Paramount Pictures/History with Star Trek/Creating an overall Star Trek franchise/Print material franchise

The first, 1979, franchise book publications;The novel on the left and the reference book on the right.	The first, 1979, franchise book publications;The novel on the left and the reference book on the right.
Concurrently, parent company Gulf+Western, through Bluhdorn, had commissioned the development of an accompanying, The Motion Picture-themed, book line through subsidiary Pocket Books and its imprints, which it had acquired in 1975 (and therefore a sister company of Paramount Pictures), and from here on end merchandising and licensing became an integral part of a proactive overall marketing strategy (considerably hammered out by Frank Mancuso, Sr., who was appointed as the department's president after Steel had left), in the creation of a sustained Star Trek product line. In doing so, the franchise rescinded the license for Star Trek book titles other publishers held up until that point in time, Ballantine Books having been been the most notable one.
For over two-and-a-half decades Pocket Books was the only publisher of official Star Trek-related book titles, specifically novels, reference works, and calendars, the latter having also been the purview of Ballantine Books before 1979. Other print materials, most notably comics, were licensed out to other publishers.
For obvious, commercial reasons, the franchise requires licensed writers to write their real-world production reference works and articles for licensed magazines in an upbeat, somewhat celebratory and slightly promotional manner, and to shy away from any and all critical notes, on the franchise itself in particular, essentially exercising censorship. It was for this reasons that Pocket Books declined publishing the book Return to Tomorrow - The Filming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture for example (in which the dubious role of Paramount itself was highlighted, especially in regard to VFX company Robert Abel & Associates), its then chief editor deeming the copy too "non-" Ironically – considering the strained relationship the studio had with the Star Trek creator – by adhering to the franchise's stipulations, these real-world "reference" works somewhat conformed to Star Trek production history as postulated by Gene Roddenberry, especially by earlier authors, who were staunch Roddenberry acolytes, Allan Asherman, Susan Sackett, J.M. Dillard, and the Reeves-Stevens author couple in particular. The interview with The Motion Picture Screenplay Writer Harold Livingston in was heavily redacted for example, cutting out his highly troubled experiences with Roddenberry on the production. Regular magazine contributor Larry Nemecek has conceded franchise meddling with copy (source), as has Sandra Piller, widow of Producer Michael Piller, in regard to the latter's unpublished book. Nevertheless, there was one very noticeable exception to the franchise's rule however; the 1996 reference book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, authored by Robert Justman and Herb Solow and in which a very critical account was proffered on the creation of The Original Series and on its creator Roddenberry in particular. It is somewhat of a mystery why the franchise has sanctioned the publication of such a highly "non-puffery" title, but it is conceivable they did so as it mostly pertained to the Desilu days and/or that it was a way of the franchise "to get back" at the troublesome Roddenberry. to the franchise's taste. Nevertheless, aside from actual illegal publications, the franchise was unable to curtail the prolific publications of, often more critical, unlicensed (therefore not rarely deemed "illegal" and/or undesirable from the franchise's point-of-view) but legal reference works – those of Schuster & Schuster and (auto)biographies in particular, and eventually including Return to Tomorrow as well – , or any article written by journalists for otherwise unaffiliated magazines for that matter, as these were published making the fullest use of the "works of journalistic/academic nature" exemption clauses in copyright laws, though this meant these publications could not legally feature any Star Trek copyrighted imagery. As of 2002, the franchise has opted not to publish reference works – both in-universe as well as real-world – themselves anymore, but rather to license them out to mostly non-affiliated publishers.
As far as specialized Star Trek magazines were concerned, the franchise has until recently opted to farm out licenses to outside publishers. The very first such known publisher was Starlog Press, acquiring the license to carry the denomination "official" in the title of their "upbeat" 1980s-1990s spin-off official movie magazine series, from the 1982 Wrath of Khan magazine onward. Starlog was chosen as its (over which the franchise had no editorial control due to the "works of journalistic nature" exemption clause) founding editors were unadulterated "Trekkies", profusely reporting on Star Trek, even though interviews were featured with former Star Trek performers and production staffers – predominantly from the Original Series and The Motion Picture-era – who, on occasion, vented opinions, the franchise had preferred not to see in print, much of which actually turning up as edited copy in the Schuster & Schuster publications. Nevertheless, aside from the movie specials, it netted Starlog Press the right to publish the recurrent, subsequent "official" The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager magazine series from which any and all critical observations were omitted. There was however, a definite upside of having been able to carry the "official" moniker in title of the spin-off publications; in return of surrendering some of its editorial freedoms as well as magazine revenues, Starlog writers and journalists were given uninhibited access to the sound stages, performers, production staffers, and studio archives – therefore becoming notable for the publication's reproduction of production material, rarely seen afterwards – enabling these publications to report on the inside story of any Star Trek production in detail first, at a time when Star Trek frenzy was rapidly reaching a peak.
Pursuant to the 1982 Starlog Press license, the franchise has considerably tightened its (editorial) grip on magazine publications it has licensed to carry the moniker "official" in their (sub-)titles. These included, most notably, (from 1995 onward and being the original 1979 "official" fanclub magazine), (partially absorbing the function Communicator had upon its default in 2005), and , the US off-shoot of the equally "official" Star Trek Fact Files and its international variants. The latter, which ran from 1999 till 2003, was presented as a higher-quality (attempting to come across as less fan club like and less heavy on merchandise peddling), glossy, lifestyle like magazine, though a five percent page count in each issue served as an impromptu franchise message board as well as merchandise product placements, disguised as articles, whereas an additional ten percent still consisted of actual merchandise advertisements. A more recent "official" release in this regard is the British Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection partwork publication and its derivatives, like Starlog and The Magazine before them lacking any and all critical observations.
In 2002, the print franchise took it up a notch when it reconsidered the status of reference works written from an in-universe point of view. Henceforth only the , the , and the 1991 Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (all of which co-written by Mike Okuda) were considered by the franchise as the sole primary reference sources for all subsequent in-universe reference works; as such these three works were in essence elevated to the status of "quasi-canon". Licensed works of this kind released afterwards by outside publishers after Pocket Books was removed from the franchise mix around 2008 – such as the later GE Fabbri (publisher of Fact Files), Haynes Publishing, and Eaglemoss Collections (publisher of The Official Starships Collection) Star Trek publications – are required to be in concordance with the information contained within these three works, with the Okuda author couple not rarely assigned to these later publications as "technical consultants" to ensure compliance. As a consequence, all previously fully licensed/endorsed/authorized in-universe reference works were no longer considered official references – including such fan favorites as, most notably, Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual as well as Shane Johnson's Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise and Worlds of the Federation. Labeled "unofficial", these works were de facto debunked and demoted by the franchise to the apocryphal status of novels, comics, non-production art (such as Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendars), and (computer) games. It is in this respect that "official", when used in a title, has gained an additional meaning, as it presently also signifies a work in compliance with canon, besides being a licensed work. ()