Saturday, March 13th, 2010
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.
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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.
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In a nutshell, the problem of the midlist author or publisher is not piracy, but lack of exposure.
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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.
Tags: Baen Books, e-book
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Monday, February 1st, 2010
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 Archive
Tags: Baen Books, book, John Ringo, Monday Book Pick, Schlock Mercenary, Science Fiction, SciFi, Web Comic
Posted in Baen Books, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Glenn Reynolds, of Instapundit fame, interviews NY Times best selling author John Ringo.
John Ringo is known for writing Military SciFi mostly, but he has also written fantasy and won an award as romance author.
The main topic is John Ringo’s book, The Last Centurion which was my Monday Book Pick for October 24, 2008.
Tags: Baen Books, interviews, John Ringo, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction, SciFi
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Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
A Hymn Before Battle by John Ringo
John Ringo’s first novel, and the first in his Posleen War Series, also know as the Legacy of Aldenata series. A ripping good yarn. It has back stabbing alien “allies”, really bad bad aliens, and ends with a massive battle on an alien planet.
Ya, I know it’s Tuesday. I’m late.
Monday Book Pick Archive.
Tags: Baen Books, book, John Ringo, Military Science Fiction, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction, SciFi
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Monday, June 29th, 2009
Eye of the Storm by John Ringo
The latest by best selling author John Ringo. It’s the next book in his Legacy of the Aldenata series. “Iron Mike” O’Neil is back, and boy is he pissed!
Monday Book Pick Archive
Tags: Baen Books, book, John Ringo, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction, SciFi
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Monday, April 27th, 2009
Princess of Wands by John Ringo
A slightly different hero than the genre usally sees in this modern day horror/adventure tale by NY Times best selling author John Ringo.
Barbara Everett is a Christian soccer mom from the southeastern United States. Who just happens to an expert in martial arts and combat shooting. Which comes in handy when Lovecraftian evil comes a calling on her quiet vacation spot. This book is actually a collection of several stories, including one that takes place mostly at a SciFi/Fantasy con. A lot of industry inside baseball in that one, which makes it way cool.
Monday Book Pick Archive
Tags: Baen Books, book, horror, John Ringo, Lovecraft, Martial Arts, Monday Book Pick, SciFi/Fantasy
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