Baen Free Library Changes

[gbm]

Toni Weisskopf--the publisher of Baen Books--just posted this in her forum at Baen's Bar last night 12/06/2012:

We'll also be restoring as many titles as possible to the BFL. We are preparing Second Editions of many of the works, with additional material, that will be offered for sale. The First Editions without the added material will be in the Free Library. Slowly, slowly it all comes together.

--Toni

The way third party platforms work is that if a work is offered anywhere else for a lower price, they will automatically reduce their price to match this. This includes books offered for free as promotions. So the choice is never be able to sell a book anywhere, or remove the book from the free library. We have selected a third way. See previous post in re: second editions and first editions.

--Toni

will update op.



bernie

[fjtorres]

"In a lot of ways, my personal belief is that Baen has now come to the conclusion that the free CDs are an experiment which has run its course."

Whether they have reached that conclusion yet or not, it is increasingly likely that the environment has changed enough that a different approach is needed. (The first edition/second edition model being one very nice example. As well as showing how the Baen folks keep finding new ways to play the ebook "game".)

The CDs (like the library) were primarily about promoting pbook sales with ebooks. But at a time that ebooks are 25%+ of the market, giving away entire backlists wholesale may be overkill. Other approaches, like rotating which volumes are available for free at any point in time might achieve the same results without cannibalizing sales too badly.

Times change.
In the meantime, it may be wise to get the full set of promo CDs while the getting is good.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

In the meantime, it may be wise to get the full set of promo CDs while the getting is good.

I've got most of what I want, but as with the BFL, if there's CD's you want it's probably best not to wait.

[gbm]

Toni Weisskopf--the publisher of Baen Books--just posted this in her forum at Baen's Bar on 12/07/2012:

Just so; we are trying to avoid that automated process.

In re: discount monthly bundles—one of the results of our negotiations is that we will be able to continue offering these. They will be available only from the Baen site, as will eARCs. But once the books are published in print, they will also go up to third parties as individual titles, and the discount bundles will *poof* disappear. This was the closest I could get to having our cake and eating it too (i.e. making available our titles to the largest possible audience—something our writers want and deserve).

--Toni

I should also add as part of this process we are taking our ebook royalties and improving the author’s share by 25%.--Toni

bernie

[Auricle]

And this is one of the reasons why I buy so many books/ebooks from Baen. The other major reason of course is that I *like* so many of the authors that they publish. I think they're the only major publishing house that has developed such a relationship with their readers.

[Dahak]

Originally Posted by gbm

Toni Weisskopf--the publisher of Baen Books--just posted this in her forum at Baen's Bar last night 12/06/2012:

Yeah... she told me as much over the weekend during our email exchanges.

My site notice is but a paraphrasing of what we talked about.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Auricle

And this is one of the reasons why I buy so many books/ebooks from Baen. The other major reason of course is that I *like* so many of the authors that they publish. I think they're the only major publishing house that has developed such a relationship with their readers.

Baen has been my favorite from their beginning.
Apache

[gbm]

Originally Posted by gbm

Toni Weisskopf--the publisher of Baen Books--just posted this in her forum at Baen's Bar on 12/07/2012:

bernie

Toni said this about the Monthly Baen Bundles:

This is going to be happening very soon, days rather than months. So get ‘em while they are hot.--toni

Soon--I say sometime next week--the only bundles will be the ones that are not yet in the book stores as print editions.

So if their are Monthly Baen Bundles that you want, buy now.



bernie

[Lemurion]

Is it just me, or is December 2012 turning out to be a really bad month for eBook readers? First Fictionwise and now all the changes at Baen. (And yes, I've downloaded everything I ever bought there again today.)

[JeremyR]

Seems like a bad move in the long run, apparently ceding their own online book store which they've built up over the years just to be on Amazon.

I mean, sure, there are more people on Amazon. But Baen is making themselves irrelevant.

[cromag]

So-ooo ... I'm guessing I should use up those coupons from Planet Baen real soon!

[Lemurion]

The coupons should be fine - they don't change the price.

[DrNefario]

I don't understand why the bundles are an issue at all. They are clearly a different product.

[fjtorres]

The Bundles going to limited-time availability... *that* hits me where I hurt.

So far I've bought all the monthly bundles, but I generally only go there two or three times a year, usually when a high-profile release draws me in and then I buy 5-6 bundles at a time. Makes for easier downloading.
Now...
Things will be trickier.

[HarryT]

The important thing for me is that the bundles will still continue to be available. If "limited availability" is what it takes to maintain that in the current market, then so be it.