high enough). These folks are already in the publishing business. I wonder if one of them would know about the licensing, or have some ideas about resources?

I used to know one of the owners of Lulu but it was a passing acquaintance and I haven't talked to her in years. But does anyone else here know someone at one of these smaller publishers? I'm sure they'd jump at the chance for something like this if the licensing could be worked out.

Pocket/Gallery hasn't always held the license for Trek, after all. And I do believe that some unlicensed stuff did get published back in the 1970s or so.

[Aquarius]

I don't know which "unlicensed" stuff you're talking about, but I do know that there was a line of novels that DelRey published in the 1970s, and not long after that Pocket Books got the contract. Same publisher, but it was their "Timescape" imprint (which no longer exists) that they were published under, because it handled all the science fiction and fantasy they did. When Timescape was phased out, the novels began bearing the Pocket Books logo.

Someone told me a long time ago why the switch was made from Bantam to Pocket Books, but it's been so long I don't remember a thing about it. I couldn't even tell you if it was Star Trek who dropped Bantam, or if Bantam dropped Star Trek.

Regardless, I'm not sure that the licensing is going to end up in the hands of one of the "little guys." Star Trek has gotten more and more corporatized since Gene's passing. The franchise is becoming less and less fan-friendly. CBS is a huge corporate entity and I think it's a reasonable assumption that they're only going to want to play ball with a big publisher that they think can make them lots of money and get those books as penetrated as possible. They are also going to work with a publisher they can control.

In terms of trying to shoe horn a line like this into a big publisher, that's what all the big publishers' imprints are for. They're just different divisions that handle more specialized things, as Timescape Was Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books sci-fi division, which Pocket Books later absorbed. If we're thinking along the lines of specialization, the trick would be to find a big publisher that has a healthy and thriving sci-fi/fantasy imprint, and one that's handling media sci-fi well (ie books based on TV shows and movies). Because face it: there's still a lot of literary snobbery out there, and even in this day in age in our lit department if someone will cop to liking sci-fi, it's only the classics, and they'll consider Star Trek or Star Wars as the "junk food" of the genre. So it's not enough that a publisher can handle sci-fi, what *kind* of sci-fi is important, too.

And again, a lot of this is moot because we don't *know* why Enterprise is getting the shaft at Simon & Schuster. In my gut I believe that it has a lot to do with the serialized nature of the stories and people not liking the storyline they've run with. Yes, I understand the sacrifices that people made to get the books made and I appreciate them despite whatever shortcomings, if any, I believe they have. But the fact remains, the chosen way of doing things doesn't leave the reader much option, so the publisher hasn't left much wiggle room for personal taste. They took on something that was a sore spot in the fandom -- Trip's death -- and tried to make it right, but the fact remains that not everyone finds the way the problem was corrected credible. Furthermore, even if they do find it credible, some have gotten antsy and frustrated and feel like, "Enough already, put Trip back with the crew and let's have a new adventure." That is where I feel the crux of the problem is. Others may disagree. I'm just not convinced that getting the license yanked from Simon & Schuster is the best course of action at this point, when we don't know why things are happening. This could all be a result of directives from CBS for all we know -- at which point it won't matter *who* is publishing the books, because the same people are going to be pulling the strings from the top.

I believe the focus should be on getting a response from the publisher, an official statement.

[EntAllat]

And again, a lot of this is moot because we don't *know* why Enterprise is getting the shaft at Simon & Schuster.

[...]

I believe the focus should be on getting a response from the publisher, an official statement.

True! While a lot of great questions have come up and it's all fascinating to speculate on, if we're going to actually accomplish something we need to focus. And this, a response from the publisher about whether or not there are any forthcoming ENT novels and what the future holds for the Star Trek novels, is exactly what we need.

We got a response on Twitter, even if it was not quite what we were hoping for. I say let's push again on Twitter. ShannaG's article is out there - lets tweet it, retweet it, talk about it, and @reply the publishers! Post a link to it on forums and Facebook! Push for a response from the publisher!

Trek.fm posted my article this morning: Enterprise Fans Concerned about the Future of Star Trek Novels. I hope you all like it, and I hope it helps the cause.

In the meantime I've got two important projects I'm trying to finish this month before I have to take some time off from everything (for just a little while). While I'm working on those, I'll come up with another letter aimed at CBS rather than the publishers.

[Reanok]

There's an Enterprise book thread at Trek bbs .Someone posted a quote from Micheal Martins facebook saying that the sales of latest Enterprise novel will determine the future of the Enterprise . Another Trek writer Lonemagpie Mentioned how he pitched sveral Story ideas that took place during the tv series that the editors seem to be the one who rejected his story ideas .He said back to the derawing board.They've also been commenting about the future of the books.I don't think pulling the liscense from Pocket books is the way to go right now.Getting straight answer from the publishers would be a good idea .

[Hummingbird2]

Another Trek writer Lonemagpie Mentioned how he pitched sveral Story ideas that took place during the tv series that the editors seem to be the one who rejected his story ideas .

Yeah, I read that. Darn shame, I was really hoping that he was going to write one *sigh*.