Baen E-book publishing changes

Death

gh0d (Administrator)
Within the next week or so, at a guesstimate, Baen will be going with a third-party publisher (as yet unnamed) for their e-book library. To meet the policies of this publisher, there will be changes to what's available online, in particular in regards to the Free Library and the monthly bundles.

Those with a Baen's Bar account can find the details in the forum "Toni's Table", but the long and short of it is that if you want to be absolutely sure that you will retain access to everything you've purchased (or are interested in from the Free Library), you should download it and save it locally, so no matter what changes you'll still have a copy.

And please try not to slashdot the Baen E-books servers... :p
 
Some further information (not including the third party's name, so I'll just use "3PP" to identify it for now):

The old monthly bundles will be removed. Baen will still be offering monthly electronic bundles, but when the books it contains hit paper publishing, the e-bundles get removed.

The new e-publisher is in addition to Baen's own e-publishing site, not replacing it. Anything bought directly through Baen will still be available in multiple formats, and not have any DRM applied to it. Ebooks bought through 3PP, however, will have DRM on them and will be available in a more limited number of formats.

Ebook prices will be going up a few bucks, how much exact increase depending on the physical copy's format.

Right now there's only the one 3PP, but talks are underway for deals with others.
 
I'm of two minds on this. It feels like an end of an era... it was so impressive seeing Baen hold the tide against the big e-book publishing systems... and you tied it in your mind to their cool culture, the same cool culture that makes you read lots of ridiculous John Ringo books just for the spirit of the endeavour. I mean, they were always doomed, their system was never going to topple Amazon or Apple, but they gave you hope for the little guy fighting the impossible fight.

On the other hand, now I can introduce my friends to Man Kzin Wars and Honor Harrington without having to tell them the 93-step process for getting a Baen free e-book onto their one-touch-gets-a-book Kindle.
 
Ok, now that it's official I can come out and say it's Amazon that's Baen's new partner for ebooks.

The message I got in my inbox, earlier this evening:

Best-selling Baen Authors David Weber, John Ringo, Lois McMaster Bujold
Available on Amazon.com for First Time in Ebook Format

RIVERDALE, NEW YORK- Ebook pioneer Baen Books is making its ebooks available in the Kindle Store on Amazon for the first time beginning in mid to late December 2012. Science fiction and fantasy publisher Baen Books has sold its own ebooks for over fifteen years at Baen's retail site, Baenebooks.com, where ebooks have always been downloadable totally free of digital rights restrictions. They will also be DRM-free in the Kindle Store. The move to third party distribution is new territory for Baen, which has built a name for itself in the ebook arena with an innovative e-Advanced Reading Copy program and limited time monthly discount bundles. These programs will continue, according to Toni Weisskopf, Baen's publisher.

"Now that we're selling on Amazon, it will be easier than ever to download your favorite Weber, Ringo, or Bujold ebook to your Kindle or free Kindle reading app," says Weisskopf. "But you can be sure we will always maintain our famous ebook pioneering spirit and customer-first orientation."

Baen's well-known monthly discount bundle program, previously known as Webscriptions, and its eARCs-advanced copies of upcoming titles in "galley" form-will still be available exclusively at Baenebooks.com, according to Weisskopf. "As part of the change, we will also be raising ebook royalties to our authors by 25 percent so that they not only get the benefit of the expanded audience but a larger cut, too."

Baen is known for its New York Times bestselling science fiction and fantasy, including David Weber's Honor Harrington series, Eric Flint's Ring of Fire alternate histories, Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International urban fantasies, and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, Baen's most recent entry on the bestsellers lists. Baen's paper titles are distributed by Simon & Schuster.

For more information email laura@baen.com or call 1-800-ITS-BAEN.​
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Explains the forced DRM stuff.

After all, I've downloaded plenty of DRM-free eBooks from Barnes and Noble... Though I have to admit, I sort of suspected it was Amazon.
 
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