MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Subterranean Press joins Baen's Webscriptions

cstross · 11-25-2007, 10:56 AM

I have no specific new information on Tor and webscriptions (since September).

However ...

Tor's previous venture into webscription was intended as an experiment. If they've got the go-ahead to do a full scale venture, then they need to have the production team in place to pump out up to 25 books a month, and they need an appropriate storefront. Tor are a big publisher; they're not, in my view, going to be content to piggy-back on Baen's web presence the way that SRM or Subterranean are. But doing this sort of thing properly is not simply a matter of buying a copy of Mobipocket Publisher and hitting the big red button -- they're going to have to put a lot of work into making everything run smoothly. So it's hardly surprising that it's taking them a while to get everything sorted out.

My guess is that when they're ready to roll, the first sign will be that Tor do a major relaunch on their web presence. Betcha that if and when it happens, you'll drill down a level and run into lots of webscription-powered goodness. Betcha they've also been studying the dynamics of web-based communities (such as Baen's Bar) and they'll be aiming to establish one of their own, only bigger and better than anything any publishing company has ever done before. But that kind of thing takes time to set up ...

11-25-2007, 10:56 AM	#14
cstross Cynic Posts: 86 Karma: 514 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Device: Lots, started with a Psion 3 circa 1998	I have no specific new information on Tor and webscriptions (since September). However ... Tor's previous venture into webscription was intended as an experiment. If they've got the go-ahead to do a full scale venture, then they need to have the production team in place to pump out up to 25 books a month, and they need an appropriate storefront. Tor are a big publisher; they're not, in my view, going to be content to piggy-back on Baen's web presence the way that SRM or Subterranean are. But doing this sort of thing properly is not simply a matter of buying a copy of Mobipocket Publisher and hitting the big red button -- they're going to have to put a lot of work into making everything run smoothly. So it's hardly surprising that it's taking them a while to get everything sorted out. My guess is that when they're ready to roll, the first sign will be that Tor do a major relaunch on their web presence. Betcha that if and when it happens, you'll drill down a level and run into lots of webscription-powered goodness. Betcha they've also been studying the dynamics of web-based communities (such as Baen's Bar) and they'll be aiming to establish one of their own, only bigger and better than anything any publishing company has ever done before. But that kind of thing takes time to set up ...