Baen Free Library Changes

[gbm]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, that works. You don't see any books if you go straight to an author rather than via "My Books".

Reset your filters. Most of the books listed as not available are ones that are going back into the Free Library when the second edition is released.

bernie

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by gbm

Reset your filters. Most of the books listed as not available are ones that are going back into the Free Library when the second edition is released.

bernie

Looks like the books have reappeared now. When I tried it a couple of days ago, selecting, say, James P. Hogan, from the left menu simply showed an empty list. Perhaps the site was in a state of transition to the new system at the time.

I'm annoyed that I've missed the Jan 2013 bundle. I'll have to keep a closer eye on release dates from now on. Just bought the Feb/Mar bundles to make sure I don't miss them, plus the two books I wanted from the Jan bundle (the Andre Norton and Steve White).

[gbm]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Looks like the books have reappeared now. When I tried it a couple of days ago, selecting, say, James P. Hogan, from the left menu simply showed an empty list. Perhaps the site was in a state of transition to the new system at the time.

I'm annoyed that I've missed the Jan 2013 bundle. I'll have to keep a closer eye on release dates from now on. Just bought the Feb/Mar bundles to make sure I don't miss them, plus the two books I wanted from the Jan bundle (the Andre Norton and Steve White).

I just started reading the Steve White one today.

bernie

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Is it just me, or is December 2012 turning out to be a really bad month for eBook readers? First Fictionwise and now all the changes at Baen. (And yes, I've downloaded everything I ever bought there again today.)

In the US many contracts are ended/implemented in Dec for tax purposes-so it makes sense that Dec is always an 'active' month. This year it turns out to be downwardly active. It's a shame about the prices rising but I'm more concerned about them adding DRM. I've bought a lot of Baen books in either pback or as ebooks-and most of the ebooks I've bought from their site simply because they don't seem to like DRM any more than I do. OTOH I've also found their site confusing. Particularly since I could find different books depending on how I accessed them. I suspect their approach (sort of a "give the customer a break") attracted few marketing professionals-and their site organization showed it.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

It's a shame about the prices rising but I'm more concerned about them adding DRM. I've bought a lot of Baen books in either pback or as ebooks-and most of the ebooks I've bought from their site simply because they don't seem to like DRM any more than I do.

They aren't adding DRM to anything.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

In the US many contracts are ended/implemented in Dec for tax purposes-so it makes sense that Dec is always an 'active' month. This year it turns out to be downwardly active. It's a shame about the prices rising but I'm more concerned about them adding DRM. I've bought a lot of Baen books in either pback or as ebooks-and most of the ebooks I've bought from their site simply because they don't seem to like DRM any more than I do. OTOH I've also found their site confusing. Particularly since I could find different books depending on how I accessed them. I suspect their approach (sort of a "give the customer a break") attracted few marketing professionals-and their site organization showed it.

What are you talking about? Baen aren't adding DRM - what made you think they were?

[calvin-c]

Misunderstanding. I'm concerned that Amazon will add it.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

Misunderstanding. I'm concerned that Amazon will add it.

Amazon only adds DRM if the publisher requests it.

Shari

[tompe]

Originally Posted by shalym

Amazon only adds DRM if the publisher requests it.

Is that really the case? I thought they always added it unless the publisher requested them not to add it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

Is that really the case? I thought they always added it unless the publisher requested them not to add it.

The publisher has to specify whether or not the book has DRM. There is no "default" (at least not for the Kindle Digital Publishing programme - I don't know if there are different arrangements in place for larger publishers.)

[pdurrant]

It looks like Baen's books are up at Amazon.co.uk.

£4.45 for those at $6.99 at baenebooks.com
£6.43 for those at $9.99 at baenebooks.com

Counting the 3% VAT, that's an exchange rate of about $1.6:£1

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Counting the 3% VAT, that's an exchange rate of about $1.6:£1

Which is fair. The official bank rate's currently about £1 = $1.63.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The publisher has to specify whether or not the book has DRM. There is no "default" (at least not for the Kindle Digital Publishing programme - I don't know if there are different arrangements in place for larger publishers.)

IIRC when Tor went no-DRM, Amazon had a problem changing over, and the 1st book supposed to be released without DRM (Scalzi's _Redshirts_) actually had it on. Tor immediately sent everyone with a receipt a DRM-free book by email, if we complained, and Amazon did eventually replace the file with a DRM-free one.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Joykins

IIRC when Tor went no-DRM, Amazon had a problem changing over, and the 1st book supposed to be released without DRM (Scalzi's _Redshirts_) actually had it on. Tor immediately sent everyone with a receipt a DRM-free book by email, if we complained, and Amazon did eventually replace the file with a DRM-free one.

That's a different case. The publisher decides whether or not to put DRM on the book when the book is uploaded If a publisher decides to put DRM on a book initially, I believe the only way to change that (remove the DRM) is to re-publish the book.

Shari

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by shalym

That's a different case. The publisher decides whether or not to put DRM on the book when the book is uploaded If a publisher decides to put DRM on a book initially, I believe the only way to change that (remove the DRM) is to re-publish the book.

That's true for small publishers using KDP. It's not the same system for big publishers who don't use KDP.