[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Yes, but if they ran a subsidiary that had less people, less approval required--like a small publisher, they would save money.

I don't see levels of approval as adding all that much to costs. But yes, less people would be an important factor.

Don't worry; with the number of people on Kindleboards, there's plenty of expertise to steer people. There are many traditional publishers and ex-editors and whatnot. Most of us actually have a range of experience and we're all aware of the predators by now. If any newbies show up and aren't, they learn fast. The deals I spoke of were the GOOD ones, not the occasional shady one that pops up.

I'm quite pleased to hear that. There are a lot of sleazy types infesting publishing, preying on the gullible and unwary. Some of them are like cockroaches. You think you've stepped on them, and they pop up doing business somewhere else under a new name but practicing the same scams.

As for the other points...it's all going to be up to the individual houses. There's a wave of change going on, but it too will subside into...something.

<chuckle> "Something". Yeah, that's a good word for it. "And the something was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep..."

And yes, Tor is a good house. Not quite so nimble now they're run by MacMillan if I recall correctly, but both TOR and Baen--they have a special magic.

Tor is pretty nimble. Tom Doherty saw problems approaching, and decided that Tor was too small to go it alone. He sold the company to St. Martin's Press, a unit of Holtzbrink in Germany. He could have gotten a higher price elsewhere, but thought the corporate parent he sold to would be a better fit.

Macmillan doesn't exactly run Tor. They are the US umbrella for Holtzbrink's North American operations. I don't know the exact details of the relationship, but Tom seems to largely run his own shop without too much interference. As long as he produces satisfactory results, I don't think his superiors are inclined to piss in the soup. The impression I get is that they are aware of just how savvy Tom is, and watching what he does to see what might be applied elsewhere in their organization. (If I were them, it's what I'd do. Tom is one of the sharpest guys in publishing, and if he can't sell books, it's not clear anyone can.)

Tom is also a minority investor in Baen. Jim Baen used to work for Tom, when Tom was publisher and Jim was Editor at Ace Books. They stayed friends and in touch, and when Jim set up his own shop as Baen Books, Tom was a backer. (I said Tom was sharp... )

I would not be at all surprised by more outfits like Baen, possibly spun off by larger corporate parents, precisely to be smaller, nimbler, lower cost operations, better suited to compete in the new environment. The limiting factor will be the supply of Jim Beans to provide the vision and run them.
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Dennis