Interview Toni Weisskopf, publisher of Baen Books
Teleread has a very good interview with Toni Weisskopf, the publisher of Baen Books. Now, as those of you who have followed my ramblings for a while know, I’m a fan of Baen and their policies on e-books. Go read the whole article, but here are some of the “money quotes.”
TW: Well, part of the “secret” there is that we don’t pay for expensive DRM (“digital rights management”) schemes. I’ve never understood why we should add to our costs with the sole outcome that it’s harder for readers to buy and read the books we want to sell. On the contrary, I want to make it as easy as possible for my readers to find, purchase and read my books. That goal influences every publishing decision I make from our marketing to what typefaces we use.
…
Specifically, I think ebooks will extend the market for books, not reduce it. But then what I am selling is good stories; I don’t care what medium I sell those stories in. If my readers tell me they want it chipped on stone, I will find some way to do that. If they want me to beam the story directly to a chip in the brain, I will do that.
…
In a nutshell, the problem of the midlist author or publisher is not piracy, but lack of exposure.
…
The other side of the coin is that Jim Baen didn’t believe our readers are thieves and neither do I. I believe they will buy the book when they have the money. And I don’t believe our readers are ignorant. The understand TANSTAAFL. Our readers understand that we can’t continue to find great books and the authors continue to write them if we don’t get paid. So we don’t treat our readers badly by trying to micromanage the use of the ebooks, and we have been amply rewarded for that trust.
Quote of the Day
“The reason the first three Star Wars movies were so terrific, and the second three sucked so bad, is actually very simple. The first three were about rebels, shooting guns and driving fast, and speaking with American accents. The second three were about politicians, discussing treaties and holding court, and speaking with British accents.”
Bill Whittle, LAND OF THE MOSTLY FREE, HOME OF THE OCCASIONALLY BRAVE
You can also watch Mr. Whittle deliver the entire speech at PJTV.
SciFi Sunday: H. Beam Piper
In addition to the Monday Book Picks and the Friday B-Movie posts, I’ll be posting about Science Fiction on random Sundays.
To kick things off, I am starting with one of my favorite SciFi authors, H. Beam Piper. Piper was in inspiration to many in the field today, including the massively best selling author, David Weber.
A lot of H. Beam Piper’s works are available in the public domain. You can find them on the Gutenberg’s SF CD, and there are also audiobook format versions available.
My personal favorites are Space Viking and Uller Uprising, but you should take the time to read his entire catalog. Sadly, it is not as large as it should have been.
Monday Book Pick: Tunnel in the Sky
Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
One of his juveniles series, but a good read for all ages. A good solid adventure story of the type Heinlein was famous for. As author Spider Robinson so aptly put it, “And I repeat: if there is anything that can divert the land of my birth from its current stampede into the Stone Age, it is the widespread dissemination of the thoughts and perceptions that Robert Heinlein has been selling as entertainment since 1939.”
Monday Book Pick: Island in the Sea of Time
Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling
Mr. Stirling got a lot of mileage out of this book, at least eight other books have been written based on this one, with only two being direct sequels. The story starts off with the island of Nantucket, and a Coast Guard training sailing ship that was just offshore, being transported back to the Bronze Age. That is good for a trilogy right there. What happended to to rest of the planet with Nantucket disappeared is good for at least two more trilogies.
Just in case your nerd cred is running low
Not a problem for me, but just in case your friends are getting a bit geekier than thou, I have the solution.
A Star Trek:TOS communicator that is a functional USB Microphone/Speaker device.
I kid you not nerdlings. You can plug this thing into your computer and use it with Skype and other VoIP apps, if you dare…
Ok, it would be cooler if it had a USB port instead of an attached cable. Perhaps in rev 2.0.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Forbidden Planet
This SciFi classic hit the screen in 1956. It had a very good cast, including Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen as the dashing young spaceship Captain. It was also the first time Robbie the Robot was seen! Beware the Creatures of the Id!
iPad is bringing new life to the e-book debates
With Apple’s announcement of the iPad and the Apple iBook store, people have been noticing the ongoing debate about e-books, e-readers and the ugly concept of DRM, which assumes that paying customers are thieves.
Joining the fray, is is Stephen Green, also known as the Vodkapundit.
Originally published at Urbin Technology.
Monday Book Pick: Live Free or Die
Live Free or Die by John Ringo.
Woot! This book was fun! Loosely based on the back story of the Schlock Mercenary webcomic, John Ringo has fun with classic SciFi concepts like First Contact, asteroid mining, and big nasty space Battlecruisers! He doesn’t think small either. Lots and lots of mirrors in space make great big solar powered Death Rays! Ringo is planning more books in this series and I’m hoping he goes E.E. “Doc” Smith big.
Monday Book Pick: Triplanetary
TriPlantary by E.E “Doc” Smith.
The first in the classic Space Opera Lensman series. This series influenced a lot of what was to come. Robert Heinlein considered Edward E. Smith to be one of his mentors.