Sales of trek books?

[KRAD]

^ Thanks! However, while most of the people who bought AotF seemed to like it very much, not nearly enough people showed up in the first place, as it were.

C'est la vie. There's more than one way to skin a president......

 

[terpette]

Sales figures also don't take into account poor readers like me, who raid the local library for books. One of them actually has quite a decent scifi collection.

Karen

 

[bennyrex]

Yay for library users! And decent sci-fi collections!

 

[Therin of Andor]

terpette said:
Sales figures also don't take into account poor readers like me, who raid the local library for books.

Here in Australia, the Australian Society of Authors successfully lobbied the federal government to set up "lending rights" for its members represented in public and school libraries.

Previously, our books were always tax free, but there was no escaping compulsory 10% GST, so they lobbied for the promise that GST on books would be used to compensate authors for "lost" repeat sales in lending libraries. (Otherwise, authors only get the one royalty when the library purchases its copy of the book.)

Libraries are regularly surveyed, Australian authors' lending popularity ranked, and small, extra royalty payments are made annually.

 

[Technobuilder]

captcalhoun said:
no, the whole thing is moot.

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

Agh! I do that sometimes. My apologies.

 

[captcalhoun]

's okay. just made me chuckle and think i could make a funny...

 

[Baerbel Haddrell]

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

I think there is no reason to assume that should PAD stop writing NF for any reason that the series is automatically finished. "No Limits" shows that also other authors can write NF very well. I am hoping that PAD will continue writing NF for a VERY long time and whatever happens, I am also hoping that other writers would be prepared to continue the series. Of course this depends on Pocket Books and what they decide. I think it would definitely help should PAD make his wishes clear.

Speaking of "No Limits" - what about a new collection of NF short stories? I would love to read more.

 

[FordSVT]

^ 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.

Is S&S/Pocket publicly traded?

 

[BrotherBenny]

^ Thanks! However, while most of the people who bought AotF seemed to like it very much, not nearly enough people showed up in the first place, as it were.

C'est la vie. There's more than one way to skin a president......

KRAD, Bacco is more likely to skin you.

I happen to be reading AoTF for the...er...nth time since it is actually my favourite ST book. I still can't believe it didn't sell well enough to warrant a follow up - though you could circumvent that by doing an eBook series, with each book following a month in the Palais!!

It would make me buy eBooks!!

I'd like to know how well some books have sold, just for curiosity's sake.

 

[Geoff Thorne]

^ 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.

Is S&S/Pocket publicly traded?

Since they are owned by VIACOM I'm going to guess, yes. Insofar as Viacom is publicly traded.

 

[Christopher]

Actually the company that owns Simon & Schuster is now called CBS Corporation, but otherwise you're right, it is publicly traded.

 

[FordSVT]

Actually the company that owns Simon & Schuster is now called CBS Corporation, but otherwise you're right, it is publicly traded.

Many aspects of a publicly traded company are available somehow to investors and potential investors, sales numbers for books apparently is not?

 

[William Leisner]

^ Sales numbers for S&S in total, maybe. Perhaps even sales numbers broken down by imprint. But no investor is going to give a shit how many copies of the latest Trek novel sold. Considering what a tiny sliver of CBS/Paramount's business is books, painfully few CBS investors are likely to care about the publishing part of the corporation at all.

 

[RTOlson]

I can see the argument that the specific information is proprietary, but general indications help offer insight. General information could be an important reality check to fan reactions.

Take a look at tech manuals, I'm sure a ton of fans and TrekBBSers love 'em (and I know some who don't ). When an enthusiastic fan asks when another tech manual will be published, the editors have been gracious enough to let us know that it's just not economically feasible based on recent sales.

Do I need specific numbers? Unless I'm going to print my own book or doing legit research, I probably don't.

Another things that's sales related are the trends on sites like Amazon. I don't use them much, but it's kinda fun to see how books I'm interested are faring on this virtual Great River.

Aside from sales information, I've found use in other information about the industry (like not to pitch your awesome story idea here). Even the discussion about advances and royalties has been instructive into the reality of the fiction business.

 

[RTOlson]

Considering what a tiny sliver of CBS/Paramount's business is books, painfully few CBS investors are likely to care about the publishing part of the corporation at all.

Because I'm a goof, I actually wanted to know how big of a slice publishing is at CBS Corp.

A quick look at CBS' annual report to the Securities and Exchanges Commission shows that:

For the year ended December 31, 2007, contributions to the Company's consolidated revenues from its segments were as follows: Television 66%, Radio 12%, Outdoor 16% and Publishing 6%.

That's on revenues of $14.07 billion. There are many more nuggets in the report.

And now you know.

 

[FordSVT]

What would "Outdoor 16%" be comprised of?

 

[Dayton Ward]

If I had to guess, I'd say theme parks/attractions like the Experience in Vegas, etc. I know such places now are owned by other companies, but you can be sure CBS gets their cut.

 

[RTOlson]

^^
Apparently, Paramount sold off its major theme parks in 2006 according to Wikipedia.

Outdoor is all about advertising -- mostly billboards. Here's the blurb from the report:

OUTDOOR: The Outdoor segment displays advertising on media, including billboards, transit shelters, buses, rail systems (in-car, station platforms and terminals), mall kiosks and stadium signage principally through CBS Outdoor® and in retail stores through CBS Outernet™.

It's interesting how big of a chunk of a media conglomerate's business comes from billboards. For example, Clear Channel is known for all its radio stations, but they have a significant billboard presence as well.

Advertising sales in all of its various forms is CBS Corp.'s big money maker -- making up 72 percent of its revenues.

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ Works for me. Thanks for doing the diggin'!

 

[Therin of Andor]

General information could be an important reality check to fan reactions.

Since when?