Sales of trek books?

[JoeZhang]

I see a lot of comments on here that of the order "well that was a highly successful book" or "it was one of the worst selling trek books".

Where are people getting sales figures from and how?

I used to have a (minor) connection to publishing so am aware how "creative" some sales charts are, so I'd be interested to know what's currently considered a reliable source.

 

[Defcon]

The publisher doesn't release sales figures, so most of the time when we hear something about how succesful a book was it comes from the authors themselve, one recent example would be KRAD who said that there won't be an "Articles of the Federation" follow up, because the sales of the book weren't good enough to warrant a follow up.

On the other side sometimes a Star Trek book hits a Bestseller list, so we know it sold well. (I could be wrong but I think the latest one was one of David Mack's "A Time to ...")

 

[Rosalind]

or when a book gets reprinted repeatedly.

 

[David Mack]

^ A Time to Heal did hit the USA Today list in 2004, as did KRAD's A Time for War, A Time for Peace the following month. I don't know if any Trek books have hit bestseller lists since then, however.

 

[Cicero]

^ Titan: Taking Wing also made the USA Today list, but I think it was the last.

I've also never understood the logic behind not releasing sales figures. As explained, it's to do with the figures being proprietary (always a nonsense concept, no matter the business) and private, as they determine author payment (though given that we don't know the royalty rate or advance, I'm not sure what the trouble is there, either).

 

[KRAD]

^ See, my feeling is the other way around. I don't see why it matters to anyone outside of the people directly involved with the creation of something how much it sells/performs. That's a private economic matter that's utterly irrelevant to anyone who isn't financially affected by it.

 

[nickyboy]

what are the best selling trek books or recent?? Also regarding new frontier, the series started off being a best selling series and we were furnished with lots of new frontier books. Over the last few years the number of new frontier books has dropped. The last book being 2 years ago. Is the drop in the number of new frontier books due thier dropping sales or because peter david is too busy??

 

[Turtletrekker]

^Probably "too busy", among other things I'm sure. New Frontier books are all now initially released as hardcovers. They don't do that with series that aren't selling very well.

 

[JD]

I'd say to busy too, he's writing like 3 or 4 different comic book series now. Along with several Marvel movie novleisations(sp).

 

[Ktrek]

I hope he becomes unbusy enough to write us at least two more novels and maybe bring the series to a conclusion so we can at least have a satisfactory ending. I love the series but I would rather it come to a close than to have Peter David disappear into the sunset and never give us closure.

Kevin

 

[Trent Roman]

Does Peter David seem sunset-bound to you for some reason?

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Ktrek]

Trent Roman said:
Does Peter David seem sunset-bound to you for some reason?

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

Well...since one of my favorite authors died (Robert Jordan) I do not take anything for granted. He had only one book left to finish his legacy of The Wheel of Time series (13 huge volumes) and has passed on before he could complete it. Robert Jordan was only seven years older than Peter David. Do I think Peter David could be reaching his sunset years? I hope not but he isn't getting any younger and mortality is something all of us must face. I just hope Peter doesn't wait as long as Robert did. If Robert hadn't wasted time on an unecessary "prequel" he would have completed his saga.

Kevin

 

[ATimson]

KRAD said:
^ See, my feeling is the other way around. I don't see why it matters to anyone outside of the people directly involved with the creation of something how much it sells/performs. That's a private economic matter that's utterly irrelevant to anyone who isn't financially affected by it.

I can certainly understand that. Still, much like movie box office sales or TV ratings, sometimes it'd be interesting to see just how popular certain books are. If nothing else, it would've been useful to have the Homecoming/The Farther Shore numbers a few years ago, to silence certain haters.

 

[Therin of Andor]

ATimson said:
If nothing else, it would've been useful to have the Homecoming/The Farther Shore numbers a few years ago, to silence certain haters.

Marco actually mentioned, several times, whenever Homecoming/The Farther Shore went into reprint; it made absolutely no difference. The "haters" you mention remained incredulous, and didn't believe that the duology could possibly be selling beyond printing expectations. Ditto when the next VOY duology went into reprint.

It's my bet that a lot of casual VOY fans, who don't normally read all ST tie-ins, saw the books in shops, or heard they were out, and were curious what happened after "Endgame". So they sold well, even though Internet reviews weren't uniformly positive.

In any case, a book going into reprint immediately after the first printing, or before release, (eg. "New Frontier: Stone and Anvil"; "Titan: Taking Wing") merely says that initial shop and customer demand was higher than originally projected. Books that go into reprint about six months after after release are probably a good sign that that title is still selling well.

 

[Trent Roman]

Therin of Andor said:
So they sold well, even though Internet reviews weren't uniformly positive.

How wonderfully diplomatic and understated. Politicians should hire you.

On topic, re: the useful of sales numbers. One might compare the situation to films, which do release their domestic, international and overall sales figures. Those figures are often the subject of discussion, and are frequently used (though not without debate) to demonstrate the success or lack thereof of a particular venture. They're also used (albeit with far less success) as predictors of future industry patterns. The major caveat to this comparison, of course, is that films are gestalt entities; when things go wrong, one can blame directors, scriptwriters, actors, producers, and a plethora of others. When a book fails, the blame is likely to be associated with the name(s) on the cover, so releasing sales figures, when they're poor, might be seen as a personal embarassement for whoever actually authored the work.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Technobuilder]

Of course, one has to understand that how well a book sells is by no means any indication of story quality or that author's writing ability. It just means it didn't sell well.

And there are so many factors to consider when a book doesn't sell well.

 

[ATimson]

Technobuilder said:
Of course, one has to understand that how well a book sells is by no means any indication of story quality or that author's writing ability. It just means it didn't sell well.

Story quality, etc. are opinions; sales are the only way to judge the majority view on them.

 

[Technobuilder]

^I'm sorry but that doesn't make any sense to me.

If you saying that sales of a book is the only way to determine if a book sold well, then yes I can understand and agree with that statement.

If however you are saying that sales is the only way to judge "the majority view", first of all I don't know what you meant when you said this.

I'm going to guess that you meant how a book is received by the readership at large.

Sales does not mean people liked your book, approved of your book, enjoyed your book, or even READ your book. Sales of a book just means that someone bought your book. Now, in terms of financial success, sales are a positive indicator.

But in terms of worth, value, quality, craftsmanship, etc., "Sales" (a quantitative measure) is not a good indicator as these are all qualitative measures.

I'm not opposed to looking at sales data, but I know for a fact that sales have in no way any bearing on how a story should be judged.

For example, from what I've heard, AotF didn't sell well, however, from what I've read, it happens to be regarded as a fantastic book and I'd have to agree with that.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, sold a jillion copies, and one of those happens to be on my shelf in the corner right now. I bought the book, I read the book, but I didn't think the book was that good in the middle and if not for the ending, would've been a waste of a good series.

Honestly we're not getting the sales data regardless so the whole thing is mute anyway. I mean, sure... I'd like to see what trends there are right now in buying patterns and track the rise of certain series over the years coupled with the introduction of certain authors, but even if we had it and it told me that "Before Dishonor" sold a million copies, I still wouldn't like that book. Opinions matter, especially in the world of literary fiction.

 

[captcalhoun]

no, the whole thing is moot.

then again, when sales figures aren't being released, maybe you're right. it is mute...

 

[Ro_Laren]

Defcon said:
The publisher doesn't release sales figures, so most of the time when we hear something about how succesful a book was it comes from the authors themselve, one recent example would be KRAD who said that there won't be an "Articles of the Federation" follow up, because the sales of the book weren't good enough to warrant a follow up.

Really? I'm surprised 'cause Articles of the Federation was such a good book!