Baen Free Library

[TheAuldGrump]

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.

 

[Amal Shukup]

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

 

[Hypersmurf]

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."

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.)

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)...

Ooh, you have my deepest sympathy.

But worth the wait, wasn't it?

-Hyp.

 

[janta]

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. </hijack>

--Janta

 

[TheAuldGrump]

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...

 

[TheAuldGrump]

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. </hijack>

--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

Spoiler

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...

 

[Hypersmurf]

And the worst part was that he'd done to himself!

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.

-Hyp.

 

[Amal Shukup]

:

Ooh, you have my deepest sympathy.

But worth the wait, wasn't it?

-Hyp.

It truly was...

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

 

[Amal Shukup]

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. </hijack>

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

 

[Hypersmurf]

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?"

-Hyp.