About Baen Books
Who We Are, and What This Is
by
Eric Flint
Baen Books’ web site is, first of all, just that—a web site. But we believe it’s a very rare sort of web site, for a publisher. Indeed, it may be unique. (Hard to know, of course—and I’m not about to spend the days it would take to search every publishing web site on the Internet to find out.)
Why? Because, while it includes the Standard Repertoire for any well-designed publisher’s web site—forthcoming titles, catalog, list of authors, etc., etc.—it also includes features that are almost non-existent anywhere else in publishing. Not simply science fiction and fantasy publishing, but any kind of publishing.
Before I explain what those are, however, I will take the time to make clear that I do not believe the superiority of this web site stems from any Intrinsic Commercial Virtue, which is the claim normally made by companies hawking their wares.
(Sure it is. Strip away the folderol, and the gist of practically every advertisement is: “We’re just plain better people than our ne’er-do-well competitors. S’a fact. They don’t use Ultrainstantspecial Supergoop in their soaps because they don’t care if you get clean or not. They just want to sell you soap. Any kind of soap. We, on the other hand, think of cleanliness at all times, because we’re clean people, unlike those slobs.”)
But the true reason lies elsewhere. It’s simply that we figured out, and no other publishing house has yet, how to use the new avenues of electronic publishing and the internet properly.
By “properly,” I don’t mean to suggest that we’ve got it all figured out, because we don’t. In fact, we’re experimenting with new approaches constantly. A very recent example was Baen Books’ decision to start offering electronic editions of Advanced Reader Copies—which publishers have used for decades, in paper editions, to get reviews and promotions—for sale to readers. (More on that in a minute.)
What I mean by “properly” is that we approached it the right way, from the very beginning. Instead of starting off by fretting and fuming over all the potential dangers and pitfalls involved, and devoting most of our time to figuring out Ye Proper Protective Gear—“Anti-Piracy network in place, check; Tight Control of material in place, check; No Syllable Shall Go Unpaid For alarm system up and running, check”—we just plunged right in and started swimming through the new medium, to see what might be out there. And, most of all, just learning how to swim.
Jim Baen started it, of course. If he hadn’t, nothing would have been possible, for the good and simple and obvious reason that the actions of a publishing house are controlled by the publisher. Once he did, though, he quickly got the active—indeed, enthusiastic—participation of a number of his authors, including most of his bestselling writers.
The key is accessibility, followed by the principle that, whatever we do, it should be user-friendly for the customers.
At this web site, you can get access to books and stories written by science fiction and fantasy authors on just about any level where your interest matches the cost to you, either in terms of time or money. And you don’t have to jump through any hoops in the process.
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You can buy outright, through Webscriptions, the electronic editions of an entire month’s worth of Baen titles. As a rule, that comes to six titles a month. Sometimes it’s only five titles, but if it deviates from the norm of six, it’s just as likely to be seven. Of those titles, four are guaranteed to be new work. This, for a total cost of $15—or an average cost of $2.50 per book.
These titles will come to you unencrypted, so you don’t have to worry about whether you have a suitable e-book reader, or have Followed Ye Proper Protocol. In fact, we will provide you with downloads (yes, free of charge) of most of the major electronic reading programs available: HTML, MS Reader, Palm/Win CE/Psion, Rocket/REB1100, and Rich Text Format.
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If you only want a single title, you can buy it that way. It’ll cost you a little more—about $5, usually—and you’ll have to wait three more months after the initial monthly package comes out. But it’ll be there.
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If an upcoming volume involved is one you really want, you might be able to get it long before it comes out. Some select titles are made available in the form of an e-ARC months ahead of publication, for $15.
These also come unencrypted, as is true of any electronic title sold by Baen Books.
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On the flip side, if the author and/or volume is one you’re not sure you’re interested in, we offer you a number of ways—free of charge—for you to investigate before plunking down any money.
For starters, many Baen authors—and most of its bestselling ones—have made some of their books available for free in electronic editions. You can find those in “Baen’s Free Library.” (Look for “Free Library Books” on the upper lefthand side of the menu on the home page.) Currently, there are thirty-six authors represented in the Library, and a total of seventy-eight titles. Most of Baen’s bestselling authors have multiple titles available for free: David Weber has made ten available, David Drake has fourteen, Mercedes Lackey has seven, John Ringo has four, and I have sixteen.
All of these are complete volumes, mind you—and, as always, they come unencrypted. So, to use me as the example, if you’ve never read anything of mine and aren’t sure you’d be interested, you can read as many or as much of sixteen complete novels or collections of stories as you want, completely free of charge, before making a decision. In fact, you’re welcome to download the titles.
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Titles in the Library, of course, represent “old” volumes, that have already been in print for some time. Although, in most cases, they came out only a few years ago—and some of them quite recently. If you’re interested in the newest titles, or ones that haven’t even been published yet, you can investigate them—at no cost to you, other than the time involved—in three different ways:
The first and simplest is to click on “Schedule” in the middle of the menu at the top of the home page. You will then find that Baen has listed all the titles it has published in the past few months, along with the ones that are scheduled for publication in the next few months. Almost all of these titles have sample chapters available, which, typically, comprise the first 25% of the volume.
Look for the book icon, accompanied by “free sample.” The very few volumes that don’t have sample chapters are usually those in the most distant month in the future. That’s simply because the copy-editing and proof-reading hasn’t been finished yet. As you get nearer to publication date, sample chapters will appear.
The second way to do it, if you find your interest is sharper, is to enter “Baen’s Bar.” (You’ll find that on the far right of the menu at the top.) I’ll have more to say about the Bar in a moment, since it contains a very wide range of activities. But one of the things that happens in the Bar is that most of the upcoming titles are posted in short snippets, seriatim. They are posted by the authors, by the way, not the publisher. Each author has a different system of doing it. My general rule is to post three snippets a week, each snippet consisting of about 1500 words; roughly, one-third of a chapter. Like most authors, I will start snippeting half a year or more ahead of publication, and keep snippeting until the book comes out. As a rule, by the time I break off snippeting, about two-thirds of the entire volume has been made available to readers following the story.
Free of charge, and—as always—unencrypted.
The third way to do it, if you’re short of time or are coming into a snippeted volume late in the game, is to go to a web site where all posted snippets are collected:
http://thefifthimperium.com/
The web site is run by Joe Buckley, with Baen’s approval. Joe collects the snippets as the authors post them, and puts them together. He’s usually running a few days behind, but you’ll find all the back snippets here.
I’ll finish by talking about Baen’s Bar. This is, first of all, a discussion area for fans, in which many of Baen’s authors participate, along with the publisher himself, Jim Baen. Other than filling out a brief registration form the first time you come in—that takes not more than thirty seconds—usage of the discussion area is easily accessible and free of charge, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The Bar is divided into a number of conferences—forty-four, at last count—each of which has a particular focus. Some of them are devoted to topics of general interest, such as future technology or politics or religion or cooking; some are devoted to the work of particular authors or the publisher; and some are devoted to readers who also have aspirations to become writers themselves.
Yes, that’s right. Among many other things, the Bar is a place to get published yourself, if you can write well enough. Would-be authors can submit manuscripts to the Bar’s slush pile, where they will be read and discussed by science fiction readers who have been organized to do so. Those manuscripts which stand out, after a period of discussion—and, often, input that results in a rewritten text—will get sent on to Jim Baen for consideration. To date, John Ringo, Dave Freer, Michael Z. Williamson, Julie Cochran, Chris Dolley and forthcoming author Arlene Golds all became published authors via the Bar and the electronic slush pile.
A similar process happens, albeit on a more restricted scale in terms of subject matter, in my own 1632 conferences. There have so far been two anthologies of stories set in my 1632 universe published in paper editions, and five electronically. There are three more paper editions and as many electronic editions underway. Most of the authors are brand new writers, who got their start as published authors in Baen’s Bar. Three of them have also become co-authors of novels in the series.
That’s the Bar. One aspect—a big one—of the web site that is the most active, reader-oriented, and adventurous web site in all of publishing.
Join us, why don’t you?
