Well, the, ummm, lively discussion about Drive Thru and the DRM, and my recent purchase of Windrider's Oath got me to thinking about the Baen Free Library.
The idea behind the free library of course is that having read at least part of the book on your computer you will run out and by a genuine printed version. Or failing that reading the first book of a series for free will lead you to purchase the later books.
In several recent Baen hardcovers they have inclused CDs with all the current contents of their free library, and more besides. (In the case of Windrider's Oath it even includes Windrider's Oath...) They encourage you to make copies and give them to your friends. (Give not sell, that is their only requirement.)
My question is: Does this practice actually lead to people purchasing Baen Books?
In my case the answer is yes. I have bought four books that I otherwise would not have bothered with because of the Library. I have also downloaded copies of books that I already own, because it ws what I wanted to read and my copy had either been loaned out, or I was away from home. Heck, part of the reason I bought Winrider's Oath is the CD! (And I read the first book of the series in their free library...)
I haven't read that many books from the Free Library, mostly because I own all of the ones from my favourite authors already But I do have a lot of respect for Jim Baen's taste!
By the way - how's Windrider's Oath? I've been waiting for it for a long time... but I prefer print to e-books, so I have to wait a bit longer until it shows up in stores here...
-Hyp.
Last edited by Hypersmurf; 11th June 2004 at 10:24 AM..
It did for me - some books I never picked up because the 'back covers' did not really make them sound interesting or did not know was out, by using the free library I read some and thought the story was good enough to follow up on either by the story or at least the author.
__________________ Signature:
All I need is minions and I would rule the world.
I think that this line of thinking is far more applicable to books (especially in a genre dominated by multi-book series rather than individual books) than it is to the music industry.
Getting the first book in a series free is far more likely to get me to fork over my money for future books than getting the first song free is likely to get me to buy a CD.
My question is: Does this practice actually lead to people purchasing Baen Books?
The Baen people seem pretty bright and savvy. They've been doing this for a couple of years now, and you can be darned sure that they've been watching sales numbers closely. If they saw it hurting sales, they'd drop it.
The secret behind this is simple - to date, and for the forseeable future, for the overwhelming majority of readers, printed books are superior to their electronic counterparts for purposes of pleasure reading. While a person can read the thing in electronic format, most folk would prefer to have a printed book.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work so well for RPG material, because it is used more as a reference than as pleasure reading.
It works. While you're researching the practice of releasing free eBooks and their relation to print sales, check out Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and Eastern Standard Tribe. Both are great books that I read as eBooks and then bought print copies of as gifts to others.
The Baen people seem pretty bright and savvy. They've been doing this for a couple of years now, and you can be darned sure that they've been watching sales numbers closely. If they saw it hurting sales, they'd drop it.
The secret behind this is simple - to date, and for the forseeable future, for the overwhelming majority of readers, printed books are superior to their electronic counterparts for purposes of pleasure reading. While a person can read the thing in electronic format, most folk would prefer to have a printed book.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work so well for RPG material, because it is used more as a reference than as pleasure reading.
RPG books also tend to be better formatted for printing out. 8 1/2 x 11 inches, lower page count, larger text in general. So it makes it unfortunately easy to print out. And given that they have a higher price per page than a typical novel... (This is caused by small print runs, not a whole lot that an RPG publisher can do about it...) An awful lot of gamers are stingy bastiches. (So am I, but if I don't intend to buy it I don't steal it either...) So an horrendous number of pirated PDfs show up on the net.
And while I like Wind Rider's Oath it was not quite as good in my arrogant opinion as the first two. The odds just seemed too stacked in the heroes' favor. And new powers, and a paladin's mount who is himself a paladin, shades of Scarred Lands! I had much the same problem with the Honor Harrington series, after a while the hyper-competent hero just becomes dull. I like my heroes flawed, and will take a Cazaril or Vorkosigan over Bazhell or Harrington any day. (Yes, I like Bujold...)
I am glad that the Library is working for them, I have found it a pleasure over the years. And Baen continues to be the most internet savvy of the publishers. A lot of companies will print a chapter or too, but the evil minds at Baen will put up half the book as a sample, just to make sure you're hooked good and proper! (In the case of Komar they had the entire book up as a sample for a single day.) The description on the back of Wind Rider's Oath in regards to the CD was also very funny... 'The publisher did not provide this out of the goodness of his heart, if he even has a heart...'
The Auld Grump, waitling for the UPS man, or someone like him...
Last edited by TheAuldGrump; 11th June 2004 at 06:21 PM..
I had much the same problem with the Honor Harrington series, after a while the hyper-competent hero just becomes dull. I like my heroes flawed, and will take a Cazaril or Vorkosigan over Bazhell or Harrington any day. (Yes, I like Bujold...)
Absolutely. I was trying to explain something to someone the other day, and I ended up contrasting Honor and Miles as well.
I love the Harrington stories... but Honor just isn't as interesting a character to me as Miles is.
Quote:
A lot of companies will print a chapter or too, but the evil minds at Baen will put up half the book as a sample, just to make sure you're hooked good and proper! (In the case of Komar they had the entire book up as a sample for a single day.)
Heh. For me, the cruellest thing they did was put up to chapter 9 of A Civil Campaign... and then stop.
Chapter 9 ranks as my favourite chapter of any book ever written. And she left us hanging at that point, until the hardback was released...
I remember it vividly, actually. I was browsing the shelves at Borders, and I saw it sitting there, finally. I remember gasping, and snatching it off the shelf, and clutching it to my chest, and dancing, and cackling. I'm not absolutely certain if the "Mine mine mine mine!" was in my head, or aloud, though
Heh. For me, the cruellest thing they did was put up to chapter 9 of A Civil Campaign... and then stop.
Chapter 9 ranks as my favourite chapter of any book ever written. And she left us hanging at that point, until the hardback was released...
I remember it vividly, actually. I was browsing the shelves at Borders, and I saw it sitting there, finally. I remember gasping, and snatching it off the shelf, and clutching it to my chest, and dancing, and cackling. I'm not absolutely certain if the "Mine mine mine mine!" was in my head, or aloud, though
-Hyp.
Heh, heh, heh! Me too. Chapter 9 was the crux of the whole book, the rest was repercussion and clean up! And all the 'cunning plans' bumping into each other... I rather hope she does more with By in the future.
The Auld Grump, 'Worse, he critiqued it from a covert ops perspective...'
*EDIT* And Flint is not bad either, I read 1634 The Galileo Affair recently. I was very relieved and pleased that they did the research on Galileo and his 'imprisonment'. (In the real world it was nebver enforced, he left his house mere days after being 'imprisoned' in his home, and stayed a way for several months...) I was very worried they would go with the 'facts' as people seem to believe them, right up there with George Washington and the cherry tree.
Last edited by TheAuldGrump; 12th June 2004 at 07:17 AM..
My question is: Does this practice actually lead to people purchasing Baen Books?
Heck, yeah. Browsing their free library DIRECTLY led to me buying 10 hardcovers and 27 paperbacks so far. In Canadian funds, that's about $500. I won't buy their books at used bookstores either (unless OOP) because I want to make sure they get their money.
I also pimp books in the library to my friends all the time. I have no idea how much revenue that has generated, but its quite a bit north of $2000.
In Marketing, at least according to the conceptual model I use and teach, the goal of promotion is to move the customer through a series of 'states' (unawareness-> awareness-> knowledge-> conviction-> intent-> PURCHASE-> Repeat Purchase-> ADVOCATE). This last stage, 'Advocate', represents the ultimate achievement in marketing: where the vendor a) motivates and b) enables customers to effectively sell their products for them.
Baen's Library is just about the most effective implementation of that I've ever run across - the library and those CDs are exceedingly effective 'enablers'. So good, in fact, that it occasionally crops up as a case study in my classes...
They're pretty good at customer relations too: One book I purchased sold out two two entire print runs before the darn thing even got to Canada - which meant I ended up waiting over 5 months for a book that was expected to arrive in 3 days. Not much they could do (except go print and ship more - which of course they did), but getting a very cordial response from Jim Baen himself explaining the situation certainly made me feel like they were taking my concerns seriously.
EDIT: Hee! the book in question was Bujold's 'A Civil Campaign' - just mentioned above. Yes, it was a long, cruel, 5 months waiting for the rest of the book. But you just couldn't get it here in Toronto for love or money (or violence)...
Good people. They get my business. As for those DTRPG guys? Not so much...
A'Mal
__________________ "No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." - Terry Pratchett
Last edited by Amal Shukup; 12th June 2004 at 09:52 AM..
Me too. Chapter 9 was the crux of the whole book, the rest was repercussion and clean up! And all the 'cunning plans' bumping into each other...
Don't forget Aral's little comments to himself as he sees the dinner party breaking up...
Then there's the Best Damned Abject letter in Chapter 11 (which has me in tears every single time), and Illyan's conversation with Ekaterin...
Illyan gets a couple of the best lines in the book, I think.
"Do you know all those old folk tales where the count tries to get rid of his only daughter's unsuitable suitor by giving him three impossible tasks? Don;t ever try that with Miles. Just... don't."
and
"The lady asked you to unhand her, Lieutenant. She shouldn't have to ask twice. Or... once."
Quote:
And Flint is not bad either, I read 1634 The Galileo Affair recently.
That's one of the two I ordered - the other being 1633 I've had 1632 for years, but 1633 has never shown up in store here... finally got sick of waiting
I've really enjoyed the Flint/Drake Belisarius series (write the next book, dammit!), and a couple of Flint's other solo and collaborative efforts... (though The Philosophical Strangler books are a bit... unusual. Flashes of brilliance ("Borderin' on downright lawyerin'!"), but not really my favourite series.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amal Shukup
Hee! the book in question was Bujold's 'A Civil Campaign' - just mentioned above. Yes, it was a long, cruel, 5 months waiting for the rest of the book. But you just couldn't get it here in Toronto for love or money (or violence)...
Back when I had a working PDA, I used the Baen Free Library a lot -- very handy! I love the concept, and I'm glad it's working for them.
Slight hijack: When I was reading Memory by Bujold, one day I found myself in an incredibly foul mood. My husband kept asking me what was wrong, and I finally realized: I was mad because Miles was having such a bad time in that book. I think it's one of the only times a book has affected me that way.
That's one of the two I ordered - the other being 1633 I've had 1632 for years, but 1633 has never shown up in store here... finally got sick of waiting
-Hyp.
Heh, and of course Baen put 1633 in the Free Library as soon as 1634: The Galileo Affair came out... (Evil I tell you, evil!)
I recall Flint being asked on the Baen forum just after the first CD version of the library came out with a book about how he felt about people copying the CD and giving it to their friends. As I recall his reply was along the lines of 'The CD is advertising. If you copy it and give it away, or even put it up on P2P it is FREE advertising! We don't even have to pay for it.'
The Auld Grump, who liked 1634:tGA more than he did 1633...
Last edited by TheAuldGrump; 13th June 2004 at 07:59 AM..
Back when I had a working PDA, I used the Baen Free Library a lot -- very handy! I love the concept, and I'm glad it's working for them.
Slight hijack: When I was reading Memory by Bujold, one day I found myself in an incredibly foul mood. My husband kept asking me what was wrong, and I finally realized: I was mad because Miles was having such a bad time in that book. I think it's one of the only times a book has affected me that way.
--Janta
And the worst part was that he'd done to himself! I remember reading the sample chapters (Which read right up to the part where Miles was forced to resign because he falsified that report.
Yeah, the Baen Library, and their copious samples are all an evil plot to get their hands on my money!
The Auld Grump, who is cracking on his plan to avoid purchasing from DTRPG, they have out of print GDW games... But who has not broken yet...
He doesn't have any excuse, either... he spends the whole time telling himself "This is a bad idea".
In A Civil Campaign, at least, he doesn't come to the realisation of quite how bad some of his calls were until after the fact. In Memory, he went in with full knowledge that he was in the wrong.
I remember my buddy 'foisting' his copy of 'The Warrior's Apprentice' on me. Had, to my mind, a fairly bad cover (uniforms looked fairly, er, gestapo) and the back cover didn't really pull me in - I was supposed to care about this miniature, jumped up quasi-military genius guy? I didn't think so...
Good friend - wouldn't take no for an answer...
Also a huge fan of Flint/Drake's Bellisarius series. And yes, 'Write the Next one!'
A'Mal
__________________ "No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." - Terry Pratchett
[quote=janta]Slight hijack: When I was reading Memory by Bujold, one day I found myself in an incredibly foul mood. My husband kept asking me what was wrong, and I finally realized: I was mad because Miles was having such a bad time in that book. I think it's one of the only times a book has affected me that way.
SO True. That book got a tad dark for a bit... It was him imagining/anticipating his parent's (father's) disapointment that tore me up.
And I often find myself 'affected' by Miles. Not so much in the early books, but with Memory, Komarr and so forth? Fer Sure. Not always negative emotions either - didn't you just feel all incandescent when Gregor made him an Imperial Auditor? I just had this huge 'Bring it _ON_' grin on my face for pages...
Cordelia kinda gets to me too...
A'Mal
__________________ "No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." - Terry Pratchett
Not always negative emotions either - didn't you just feel all incandescent when Gregor made him an Imperial Auditor? I just had this huge 'Bring it _ON_' grin on my face for pages...
Mine all seem to be Ekaterin-related
Komarr: "Lord Vorkosigan... may I take a number and stand in line?"
And from the end of A Civil Campaign: "Why, certainly, milady. Now?"
Linear Mode
And yet another word from our sponsors
