MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - How can other publishers use a "wesbscription-like" service?

Darqref · 10-22-2010, 01:50 AM

How can other publishers use a "webscription-like" service?

In numerous other threads, one response to the drm/price/geo-restriction mess is to point to Baen Books and say "See, it can be done this way!"

Again, numerous times the corresponding comeback is "Baen is a special case, and others can not do the same".

My first reaction is to swear and.... but that isn't very useful. So here, lets think and talk about ways that other publishers, big or small, might create and use a system as close to (or maybe better than? ) the Baen Books Webscription program.

To start, here are the parts of Webscriptions that I think are important.

1. Access. Webscription books are available early (before print copies for some formats, see below), without DRM, and using a worldwide non-exclusive "printing" right (for the ebooks, I believe most of their print books carry a North American print right.) They even try to make them available in multiple formats, but many technically savvy people prefer to create their own formatted versions from some standard version. Whatever works, since no DRM.

2. Price. Webscription books are available in single book purchases in the month the paper books ship. Singly, they currently cost $6.00 each, which is well below the paperback price, even when the release in question is a hardback (and won't be a paperback for a year or more - or in some cases are a trade paper format and will NEVER be a mass market version).
This is great, but the signature part is the monthly bundle of every book published in paper that month, for a set price (currently $15.00 per month). The monthly bundle is made available with the first half of each book available three months BEFORE paper, the third quarter two months before paper, and the last quarter the month before the paper edition. This program was originally set up to encourage people who had read all or part of the webscription month to go to their local bookstore and pre-order the paper copy. This worked (and still works) quite well, to the extent that Baen publishes many more hardback books than previously.
The critical point about the monthly package, is that readers are encouraged to try authors or books that they would not normally try, simply because the rest of the month contains some interesting material. This really helps first time authors, and also lesser known authors who are being re-printed.

3. The third part is more nebulous, but very powerful - Author Access. There's an unwritten agreement that most Baen authors will show up and at least sometimes pay attention to Baen's Bar, the chat forums at Baen's web site. Because of the small size of Baen Books, this ends up being a relatively small handful of authors who interact with readers. Many are quite reserved, most have to limit their time (or they'd never get the next book written - Write, Lois, Write!!), but a surprising number are open to talking about their work. Sometimes they've been known to post snippets of the next book even before it has been officially submitted to the publisher. Overall, the author interaction is another factor that drives traffic and loyalty to their books.

So, How do we make/encourage/beg other publishers to use something like this system?

Bigger publishers might divide their monthly bundles by imprint or genre within their lines. It's possible that they could set another price point for a bundle of different size. It's possible they could restrict the bundles to books that are coming out in massmarket, but that assumes that all the hardbacks make it to pb.

Price seems to be a sticking point. Would readers commit to a whole year's "subscription" to make the bundle's sales more stable? Part of the previously mention "special case" argument is that Baen doesn't see a significant reduction in the sales of their lead hardbacks, but they don't have the world-wide blockbusters that some other publishers do. How do we argue for the blockbuster case? In my opinion, the monthly bundle would suffer if the best-sellers were held out of the bundle, but I suppose it might work if only the lead book each month was held out. Maybe include the best-seller in a bundle that's three or six months behind?

DRM is obviously a sticking point, but I'd prefer not to start arguments about it.

Small publishers? Would it work to make a bundle combining multiple publishers? Baen makes up for months that have too many pbs that have already been included in a previous monthly bundle by using newly digitalized editions from their backlist. How would a small publisher that doesn't have a large backlist fill out a bundle? maybe reduce frequency to once per quarter? but still, it might be too small.

How would small publishers advertise? The current Webscription program has Baen marketing, but the Webscription proprietor is certainly capable of making a version with other company marketing.

10-22-2010, 01:50 AM	#1
Darqref space cadet Posts: 334 Karma: 2999999 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Seattle area Device: Rocket PRO, gen3, Pocketbook360	How can other publishers use a "wesbscription-like" service? How can other publishers use a "webscription-like" service? In numerous other threads, one response to the drm/price/geo-restriction mess is to point to Baen Books and say "See, it can be done this way!" Again, numerous times the corresponding comeback is "Baen is a special case, and others can not do the same". My first reaction is to swear and.... but that isn't very useful. So here, lets think and talk about ways that other publishers, big or small, might create and use a system as close to (or maybe better than? ) the Baen Books Webscription program. To start, here are the parts of Webscriptions that I think are important. 1. Access. Webscription books are available early (before print copies for some formats, see below), without DRM, and using a worldwide non-exclusive "printing" right (for the ebooks, I believe most of their print books carry a North American print right.) They even try to make them available in multiple formats, but many technically savvy people prefer to create their own formatted versions from some standard version. Whatever works, since no DRM. 2. Price. Webscription books are available in single book purchases in the month the paper books ship. Singly, they currently cost $6.00 each, which is well below the paperback price, even when the release in question is a hardback (and won't be a paperback for a year or more - or in some cases are a trade paper format and will NEVER be a mass market version). This is great, but the signature part is the monthly bundle of every book published in paper that month, for a set price (currently $15.00 per month). The monthly bundle is made available with the first half of each book available three months BEFORE paper, the third quarter two months before paper, and the last quarter the month before the paper edition. This program was originally set up to encourage people who had read all or part of the webscription month to go to their local bookstore and pre-order the paper copy. This worked (and still works) quite well, to the extent that Baen publishes many more hardback books than previously. The critical point about the monthly package, is that readers are encouraged to try authors or books that they would not normally try, simply because the rest of the month contains some interesting material. This really helps first time authors, and also lesser known authors who are being re-printed. 3. The third part is more nebulous, but very powerful - Author Access. There's an unwritten agreement that most Baen authors will show up and at least sometimes pay attention to Baen's Bar, the chat forums at Baen's web site. Because of the small size of Baen Books, this ends up being a relatively small handful of authors who interact with readers. Many are quite reserved, most have to limit their time (or they'd never get the next book written - Write, Lois, Write!!), but a surprising number are open to talking about their work. Sometimes they've been known to post snippets of the next book even before it has been officially submitted to the publisher. Overall, the author interaction is another factor that drives traffic and loyalty to their books. So, How do we make/encourage/beg other publishers to use something like this system? Bigger publishers might divide their monthly bundles by imprint or genre within their lines. It's possible that they could set another price point for a bundle of different size. It's possible they could restrict the bundles to books that are coming out in massmarket, but that assumes that all the hardbacks make it to pb. Price seems to be a sticking point. Would readers commit to a whole year's "subscription" to make the bundle's sales more stable? Part of the previously mention "special case" argument is that Baen doesn't see a significant reduction in the sales of their lead hardbacks, but they don't have the world-wide blockbusters that some other publishers do. How do we argue for the blockbuster case? In my opinion, the monthly bundle would suffer if the best-sellers were held out of the bundle, but I suppose it might work if only the lead book each month was held out. Maybe include the best-seller in a bundle that's three or six months behind? DRM is obviously a sticking point, but I'd prefer not to start arguments about it. Small publishers? Would it work to make a bundle combining multiple publishers? Baen makes up for months that have too many pbs that have already been included in a previous monthly bundle by using newly digitalized editions from their backlist. How would a small publisher that doesn't have a large backlist fill out a bundle? maybe reduce frequency to once per quarter? but still, it might be too small. How would small publishers advertise? The current Webscription program has Baen marketing, but the Webscription proprietor is certainly capable of making a version with other company marketing.