Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
One of the facts that MR folks is assuming is that Baen is highly profitable. Of course, neither we -nor the publishers-KNOW that. It may be that Baen is making just enough money to keep the wolf from the door.
Frankly, without knowing what Baen's finances are, we really don't know that Baen's models work all that well.
I think publishers would be a lot more willing to follow Baen's lead if they know whether Baen's models actually made money.
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No, I don't see ANYONE assuming that Baen's backlist publishing is "highly profitable". It's entirely possible that their backlist publishing is actually done at a loss.
The Baen company itself, though, is profitable or it wouldn't have lasted this long. So whether they're making HUGE profits on backlist publishing or MINIMAL profits on backlist publishing or NO PROFIT WHATSOEVER BUT IT'S GOOD ADVERTISING AND BRAND BUILDING on backlist publishing ultimately doesn't matter....
....because what they are doing *is* working for them and very likely would work for the current publishers.
My guess is that the reason the big publishers don't do it now is because they think they don't NEED to. If you're making money off your bestsellers already, why bother with making some (relative) pittance off backlist publishing?
The thing is, I can think of lots of reasons to bother to do it, but I also am not going to sit here and assume that companies can't get "too big to fail" egos or that they do everything in their power to maximize profits.
If anything a small company like Baen pursuing something like this tells me that it does make money but that it also takes hard work and a lot of effort. And they're willing to put in that effort because a little extra profit and barnd-building is more important to a small company than to a large one.