Quote:
Originally Posted by CRussel
I think there are two reasons participatio is down. The biggest is the problems getting to this software solution. We tried a couple of different ones before we got to it, and one at least was a total disaster. VERY poorly managed by the technology company doing the work (an author's company). The second reason is, I think, related -- there are other venues available to authors, limiting the need / usefulness of the Bar. IAC, I log in there a couple of times a week, just to keep track of what's happening.
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It used to be a fairly vibrant community when I paid attention. One question is just how important the presence of Baen authors with their own forums is to the overall success of the Bar. And some of the authors are very busy people, and time to post on the Bar will be at a premium. (I just saw David Weber when he was GoH at a con in March. His participation in the con was somewhat constrained by things like doing edits on the book in process an editor was yelling for. He was a fine GoH and delighted to meet and talk to the fans, but other things had to come first.)
Yes, there are many venues available to authors, but the question is what the author is attempting to accomplish. The usual answer to that question is "sell books", but the Baen forums aren't necessarily the place to do that. They are good places to keep in touch with a subset of the audience who
has bought the author's books.
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Dennis