Comments on: Interview: Toni Weisskopf, publisher of Baen Books

By: Larry Correia

Larry Correia — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:10:17 +0000

Like Mike above, I’m also a Baen author. Personally I love the e-books and the E-Arcs. Like he said, we still get paid solid royalties for them, and fans often buy hard copies as well. Toni encourages snippiting and openly communicating with our audience.

Plus, Toni is a pleasure to work for.

And Ted, if you’re looking for something not mil-SF from Baen e-books, I’ve got some contemporary fantasy over there… I’m just saying…

By: catherine muir

catherine muir — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:56:11 +0000

the only reason I don’t have an e-reader is the DRM stuff – but when I can get my desktop to co-operate I will still consider a baen download, because I know it will run! – doesn’t stop me buying the “real” version in hardback, though.

And please keep posting the “free” advance chapters – it helps me to know when to pre-order from my local bookstore and when I am content to wait for the delivery.

BTW – will there be a 3rd liaden unibus? I saw “Dragon Tide” was only bundled with another book which I already had, and I know there is at least one chapbook since then.

By: Michael Z. Williamson

Michael Z. Williamson — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:41:54 +0000

And from the author POV, I’m quite happy with Baen’s Webscription sales. Most of my fans who buy them do it for traveling, and still buy a paper copy. And if not, I make enough royalties off the e-copy to compensate. No loss of income.

Baen also puts novels up in the Baen Free Library, including one of mine. I get at least one new reader a week from that exposure.

By: Chris Meadows

Chris Meadows — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:49:26 +0000

I’ll never be able to figure out why people continue to think “ereaders don’t like the bath”. They like the bath more than paper books do. You can put an e-reader in a water-tight ziplock baggie and still be able to turn the pages while you read with no harm; you can’t turn pages in a paper book without getting water spots on them.

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:45:07 +0000

i found the baen website through a Mercedes Lackey novel by typing a search for the publishers something i have done often. And i find as i have sony ereader i buy ebooks from baen then when i find the physical book i buy that as well. Through them i have found authors you cant find too easily in the UK. I wish others would follow their lead. their way of working gets people from other countries to buy as well.
ps got to have the real book as well ereaders dont like the bath.

By: Paul Durrant

Paul Durrant — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:39:11 +0000

Chasm asked: “How expensive is DRM for ebooks?”

I only know an answer for Adobe Digital Editions, where it costs $5000 for the Content Server 4 software, $1500 per year for access to Adobe’s digital signing server, and then $0.22 for every ebook sold.

So if you sold 200,000 ebooks in your first year, you’d have spent just over $0.25 per book on the DRM.

Of course, if you only sold 10,000, that would be $0.87 per ebook.

Even $0.25 would be quite a large percentage of a $6 purchase price (just over 4%). And consider a webscription month – 6+ ebooks for $15. To add ADE would cost Baen $1.50, or 10%!

By: TomT

TomT — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:18:13 +0000

I’m currently waiting eagerly for the new book by Lee and Miller “Mouse and Dragon” to come out in EArc. So I can buy it and devour it. I also have already bought the Webscription month with that book in it, and I’ll be buying it when it comes out as a physical book. So Baen, Lee & Miller are all getting money 3 times this year from me for one book.

I blame it all on their model of selling books. And hey I can kick back and read it early on my IPod touch.

By: Chris Haston

Chris Haston — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:02:08 +0000

Baen does fantastic work, I buy their earcs, then I end up buying the hardback anyway. While I don’t mind reading on computer, I like the physical book as much if not more.

The prices are good, the response and connection to their customers at Baen’s Bar is phenomenal… while I tend to be a lurker rather than a poster, I do get a lot of information from the website.

I always recommend Baen to my friends.

By: Ted R.

Ted R. — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:38:34 +0000

Felix Torres: Yep, I’m aware of the existing variety outside military SF and alternate history. Problem is I’ve gone through most of them either many years ago (e.g. Heinlein) or more recently up to the very latest (Saltation, Sorceress of Karres eARCs). I want more. Call me greedy.

By: Luis

Luis — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:18:19 +0000

I bought the first webscription back in the day. That’s how I discovered many of my favorite writers (Flint, Ringo, Moon). Jim raised prices when the patrons of the bar told him he should (from $10 to $15 for a webscription order). When I have the money, I blindly buy all webscriptions. Common, $15 for 4+ books? That’s better than paperback prices.
One thought on DRM, the guys that pirate books would never buy them anyway, and DRM schemes are broken with impunity. Waste of money and time.

By: Felix Torres

Felix Torres — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:33:09 +0000

@Ted R: I’ve found a fair amount of variety in the Baen Webscriptions and while it is true their highest-visibility authors are known for their work in the combat sf/space opera or alternate history sub-genres, they offer plenty of quality stories beyond those areas.

(For example, they’re carrying several of Robert A. Heinlein’s legendary juveniles, as well as one of the al time great SF romps; THE WITCHES OF KARRES, the classic COLD EQUATIONS in a Tom Godwin anthology; Keith Laumer’s droll RETIEF and Imperium, even some clasic pulps.)

You might want to check out Rik Spoor’s BOUNDARY, or Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga (MOUNTAINS OF MOURNING is in the Baen Free Library) especally the MEMORY/MILES IN LOVE 4-novel arc (I reread A CIVIL CAMPAIGN reguarly just for the humor: its an SF Comedy of Manners like Jane Austen might be writing if she lived today. )

Or check out some of their high fantasy and urban fantasy offerings.

As good as Baen is at getting the word out, the breadth of their catalog (genre-wise) still goes under-reported. Take a closer look; you might be surprised at what you find.

Have fun! (I did.)

By: Lachlan

Lachlan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:26:44 +0000

I’ve found in my own experience that because of the trust Baen gives to it’s readers that I will go and buy the books when I have the money. They’re very good at getting me hooked to a series with their free samples or even whole free books and after I start I often end up collecting them when I have the money.

I find that if I’m in a library or a bookstore the first thing I’ll look for is books with the baen publishing symbol on the spine. And the authors themselves seem to like to interact with their readers. John Ringo is one that I have contact with quite often and some of the others are just as interactive.

Toni doesn’t mind when they snippet portions of their books that are still in progress and I have to say that the process of snippeting has definitely wrung some e-ARC sales from me.

I hope they continue to reward the trust us readers have developed in them.

By: Ted R.

Ted R. — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:07:37 +0000

Thank you, Chris Meadows and Toni Weisskopf, for this insightful and interesting interview.

I credit Baen Books with converting me to ebook reading. In the hardcover edition of At All Costs (2005) they include a CD with pretty much all of David Weber’s previous novels, not just the ones in the Honor Harrington series. An irresistible bargain and, as I read novel after novel, on my computer and PDA, I found that I didn’t miss having a physical book in my hand. Once I got a dedicated e-ink ebook reader (Cybook Gen3) two years ago the conversion was complete. I haven’t bought a single physical book since then. Thank you, Baen.

The other side of the coin is that Jim Baen didn’t believe our readers are thieves and neither do I. …

Because of that respect given to me, and the fact that DRM-free purchases can be re-downloaded in perpetuity as I change my reading device, I go to Webscriptions.net first when looking for something new to read. My only regret is that Baen’s forte is military SF and alternate history, not my favorite sub-genres (aside from an odd addiction to Honor Harrington). I wish there were more SF and Fantasy offerings outside that focus.

By: Chasm

Chasm — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:51:02 +0000

“The open acknowledgment that DRM adds cost to the product, something the BPHs gloss over in their self-serving ebook (fantasy) pricing breakdowns (much as they gloss over and hide their corporate overhead costs)”

So one of the interesting questions is: How expensive is DRM for ebooks?

= Chasm

By: Gina

Gina — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:32:23 +0000

When I had no money, I read from the library and friends. As I got more money, I bought from used book stores. When I had enough money, I would buy new. As I ran out of space, I would buy new and when finished, give it to friends to add to their bookcase.

I find that when I have money, I stop watching the pennies and buy what I like. Baen has impressed me over the years and really built my trust in them with their attitude about how to run their business. I don’t take advantage of all the things Baen offers but I feel very good that they are available for me if I want to. I find I will smile when a book I want to buy has the Baen logo on it. I will probably keep buying Baen books without a second thought (assuming they are books I like) unless there is some huge change in the way they do things.

I never thought I would have brand loyalty to a publisher but Baen has earned it. This is the result of having free books available.

And I am soooo happy Lee and Miller are with Baen now. I love their work so much I do everything I can to support them including buying multiple copies and exposing friends to them. And I found my first book of theirs in a used book store. Just goes to show.