The people in charge at Baen Publishing know what they’re doing, yah? And they know their audience. You can already hear the pocket protectors rustling… Just kidding. I saw some of my favorite authors there too: Larry Niven, Fred Saberhagen, etc. My point is, could there be a more receptive group of readers for free eBooks than scifi and fantasy fans?
The Baen Library
Baen Free Library is offering free eBooks to everybody with a internet connection. They’ve got a call out to their authors to upload any of the work they’ve published with Baen. You’ll see the list is growing. It’s an excellent use of the technology to increase product, author and title awareness, oh and sales.
That’s my whittled down version of the mandate. The whole thing’s right here. The author, Eric Flint, likens online piracy to getting access to free books through libraries and friends. I agree… but that isn’t suggesting we blindly accept the high prices that promote piracy.
The books they offer aren’t necessarily new, but they’re an engaging list of titles and authors. They’re offering them free, but you’re welcome to pay for them with a $4.00 donation. I’d say that’s a wasted step. Are they free or aren’t they? (Though it’s ironic that they slap a fairly reasonable price on something that they’re giving away…)
I’ve discovered by digging around their site that they’re offering that $4.00 price for a lot of their older titles, so cudos from eBook Rumors. That’s the way we have to proceed, eBook fans. When developing a market, one cannot presume to know what price point that market will bear.
