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E-Books and DRM | 53 comments (53 topical) | Post A Comment
A Word From The Author[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#4)
by Anonymous User on Thu Feb 19, 2004 at 01:04:09 PM PDT

I'm not a habitue of this site so I posted as Anonymous Luser, but my name is John ("Hi John!")and I have a problem: I write books. Specifically I write books for Baen and have both included CDs in my books and have books in the Free Library. The "Warning" that was quoted (ahem, with several misspellings...ahem) was from the back of one of _my_ books. So I'm a proponent of "open source" on e-books, de facto and de jure. However, it doesn't mean I'm a fanatic. Publishers, in the end, are in business to make money. Jim Baen didn't have a single joke in that warning. If e-books were killing his bottomline, he'd be all over DRM like white on rice. His company is small enough, however, that he can actually track performance and tell when small items are having an effect on his bottomline. But "market research" in the publishing industry is hard. Think for example about the number of genres out there and the differences between readers. Not to mention their relative paucity. A telephone survey will go through FIFTEEN households before finding one that says that members are "regular readers". And even then they'll break down by genre, each with its own habits. (Nearly _one hundred_, by the way, for "a regular reader of science fiction.") Publishing marketing, therefore, is far more of an art than a science. There is no way to test market other than pay the money to distribute and hope for the best. And most publishers (and distributors, and bookstores) run on very small margins. Any flicker in their bottomline and they are history. So the smart ones are conservative. They'll take a chance here and there but most of the time they find themselves being burned when they do. So they went the conservative route on e-books. They were conservative in their marketing, only a limited number of books, and in their distribution model, encrypted, and they lost their proverbial shirt. Now e-books are "of the devil" as the Amish would say and they don't really _care_ if a microscopic fraction of their market is put out by their encryption schemes. The bottomline is protected. The problem was that in this case, the only thing that "works" is the bold move. To get more people reading _their_ ebooks they have to have them easy to use which will make more people read ebooks in-toto which will sell more of _their_ ebooks, etc. But it's like evolution. You'll keep the veriform appendix around for a _long_ time because it's essentially evolutionary neutral. Ebook readers are, for now, a relative minority (about 5% of the total "reader" population and recall how small _that_ was) and therefore have no market push. And as long as it's a bear to read ebooks...they're not going to tend to increase. (People who point out "increases in PDA use" etc ignore that VERY FEW OF THOSE USERS ARE READERS! The only way to increase the ebook readership is through the _publishers'_ actions.) So. Publishers protect bottomline. Total ebook readers increase fractionally because of lack of supply. Publishers' bottomline remains protected. It's a win/win situation for them. Sucks if you're an ebook reader, but in that case...Come to the Dark Side. Baen Books Is Your Friennnnd... /hypnotic voice. I'm pleased that Ed found it in his heart to mention us. Now, I'd suggest that he heigh himself over to the Free Library and check out the books _themselves_. :-) John Ringo

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Hey[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#5)
by beamdriver on Thu Feb 19, 2004 at 01:42:25 PM PDT

Ringo, are they letting the likes of you in here now? Damn, this place is going all to hell.

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tiffany sale[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#175)
by Anonymous User on Sun May 18, 2008 at 03:01:52 AM PDT

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yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#188)
by maderikapapa on Fri Jun 27, 2008 at 08:36:55 PM PDT

出会い系出会い系サイト出会い喫茶出会い掲示板ナンパ出会いカフェ人妻出会い無 009;系サイト優良出会い系攻略 完全無料。アダルトビデオアダルト動画アダルトアニメアダルト画像アダル 488;サイト無料DVDアダルト風俗サンプル無料風俗優良アダルトサイト比較海 806;。人妻画像人妻パラダイス知合い人妻援護会人妻コレクション風 439;告白。熟女画像東京熟女掲示板動画熟女ビデオおまんこオナニー。エロ画像エロフラッシュアニメ 456;ロ動画エロゲームエロ漫画無料エロサイト。エッチ画像エッチ動画エッチ小説写真エッチ 450;ニメエッチ0930。セックスアナルセックス画像セックス動画セックスフレンドスワッピングSEX写真セックスボランティセ 483;クス体位東京セックス仕方 SEX。おっぱい画像おっぱい村長おっぱい楽園掲示板お 387;ぱい命おっぱいゲーム。巨乳動画巨乳画像アイドル巨乳 522;示板風俗。セフレ募集セフレ掲示板セフレ画像掲示板セフレの作り方出会い無料素人セフレ。童貞狩りエロ漫画童貞狩り童貞喪失童貞オークション素人童貞逆援。不倫パートナー不倫出会い人妻不倫不倫を楽しみたい方にはお薦め 154;妻画像など満載出会いサイトを楽しむならココ無料出会いで一緒に遊ぼう出会いはLOVEｱｹﾞｲﾝで決まり

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Definitely pro-baen[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#9)
by gawaine on Fri Feb 20, 2004 at 11:24:11 AM PDT

Commenting on the previous -- I've now read, and purchased in paperback or hardcover, everything that John Ringo has written, along with the works of David Weber. I don't think there's any way I ever would have done that if it hadn't been for the baen library. That would have been my loss. Other authors there have also benefited to various extents.

I respect the choices of publishers not to publish in ebook format, but I know that for me, it's resulted in spending about three hundred dollars last year on baen that otherwise might have gone to one of their competitors. If you add in the three people I recommended the site it to, and their purchases, there's about a thousand dollars that Baen wouldn't have gotten. Eric Flint's Prime Palaver, his newsletter on the library, has gone through some of the increases in revenue authors have seen, and I'm not the only one throwing money their way - imagine, advertising helps!

I should also say that there are a few authors on Baen whose books I didn't enjoy. I didn't buy them. It's that simple; it didn't cost them an arm and a leg to give me the chance to like them, and in the end, it didn't hurt them. Meanwhile, I gave them a chance.

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Hey Ringo cut me A break[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#10)
by Anonymous User on Fri Feb 20, 2004 at 12:30:02 PM PDT

John; So I Mis-spelled some words on your warning at 2 in the afternoon..hey Im a night person thats like 4 am for you "normal" people out there, and I KNOW Jim is a money grubbing capitolist...but the Warning IS funny and if he didnt have a modicum of humor it wouldnt have made it....I also know if the e-books didnt make him money they would be in the trash along with the three million LOTR remakes on his desk in the last couple of years....so cut a FAITHFUL AND LOYAL READER of yours a brewak on spellin :P

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Large Font[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#28)
by Anonymous User on Tue Mar 16, 2004 at 12:25:32 PM PDT

Baen, John Ringo and Large Fonts on ebook readers have jump started my reading after a layoff of years. My eyes are going and I have trouble reading in bed with glasses. (I hate requiring special apparatus to read) Anyway by bumping the font size on an ebook reader I can read again without the Coke bottle bottoms. (for you young uns coke bottles used to be made of glass) I buy the wescription every month. John Ringo you Rock! Keep up the good work!

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Love them Baen E-Books![ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#30)
by Ray Trygstad on Sat Nov 27, 2004 at 10:02:42 PM PDT

As a long-time science-fiction reader and fan (thanks to my Dad) I can tell you that Baen's library is about the best thing since sliced bread. I download every new book put up and give them all a chance; I read them on my Pocket PC (Dell Axim X30) which I find to be a great platform for reading. I recently read John Ringo's March Upcountry, which like many of the books in the library is the first book in a trilogy. I then went out and bought the next two books. I read the e-book of The Shadow of the Lion and bought the print version for my daughter; I read the e-book of Sympathy for the Devil and I'm buying the print version for my pastor. I'm now reading A Hymn Before Battle which I also realize is the first of a series as well. Don't worry, John, no public library use on this one either, I'll buy 'em. So go get some Baen e-books, and you'll end up buying print versions. Do it for John Ringo, and for Jim Baen and his amazing ability to pick authors who can REALLY write and are not afraid to go out on a limb with electronic versions of their literary works. (And a special thanks to Jim for his support of our folks in the Navy from a 21-year Navy veteran.)

--Ray

Ray Trygstad
http://blog.raytrygstad.com/

[ Parent | Reply to This ]



yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#190)
by maderikapapa on Fri Jun 27, 2008 at 08:38:10 PM PDT

出会い系出会い系サイト出会い喫茶出会い掲示板ナンパ出会いカフェ人妻出会い無 009;系サイト優良出会い系攻略 完全無料。アダルトビデオアダルト動画アダルトアニメアダルト画像アダル 488;サイト無料DVDアダルト風俗サンプル無料風俗優良アダルトサイト比較海 806;。人妻画像人妻パラダイス知合い人妻援護会人妻コレクション風 439;告白。熟女画像東京熟女掲示板動画熟女ビデオおまんこオナニー。エロ画像エロフラッシュアニメ 456;ロ動画エロゲームエロ漫画無料エロサイト。エッチ画像エッチ動画エッチ小説写真エッチ 450;ニメエッチ0930。セックスアナルセックス画像セックス動画セックスフレンドスワッピングSEX写真セックスボランティセ 483;クス体位東京セックス仕方 SEX。おっぱい画像おっぱい村長おっぱい楽園掲示板お 387;ぱい命おっぱいゲーム。巨乳動画巨乳画像アイドル巨乳 522;示板風俗。セフレ募集セフレ掲示板セフレ画像掲示板セフレの作り方出会い無料素人セフレ。童貞狩りエロ漫画童貞狩り童貞喪失童貞オークション素人童貞逆援。不倫パートナー不倫出会い人妻不倫不倫を楽しみたい方にはお薦め 154;妻画像など満載出会いサイトを楽しむならココ無料出会いで一緒に遊ぼう出会いはLOVEｱｹﾞｲﾝで決まり

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