Memory Alpha
Register
Advertisement
Memory Alpha
Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

The term eBook is a short form of "electronic book", and refers to any type of electronic publication released to simulate the form of a print publication.

Novels[]

Many Star Trek novels have been released in this format. eBook releases of Star Trek novels concurrent with their print release are now standard practice, and Pocket Books has released its Star Trek back catalog in a number of eBook formats.

Original eBook publications were first trialled by Pocket Books in 2000 with the launch of the Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers series. These eBook-exclusive novellas were initially intended to have no print release, but were later collected and reprinted in standard paperback format.

At the time, there were no dedicated devices for reading eBooks – the launch of the series was intended to coincide with that of the Microsoft Reader software. [1] [2] The series continued for seven years.

Other early examples of Star Trek eBook releases include the hardcover release of the Star Trek: New Frontier novel Stone and Anvil, which included a CD-ROM containing all of the previous books in the series.

Two six-part miniseries were released in 2006 and 2007 to mark the 40th and 20th anniversaries of Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, respectively.

In March 2008, it was announced that original eBook publications from Pocket Books would go on hiatus. [3] Series editor Keith R.A. DeCandido later noted that the concept "was about ten years ahead of its time" and so failed to find the audience it needed, with SCE being cancelled just as devices such as the Amazon Kindle entered the market. [4]

Original eBook releases returned in 2011, in the form of one-shot novellas as part of the various ongoing novel series. Beginning with In Tempest's Wake, these books have been released under the Pocket Star Books electronic imprint of Pocket Books.

Original eBook publications[]

Reference books[]

Because of their typically image-heavy content, reference books are less often released in eBook format. The Magic of Tribbles: The Making of Trials and Tribble-ations is one of very few to have been released as an eBook exclusive. The first chapter of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion was also released, as promotion for the full print release. An eBook release of the third edition of the Star Trek Encyclopedia followed in 2011.

RPGs[]

Decipher has published supplements for the Star Trek Roleplaying Game as eBooks in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

External links[]

Advertisement