Bookseller Pulls Axanar Merchandise

Axanar CD and Patches ‘Out of Stock’ After Report Seller Appeared to Have Doctored Image

After criticism the Author, Author! website had doctored an image of the Prelude soundtrack’s packaging to remove Star Trek references, the online bookseller claimed all its Axanar merchandise was suddenly “out of stock.”

See also: Website Sells Axanar Merchandise for Big Potential Profits

NOT FOR SALE Axanar patches once featured on the Author, Author! homepage were suddenly out of stock less than a week later.

The bookseller’s website mid-day on November 2, 2017, suddenly announced both the soundtrack and the patches it had started selling a week before were gone.

Also, the “Axa Stuff” product category featured on the homepage had its label changed to “SciFi Fans.” Formerly, the product category page had displayed Axanar merchandise alongside licensed Star Trek products.

NO MORE STAR TREK After claiming no merchandise referred to Star Trek, an actual reference to Star Trek on the Prelude soundtrack appeared to have been scrubbed from the Author, Author! website. Click image to view full size.

Hayden initially claimed “no item we have in stock contains any wording or reference to Star Trek.“ However, as AxaMonitor reported just a couple of days later, Author, Author’s image of the CD’s back cover appeared to have had two Star Trek references digitally removed. Asked about this, Hayden refused to comment.

Then the back cover image disappeared from the Author, Author! website.

Despite an apparently large inventory stored at Peters’ warehouse, known as OWC Studios in Lawrenceville, Ga., buyers saw a notice on the Author, Author! homepage stating:

We are now out of stock of “Prelude to Axanar” Soundtrack. Please sign up for our newsletter to learn when we have more copies in stock.¹⁾

On the afternoon of November 2, the announcement was changed to read:

We are now out of stock of “Prelude to Axanar” Soundtrack and patches. Please Sign up for our newsletter to learn when we might have more copies in stock.²⁾

INVENTORY This photo from Axanar’s October 21 open house depicts Author, Author’s Laura Beard Hayden standing in front of cases of Prelude to Axanar soundtrack CDs and patches. She now claims she’s out of stock and may not get more. Click image to view full size.

In response to an email query by a customer attempting to order the soundtrack, the website’s operator, Axanar fan Laura Beard Hayden explained:

Thanks so much for your order. Unfortunately, we’ve had an inventory miscount and we’re out of stock of the Prelude to Axanar soundtrack. We have no idea if we’ll get additional copies. We had only a limited number and one copy appeared to be damaged and wasn’t taken out of the original count.³⁾

While Hayden claimed she had received only “a limited number” of the soundtrack CDs, the inventory she appeared to be taking at an Axanar “open house” on October 21 showed an entire rack of cases of the CDs labeled ‘soundtrack’ in Peters’ OWC Studios warehouse.

Just a week before, Hayden had launched a new line of Axanar merchandise, called “Axa Stuff,” reportedly cast off by OWC Studios head Alec Peters.

As part of his settlement in the copyright lawsuit brought against him by CBS and Paramount Pictures, Peters had to take down Axanar’s “Donor Store,” and was prohibited from otherwise selling his inventory of products.

Those products were offered for sale by Peters, and were manufactured using at least $25,142 donated by Star Trek fans for production of the Axanar feature film. Under the settlement terms, that feature now will never be made.

Even with the removal of the patches and the Prelude soundtrack from sale, Hayden seemed to indicate more Axanar merchandise was coming, with an invitation for visitors to sign up for the Author, Author! newsletter “to learn when we … receive more Axa-Stuff!”⁴⁾

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