Baen Books
Baen Books is an American
publishing company established in
1983 by SF publishing industry long-timer
Jim Baen (1943-2006). It is a
science fiction and
fantasy publishing house that specializes in
space opera/
military science fiction and fantasy (though it does not restrict itself to these subgenres).
Baen Books was founded in 1983 out of a negotiated agreement between
Jim Baen and
Simon & Schuster. Simon & Schuster was undergoing massive reorganization and wanted to hire Jim Baen to head up and revitalize their
Science Fiction line in their
Pocket Books division. Jim Baen, with financial backing from some friends, counter-offered with a proposal to start up a new company named Baen Books and provide
Simon & Schuster with a SF line to distribute instead.[
1]
In 2004, more than 2,500 titles in the genres of science fiction, fantasy and horror were published in the U.S. by 248 publishers. According to the "2004 Book Summary" (
Locus February, 2005. Vol. 54. No. 2, 50/54), Baen Books was the ninth most active publisher in terms of most books published in the genres indicated, and the fifth most active publisher of the dedicated SF imprints, publishing a total of 67 titles (of which 40 were original titles). It is difficult to judge the issue of quality but, based on the number of times a title published by Baen Books appeared in the bestseller lists produced by the major bookselling chains, it is ranked the seventh most popular SF publisher. In 2005, (
Locus February 2006, Vol.56, No.2, 50/53) Baen improved to eighth position in the total books published with 72 books published (of which 40 were original titles). It was the sixth most active publisher of the dedicated SF imprints, and the fifth most popular SF publisher based on the number of bestseller list appearances.
Although Baen himself was politically
conservative (which has led to friction with and departures by at least one
liberal author), Baen Books has published works covering a broad spectrum of political philosophies.
Baen
authors include:
*
Robert Asprin*
Lois McMaster Bujold*
Paul Chafe*
C. J. Cherryh*
Ann Downer*
David Drake*
Eric Flint*
Esther Friesner*
Robert A. Heinlein*
Mercedes Lackey*
Holly Lisle*
Larry Niven*
John Ringo*
Spider Robinson*
David Weber*
Michael Z. Williamson*
The Man-Kzin Wars -- A shared universe based on the
Kzinti Conflicts in
Larry Niven's Known Space universe, featuring a galaxy of top writers personally selected by Niven
*
1632 series, very popular rapidly expanding
1632verse multiverse, ::the first of several planned
Assiti Shards mechanism books, of which two others are in production or under contract
*
The Bard's Tale -- A series of books based on the RPG computer game series of the same name.
*
Chicks in Chainmail -- A series of
anthologies centered around this theme, edited by
Esther Friesner.
*
Heroes in Hell*
Honor Harrington*
Bolo*
Raj Whitehall*
Vorkosigan Saga*
Legacy of the Aldenata*
March Upcountry SeriesBaen Books may justly claim an innovative approach to marketing through the internet on several levels. It was primarily a
paperback publishing house until
1999, when
Webscriptions was introduced. For a monthly fee, a customer "subscribes" to the set of five or so
novels published electronically in a given month. Then Baen introduced the
Baen Free Library, which again are unencrypted ebooks, usually the first book or two in a series. Now several years past experimentation, three months before hard-copy publication, a serialized (not fully copyedited) version of each title is released as an e-book in installments in unencrypted format called an '
ARC', meaning
'Advance Reader Copy'. This came out of still yet other experiments with online publication in the successful mainly
fan-fiction sub-series
The Grantville Gazettes—which were successful so much that the second and subsequent volumes are also published as
hardcover editions (See:
1632 Editorial Board for detail).
The Baen Free Library allows free access to dozens of titles (fifty-plus) from a list called a backlist determined by the works author, a strategy that has seen commercial success through much improved sales and author exposure as readers value being able to sample a text before buying it, and buy it they do, causing Baen sales to climb steadily. Unfortunately, at least one author has disagreed with the universally-applied electronic rights policy of Baen, under past contract restrictions, and as such removed backlist and any future books from the publisher.
Baen Books also binds
CD-ROMs into some hardcover first printings (including best selling titles by
David Weber,
John Ringo,
Eric Flint,
David Drake, and
Mercedes Lackey. These CD-ROMs commonly contain the complete series of novels preceding the printed book (for those books that were the latest in a series), other works by the same author, and works by other authors who have consented to be included. Some also contain
mp3 songs or
audiobook readings. The CD-ROMs are prominently labelled with a permissive
copyright license and their rapid copying by
peer-to-peer networks, and streaming via
BitTorrent has represented significant free advertising for Baen authors and increased sales of their backlist titles.
Baen Books also hosts a large
online community in which the publisher, authors, and many readers take part via
Baen's Bar, an
internet forum with personal forums (sub-forums) for the late publisher, the chief editor, and many authors in the Baen stable of writers.
*
Baen Books*
New York Times article (registration required)*
Baen Free eBooks and WebScriptions*
Baen cd-roms*
Baen Free Library
