Jim Baen
Jim Baen | |
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publisher and editor |
James Patrick Baen (| beɪn |; October 22, 1943 – June 28, 2006) was a
Biography
Jim Baen was born in Pennsylvania. He left his stepfather's home at the age of 17 and lived on the streets for several months before joining the United States Army; he served in Bavaria.
After stints at
Magazine editor
Baen was
Pournelle, in 1983, described Baen as "arguably one of the best science-fiction editors in the world. Certainly Larry Niven and I regard him among the top two or three we've ever worked with".[3] Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Baen and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[4][5]
Book publishing
In 1977, he returned to Ace to head their science fiction line, working with publisher Tom Doherty. When Doherty left to start Tor Books in 1980, Baen shortly followed and started the SF line there.
In 1983, he had the opportunity to start his own independent company, Baen Books, distributed then and now by Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster; this was possible in part thanks to release from a long-term contract by his good friend Doherty.
Baen Books has grown steadily since and established a large readership among fans of accessible adventure SF, publishing books by authors such as
Even more than had been the case at Ace and Tor, Jim was his own art director at Baen Books—and he really directed rather than viewing his job as one of coddling artists. Baen Books gained a distinct look. Like the book contents, the covers weren't to everyone's taste—but they worked.
Jim had the advantage over some editors in that he knew what a story is. He had the advantage over most editors in being able to spot talent before somebody else had published it. (Lois Bujold, Eric Flint, John Ringo, and Dave Weber were all Baen discoveries whom Jim promoted to stardom.)
Furthermore, he never stopped developing new writers. The week before his stroke, Jim bought a first novel from a writer whom Baen Books had been grooming through short stories over the past year.
The most important quality that Jim brought to his company was a personal vision. Baen Books didn't try to be for everybody, but it was always true to itself. In that as in so many other ways, the company mirrored Jim himself.[6]
Early anthology series
Baen edited several
eBooks
After hearing Pournelle praise writing with a computer, Baen purchased an
These innovations earned him respect in the technological community, and increasing disbelief in the publishing trade with perhaps the best comment of all – others began to mimic him, or place e-titles with Webscriptions themselves. One such title was even offered by Webscriptions using the despised (by J. Baen) Adobe PDF format, at its publishers insistence. Webscriptions is generally considered to be both the first
The two books Jim most remembered as formative influences were Fire-Hunter by
Arthur C Clarke. The theme of both short novels is a youth from a decaying culture escapes the trap of accepted wisdom and saves his people despite themselves. This is a fair description of Jim's life in SF: he was always his own man, always a maverick, and often brilliantly successful because he didn't listen to what other people thought.For example, the traditional model of electronic publishing required that the works be encrypted. Jim thought that just made it hard for people to read books, the worst mistake a publisher could make. His e-texts were clear and in a variety of common formats.
While e-publishing has been a costly waste of effort for others, Baen Books quickly began earning more from electronic sales than it did from Canada. By the time of Jim's death, the figure had risen to ten times that.[6]
Free ebooks
Along with Webscriptions, Baen created the Baen Free Library, where authors can make books available free of charge in the hope of attracting new readers. Though some scoffed at the idea of the free library, giving away ebooks turned out to increase sales.
Stance on DRM
Baen's e-books did not use
With his death, many other publishers have come to agree with his methods and principles. His stance on DRM is considered to still have been the most extreme among mainstream publishers, but has grown in credibility over time.[citation needed] Eric Flint, who has been called "Baen's Bulldog" on the DRM/Copy protection controversy[citation needed] believes that Jim Baen's legacy will be the impact on the DRM issue, and that Baen will have saved society from the rapaciousness of big corporations because Jim Baen had the courage of convictions to spit in the face of encryption, and moreover, prove that non-encrypted, non-DRM-protected intellectual materials actually give a sales boost—exactly the opposite of the conventional wisdom.[7]
Forum participation and e-ARCs
Jim Baen was very active on the
Baen's activity on the forums led to John Ringo becoming a published novelist. Ringo was a longtime participant in Baen's Bar and had gotten to know Baen by discussing topics like the aquatic ape hypothesis. Although his novel A Hymn Before Battle had been rejected, he mentioned he had submitted it and it had been rejected when Baen told him the manuscript had been lost. Baen took a look at the manuscript, fired the reader who had rejected it, and told Ringo that if he made certain edits, Baen would buy it.[8]
Another result of such interaction is that the barflies, the customers frequenting the site, actually talked Jim Baen into charging more for the e-book variation on the publishing trades'
The last half-decade
In 2000, Baen was the editor guest of honor at
Flint suggested creating an e-zine to carry some of the
Jim Baen's Universe
In late 2005 Baen announced plans for a bimonthly online
In August 2009, Baen's Universe announced that they would be closing down the magazine due to financial issues, stating "we were simply never able to get and retain enough subscribers to put us on a sales plateau that would allow us to continue publishing". [1]
Jim Baen had two daughters, Jessica (1977) with his wife of sixteen years, Madeline Gleich, and Katherine (1992) with Toni Weisskopf.[9] He apparently had a premonition of his own death[10] and suffered a massive bilateral thalamus stroke on June 12, 2006. He died on June 28 at Raleigh, North Carolina, without again regaining consciousness.[11] [12] According to Flint, he did get to see the first issue of his magazine before dying.
Bibliography
- Destinies (1979) (Illustrated by Alicia Austin)
References
- ^ Baen Software Rose and Fell While Barely Making a Sci-Fi Splash
- ^ The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- ^ a b Pournelle, Jerry (June 1983). "Zenith Z-100, Epson QX-10, Software Licensing, and the Software Piracy Problem". BYTE. Vol. 8, no. 6. p. 411. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-450-39315-0.
- ^ Heinlein’s Dedications Page Jane Davitt & Tim Morgan Accessed August 20 2008
- ^ a b "JIM BAEN October 22, 1943 - June 28, 2006" Archived February 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Baen's obituary by David Drake, david-drake.com.
- ^ a b Eric Flint (August 2006). "The Legacy of Jim Baen: Jim Baen's Universe, 2 Vol 1 Num 2". Archived from the original on 2007-12-09. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ^ The World According to Quinn: John Ringo and Deidre Knight on Writing
- ^ Jim Baen Archived 2006-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Obituary Archived February 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine by David Drake
- ^ Making Light: Jim Baen
- ^ Whatever: Jim Baen
External links
- Baen Books website
- Baen's Bar - The Official Forum
- Brief biography at Baen Books FAQ
- GoH Interview at Chicon website
- Early 2000s interview about electronic publishing at Futurist.com
- Obituary by David Drake
- Personal remembrance by Lois McMaster Bujold how Jim Baen started her career
- Dear Jim - John Ringo's letter to Jim Baen
- Obituary in Los Angeles Times
- James P. Baen at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database