Hardy Boys book drought incoming?

Bigfootman · June 16, 2023, 04:09:07 PM

So the Adventures are very likely cancelled, and we have no news on what is coming next for the Hardy Boys. From what I could tell (the dates of fourm posts), we got news about the Adventures series not that long after the UBs ended. However, it doesn't look like the Adventures sold all that well, getting even less books then the UBs did. I'm worried that S and S might decide to stop writing Hardy Boys for now.

tomswift2002 · June 16, 2023, 04:36:39 PM

My local bookstore (new) has not carried any Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew in about 5 years, and about a month-and-a-half-ago I was at a Chapters about two hours from me and they didn't have any on the shelves either, so I think the sales have been bad. I also noticed on S&S's American site that every single Hardcover edition of the Adventures was still available. I never saw a Hardcover in a physical store, and when the series first started, it was announced that the Hardcovers would only be produced at 50% or less per book. The first three books, as I recall had for a first print run 10,000 paperbacks and 5,000 hardcovers. Then book four had for a first print run 10,000 paperbacks and 2,500 hardcovers.

MacGyver · June 16, 2023, 09:06:11 PM

Time will tell. We don't know for sure that the Adventures series is canceled yet. Whatever happens, I'm not really worried about it honestly.

SkyWarp · June 28, 2023, 04:48:07 PM

Technically as of today, (if the adventures and clue books are done) is this the first time there has not been an ongoing numbered Hardy Boys series since the beginning of the Hardy Boys? If we count the clue books and clue brothers, I don't think we have ever not had at least one series running (if we account for long breaks in-between numbers).

Hmmm, maybe there was a break for two months between the Digests and the Undercover Brothers.

Now they just need to resurrect the Casefiles (assuming they could do them well).

Honestly, I think reading in general is dead. At least in the vain of making money as a business for middle aged children or teens. Especially if one could legally in the United States create brand new stories and sell them (with some significant restrictions on what they can use for a few years at least).

NZone · June 28, 2023, 08:49:39 PM

I don't know, my wife is a fourth grade teacher and the kids still like to read quite a bit. Hardy Boys are in that target range for sure. Books like Dogman are really popular. I think it's incompetent S&S publishing to blame since the early 2000s.

SkyWarp · June 29, 2023, 12:13:16 AM

Are those kids willing to (or parents willing to) buy the books though? I don't know, just asking. If S&S can't make money, it doesn't matter.

NZone · June 29, 2023, 08:53:03 AM

I believe so, they are always at Costco.

tomswift2002 · June 29, 2023, 04:08:04 PM

We should also remember that over the past 2 years, S&S has been undergoing things that could've affected the publishing schedules of numerous book lines. The major thing was its sale to Random House, which was later blocked and canceled. However while that "sale" was proceeding, Random House may've started things that they would've wanted changed, and they might've asked for a halt on some of S&S's long-running series while the transition was happening. However, once that was cancelled, whatever had been halted would've had to have been unhalted. I know that with the Star Trek line, the contract came up for renewal during that time, so that line was paused, and it's taking a little while to get new book's written under the new contract. There were still books under the old contract that still had to be published, but there's going to be a gap while new contracts with authors are drawn up and the books are written. S&S outright owns the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and the post-1927 Tom Swift books, but they might need to wait to get them back up again. Or they may have decided that it was time to review all the numbers regarding the series and see what they should do.

MysteryFan89 · June 29, 2023, 09:42:21 PM

Can they bring back the Casefiles? I'd love that.

tomswift2002 · July 26, 2023, 10:57:21 AM

I just got The Smugglers Legacy and Undercover Bookworms today, both in paperback. Now then Bookworms was just released in late-May (June publication date) and it's still a 1st printing. However, Smugglers was released in January (February publication date) and it's still a first printing. I recall that when both the Undercover Brothers and Adventures launched, in some cases the books were in 2nd or third printings once they hit the 6th or 7th month of release. And with the UB's (and even going back to the last Mystery Stories and Casefiles) the last books only ever had 1 print run since the sales were not there.

tomswift2002 · August 01, 2023, 05:48:12 PM

So I go the hardcover of "Smugglers Legacy" yesterday and "Bookworms" today. Both are 1st printings. So I think both series are pretty much dead sellers.

Bigfootman · June 04, 2024, 07:21:26 PM

There has still been no news on new Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, and I noticed this on the Hardy Boys Wikipedia page regarding the Adventures series:
"No further titles are planned and editors stated lack of resources and other projects were taking precedent over publishing new titles."

Bigfootman · November 16, 2024, 09:04:04 AM

According to Series Books For Girls, S&S had said there will be a new Hardy Boys Adventures book coming out in 2025:
https://series-books.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-value-and-scarcity-of-beverly-gray.html?m=1
"There is an obvious crack in the Hardy Boys veneer, since the Hardy Boys Adventures series hasn't had a new title since 2023. Simon & Schuster has said that the Adventures series will have a new title in 2025."