Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemurion
I think Baen's webscription format has the best implementation of a low friction model for ebook sales.
<...>
Combining the idea that an ebook is worth less to a buyer than a paperback with time-sensitive pricing has worked for them. Baen makes more from ebooks than they do from Canada.
|
That's actually not saying a whole lot, as Canada is a small market. Canadian writers trying to make a living at it can't do so on book sales. Their goal is to qualify for government grants to writers. A few folks like Margaret Atwood have achieved market success outside of Canada, but for most, the goal is to attach to the government sugar tit.
Quote:
|
Second, they provide the books in multiple formats without DRM. This lets you read them on whatever device or in whatever form you want. It also means that if they did go out of business, you could still convert the format to something readable as device technology changed.
|
They pioneered this with the Baen Free Library. That was promotion for the "dead tree" editions, pure and simple. (And drive Baen's metamorphosis from a struggling PB house to a thriving HC publisher with a 70% sell through rate.) Back then, Jim Baen didn't see ebooks as a source of profit, but that has changed.
Quote:
|
They're beginning to test the waters with other publishers. It will be interesting to see how things work going forwards. Right now, they and Fictionwise are the only places that get my e-fiction money.
|
Well, they were trying to test the market with Tor Books.
Tor CEO Tom Doherty had been Jim Baen's boss at Ace Books years back, and they stayed friends and in touch. Tom and Jim worked out a deal for Baen to offer Tor content through Webscriptions, and it got to the point where both companies announced it.
Then someone at Holtzbrink, Tor's German parent company, pulled the plug on the idea. Holtzbrink apparently has a new CEO with different notions, so we'll see what happens. Tom Doherty is one of the sharpest guys in publishing, so no surprise he was interested, especially when Baen already had the infrastructure in place to do it.
______
Dennis