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Jim Baen, 62, beloved SF publisher and e-book visionary, goes to another universe
June 29, 2006 | 12:37 pm
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By David Rothman
“You’ve got to write my obituary, you know,” Jim Baen, the SF publisher well known for his smart marketing of p- and e-books, told writer David Drake.
Drake laughed. “Sure, if I’m around–but remember, I’m the one who rides the motorcycle.”
Jim Baen died yesterday at age 62, following a series of strokes; and Drake has kept his promise. Excerpt:
While e-publishing has been a costly waste of effort for others, Baen Books quickly began earning more from electronic sales than it did from Canada ($6,000/month). By the time of Jim’s death, the figure had risen to ten times that.
Quick! 10 X 6K = 60K a month or $720,000 a year. Whether in revenue or earnings, that’s a impresive part of the pint-sized U.S. e-book industry.
A lesson for publishers? The best way for e-bookers to honor Jim Baen’s memory is to follow his wisdom, build communities of fans, and see customers as friends, not thieves and enemies.
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Comments:
Quick! was a bit too quick
Ten times 6,000 a month is $60K month or $720K per year. Still not chump change, but 1/10th of the figure you (originally) had above.
Fixed. Was correcting it at the same time you were. Might not have noticed. Thanks, John! You and others should ALWAYS report errors, ASAP. Meanwhile, as I’ve written, let’s hope that publishers learn from Jim. – David
As I noted in my blog entry about Jim’s death the $720,000 or so is the sales but the gross margin after authorial royalty is almost certainly north of 50% so even when you put lots of central corporate costs against that sum you are left with a very nice net sum.
I am saddend by Jim Baen’s death, I hope others do emulate his model of selling ebooks, I love that publisher!
Jim Baen understood. He approached publishing, paper and digital, from the simple perspective: “What would I like to read? How would I like to read it?”
A wonderful anecdote on how Baen’s unencrypted, free etexts changed a girl’s life can be found at:
http://bigbananaslug.livejournal.com/28719.html
where the author recounts how his dyslexic daughter scored very well on her ACT tests, and was able to get into college, thanks to a combination of Baen’s etexts and speech-reading software.
Brings a lump to my throat, anyway.
Thanks, Jim.