Quote:
Originally Posted by DrNefario
It is also notable that they've stopped doing the CDs. Maybe it was a step too far.
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Or the time for them had passed, by their *original* rationale.
The idea was to get hardcover buyers interested in ebooks and, if coming late to the series/author, up-to-date fast so they would buy the new releases.
This worked on the idea that increasing familiarity with the backlist would generate frontlist sales.
But ebooks have proven that there is big money in the backlist so making the backlist too freely available is leaving money on the table now that ebooks are more mainstream.
I've long fretted that as the ebook market matured some of BAEN's more enlightened policies might get squeezed by changes in market dynamics and this may be the first hint of (unwelcome) changes to come.
It'll be interesting to see if they still do promo CDs and if they allow distribution online. The former might still happen; the latter is looking dubious.