Cryoburn CD on Fifth Imperium

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I totally agree.

It could be she plans to go self published or with a more main stream publisher and that's why she wants them removed. This does make me add her books to bottom of my TBR pile though.

In terms of Science Fiction? I didn't think baen was any more a niche publisher than any other SF publishing houses. And a traditional publisher would not know what to do with the Vorkosigan saga.

That being said, I think she is making a mistake. When most of your novels are in a series, having most of the older works available for free helps make it easier for new readers to get involved... otherwise you have to buy 10-12 books just to read the latest book in the series. At the very least, she should probably offer a heavily discounted omnibus of the first 10 books in the series.

--
Bill

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

At the very least, she should probably offer a heavily discounted omnibus of the first 10 books in the series.

Her earlier books are already available in 2 in 1 type omnibus editions making each book about $2.50-$3.00 (each Ominbus is $5-$6) which is pretty cheap IMO.

[fjtorres]

The CDs, like the Library, are voluntary.
Bujold is within her rights to stop distribution of the CD image; no excuses needed.
(I just hope she wasn't the one slandering the FIFTH IMPERIUM. I would, however, wait until I saw an actual link to the alleged comment before saying more.)

Times change and people are allowed to change their minds and with all the chaos in the ebook world these days what made sense a year ago may not be in people's best interest today.

The timing is sad, though; I'd rather be talking about CAPTAIN VORPATRIL'S ALLIANCE...

[gweeks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The CDs, like the Library, are voluntary.
Bujold is within her rights to stop distribution of the CD image; no excuses needed.
(I just hope she wasn't the one slandering the FIFTH IMPERIUM. I would, however, wait until I saw an actual link to the alleged comment before saying more.)

Times change and people are allowed to change their minds and with all the chaos in the ebook world these days what made sense a year ago may not be in people's best interest today.

The timing is sad, though; I'd rather be talking about CAPTAIN VORPATRIL'S ALLIANCE...

The discussion was on Baen's bar in the Miles to Go conference sometime in October of 2011 called Sample Chapters. I don't remember the exact time. You should read it yourself, I'm not terribly interested in discussing it. It might raise my blood pressure and I'd rather not.

I'd rather talk about CAPTAIN VORPATRIL'S ALLIANCE as well.

Greg Weeks

[jgaiser]

Unfortunately, more recent than 2011. January 2012:

The CD-ROM was by explicit permission; the pirate site was by aquiesence. Also, I wanted to test who was right, in this debate. Teasing this sort of information out of royalty reports (which arrive six months after the sales periods they cover) is... tedious. So far, any benefit is non-obvious. It is generally the case, however, that paperback sales industry-wide are tanking badly at present.

http://bar.baen.com/index.php?t=msg&...83&#msg_730183

Full thread from Baen's Bar (you may need a login):

http://bar.baen.com/index.php?t=msg&...ded=1&&start=0

[AnemicOak]

LMB wrote on Sat, 08 October 2011 10:09

The Fifth Imperium is not "sample chapters". The Fifth Imperium is "giving away my life's work for free."

And I don't have another life in which to replace them.

I'm looking for an easily-accessible way to entice people to buy my books, not an easily-accessible way to relieve them of any need whatsoever to do so.

growl, L.

Being that she felt this way back in October I'm surprised the CD stayed up as long as it did.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Being that she felt this way back in October I'm surprised the CD stayed up as long as it did.

Yeah It makes no sense why she let the CD be made in the first place then.

[jgaiser]

The more I read (mostly on baen's bar, as that's what I have access to), the more I'm disappointed in Ms. Bujold. She seems to be convinced that she's being cheated in book sales because the CD was allowed to be available to one and all. Folks *try* to explain that there seems to be data that those free books generate real sales, but she's convinced that is not so. Sigh.

Still will continue to read her and will purchase Captain Vorpatril's Alliance when it appears as a standard ebook. After that one, she'll probably slide down my TBR list.

[BeccaPrice]

My admittedly vague memory of a post I read a long time ago is that she approved of the CD being bound in Cryoburn, because they wanted to make that book more attractive to new readers of the series, but that Lois felt uncomfortable with the entire series being out there for free for anybody who had not purchased the Cryoburn book.

[DiapDealer]

Changing your mind after running the numbers: fine.
Crying foul where there was no foul and generally behaving like the Fifth Imperium shot your dog: well that's unfortunate.

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

My admittedly vague memory of a post I read a long time ago is that she approved of the CD being bound in Cryoburn, because they wanted to make that book more attractive to new readers of the series, but that Lois felt uncomfortable with the entire series being out there for free for anybody who had not purchased the Cryoburn book.

That would make a little more sense to me ... but even then ... where was Baen in all this? Would they (the publisher) really grant the Fifth Imperium permission to host the CD images if they weren't certain they had the legal right to grant that permission? I guess I'd sort of like to see Baen come to the Fifth Imperium's defense, here: "yes, we had to ask them to stop making the CD image available at the author's request (which they did), but they did nothing wrong in hosting the cd images—and in fact, had our permission to make them available."

[Ajax]

Reading the posts by LMB on that thread is enough to make me never want to financially support her.

[jgaiser]

I'm not sure why this bothers me as much as it does.

Ms. Bujold authorized the release of the CD. One would think that her agent/lawyer would explain the implications of the "free to share" disclaimer. Was she so naive to believe that nobody would share the CD? Or that the wording wouldn't allow the CD to be posted?

I'm still not sure that this means I'll no longer buy her books, but it does leave a less than nice taste in my mouth.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Changing your mind after running the numbers: fine.
Crying foul where there was no foul and generally behaving like the Fifth Imperium shot your dog: well that's unfortunate.

+1
I do wonder if there's somebody whispering into these authors' ears...?

[Blossom]

After reading the thread I can see it's all about the money. Her books, she can do what she wants with them although I also find it weird that she called the Free Books an experiment.

I do not like how she attacked a perfectly legit site. That to me reminds of the whole LendInk ordeal. Authors screaming piracy without understanding what they've agreed to.

I think I will remove her books from my TBR. My friend absolutely loves her books. Has them all in paperback. I got mine from the CD. I haven't read them yet but I can not no longer read them. They are tainted.

If she would of just said I no longer want my books given away for free because ebooks are more popular now so the game has changed... but the way she acted toward BAEN over sample chapters and at others was distasteful and unprofessional.

[BeccaPrice]

Oh, Blossom, don't let this ruckus keep you from reading Bujold, particularly since you already have the books. her writing is really wonderful.