(Assuming this is not sarcasm or parody).
The problem with hiring such unemployed english / history majors, is that they might not have any intrinsic interest in what they are writing.
In practice, I've found that the absolute worst reading material is stuff written by folks who don't appear...
Earlier this week when I was doing my weekly grocery shopping, I also dropped by a nearby bigbox bookstore and decided to pick up the sequel trilogy (force awakens, last jedi, rise of skywalker) and solo novelizations books. It turned out the books were a few dollars less than buying the...
This type ^ of book would be doa nowadays, if it is not published as an academic research study.
Nowadays it is very easy to find opinion/analysis for many tv shows online.
Especially if a (hypothetical) book is unauthorized and/or unlicensed, without violating any copyrights, trademarks, etc ..... (ie. No need to pay additional royalties).
Self-publishing is very easy nowadays via print-on-demand services on amazon, lulu, etc ....
One type of book which could interest me, would be something which compiles a lot of behind-the-scene details of short-lived sci-fi tv shows over the 20th century, which were not widely documented previously.
Basically stuff which is not star trek + roddenberry, outer limits, twilight zone...
Back in the day, I always wanted the Battlestar Galactica fotonovel. Though for some reason, I never came across it at the time. (As I got older, I lost interest in fotonovels).
https://en.battlestarwiki.org/Battlestar_Galactica:_The_Photostory
The only fotonovel I had, was a "Close...
In a very weird roundabout manner, reading a movie novelization book over a few days was actually a much more efficient use of my time/effort than watching the same movie over 3 or 5 times in order to remember enough details.
One of the big reasons why I prefer to read the Star Wars movie novelizations, is that I always had a hard time remembering anything after watching a movie at the theater. I have this strange "memory blackout" when it comes to watching live shows/concerts/plays or movies at a theater.
Even...
Nowadays in lieu of movie novelization books, I just read detailed reviews of movies with tons of spoilers.
As another example of this to the extreme, I just read the detailed episode synopses/summaries of recent/current episodes of shows like: Doctor Who, Star Trek, etc ... on the various...
(From a very different perspective).
Back in the day, I use to read novelizations of then-current movies BEFORE seeing the actual movie at the theater. This was my way of figuring out whether a particular movie was any good. I largely avoided movies which didn't seem to have a good story or...
In parallel, I noticed there was a gradual decline/demise of the movie tie-in novel.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/31045._FAVORITE_MOVIE_TIE_INS_NOVELIZATIONS_
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/18430.Novelizations
I remember back in the 1990s reading then-current movie tie-in...
The type of "artwork" book I'm thinking of, might be something like the books which compiled tons the artwork from rpg game books like Warhammer, Dungeons & Dragons, or more recently Pathfinder. Somewhat different than a tv show or cartoon, the companies which made Dungeons & Dragons and...
Thinking about this more.
Could a book of conceptual artwork from these 90s era cartoons, be viable today? Perhaps if it is sold through the comic book channels?
I'm guessing the audience for such a title, might be the hardcore comic book collector types.
On the other hand, the types of tv/movie books which still have a viable market today, are in-universe novels of franchises like: Star Wars, Star Trek, etc ....
ie. The usual suspects.
Unfortunately nothing to do with behind-the-scenes type stuff the OP has in mind, unless you're into "West...
I never picked up these books back in the day.
I only ever picked them up when I saw them in dump bins or book fairs for $1 a pop, more than a decade later. The first three volumes I saw quite often in bargain bins and thrift shops. I have never seen the final 6th volume. Volumes 4 and 5 I...
A prominent example of what was viable back in the day, slightly before such books became superfluous/nonviable, were the X-Files "official guide" books from the mid-late 1990s.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/201431
There were six "official guide" books which were episode guides compiled...
I don't know what other services Bear Manor offers in their publishing contracts.
As a wild guess, could they offer legal services which handle licensing issues with the movie/tv studios and estates of movie stars of yesteryear? Judging by their back catalog currently in-print.
From the outside, it appears Bear Manor Media is a small press publisher.
My guess is either they do small print runs inventory which can last many years (or over a decade), or many titles are print-on-demand (such as softcovers). This would likely be viable for a highly specialized niche...
(In a more general sense)
I suspect the market for dedicated books about a tv show, the main customers would be the hardcore fans/audience.
As time went on after y2k or so, more or and more behind-the-scenes stuff about current tv shows showed up online, which hardcore fans would be following...