Quote:
Originally Posted by mrkai
Now this is interesting to me...
NatCh tells us that Baen shows a profit, specifically on their *eBook* store.
I will take it as read that this is strictly on the eBook store as opposed to the pBooks doing a spread and covering losses..but even still...
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Yes. They do indeed make a profit directly from the eBook store in its own right. It's not enough to run the company, but it is bigger than all non-US sales combined (Canada included).
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrkai
As I'm quite open to learning and such, I decided to check the "seedy underground...the soft underbelly of the Internet" for the authors mentioned previously in this thread...and I found (easily) I believe every eBook from every single one of them in like 5 minutes.
Seriously.
This makes me wonder, then, if Baen can show this on paper to some folks...why on Earth don't they have some of those Oprah Book Club types in their stable?!
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Um... 'cause they specialize in SF and Fantasy, and those Oprah Book Club types don't generally write in that mode.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrkai
The above SHOULD NOT BE MISCONSTRUED as accusatory or a maligning of Baen in any way. People get...touchy around here, heheh.
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Understood. From the beginning, on my part at least.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrkai
I'm really curious about this! I mean, if what I understand is correct, Baen is sitting on the paperwork that demonstrates that a whole hell of a lot of people are dead wrong about losing trucks of money t freely traded eBooks.
What's going on here?
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The folks at Baen are puzzled about this, too. They've been screaming the news to the heavens for the last five-plus years. They tell the other publishers. They quote actual (gasp) numbers (gasp) in public venues. And the publishing world as a whole goes on their merry way, p*ssing off customers and leaving significant* amounts of money on the table.
Eric Flint gave a talk at a big publishing industry conference about e-Publishing and Baen's success. He reported back that the individuals he spoke to all said things paraphrased as "you're clearly onto something here, but I'll never be able to convince the Powers That Be."
So... why won't the *&^%&*^% idiots pay attention? Beats me!
*Baen doesn't talk exact profit and sales numbers (at least not to me), but they've indicated that their ebook sales represent something above 10% and below 25% of their total. What publisher
wouldn't want a 10% increase in sales?
Xenophon