It’s been a rough year for Baen Books, who had their top living author Larry Correia diversifying away from the company as he’s writing for Ark Press and Aethon Books.
I hope it works for them. They need a guy with some fire. Mrs Weisskopf has done okay holding the fort, but she's more like a capable Delta than the leader Baen needs.
I'm not too thrilled with Baen resurrecting Anne McCaffrey's City series. It'd be one thing if McCaffrey had left outlines for future books and another writer wrote the actual book, that I would likely read. But that doesn't appear to be the case here. My guess is that Mercedes Lackey will provide an outline and Veronica Giguere will write the actual book. While Lackey is a very accomplished author and did co-write a City novel with McCaffrey (The Ship Who Searched), that was over 30 years ago. I had to look up Veronica Giguere and while she has written a handful of novels, they were all co-written with Lackey and two other writers (Dennis Lee and Cody Martin). Maybe it'll be a great book, but I'll wait until the reviews come in before I drop any cash for it.
If her son Todd was involved and it was additional books in the Pern series, I could see it. He co wrote with her and did several on his own. The fact that he is not involved, even as a figure head is a bad sign.
What is this other than what any number of entertainment businesses do once they lose sight of their market niche?
The truth of the matter is that Baen was facing a tough time no matter what due to the changing market in books. The big gorilla in the room is of course Amazon.
But one can survive with market changes. The real problem is that Baen was kinda for boys. I read David Weber when I was in my late teens.
When you have a whole market that goes one way (in this case, catering to women), you have to disrupt that to beat economies of scale.
What none of the college grads from businesses trying to write for female audiences have bothered to ask is “How do we write to male audiences?”
Yes, women read more in general than men, and they read much more fiction than men. The entire industry has more or less assumed that this is because women are just more into that. They are not acting from the possibility that they weren’t writing for men.
We may not like it, but lads its time to move on. Don't know what we can do but there is enough talent in this thread alone. We might have to wait for the industry to fully balkinze, before there is a level feild.
Baen is the new Tor Books. It won't be long before they'll be publishing John Scalzi.
I hope it works for them. They need a guy with some fire. Mrs Weisskopf has done okay holding the fort, but she's more like a capable Delta than the leader Baen needs.
As a fan of Lackey and Flint, I won't be buying any of those new co-authored books.
How about these companies find new talent and nurture that talent? You might be surprised.
Would do better to find some really good new sci fi authors to add to their roster.
I'm not too thrilled with Baen resurrecting Anne McCaffrey's City series. It'd be one thing if McCaffrey had left outlines for future books and another writer wrote the actual book, that I would likely read. But that doesn't appear to be the case here. My guess is that Mercedes Lackey will provide an outline and Veronica Giguere will write the actual book. While Lackey is a very accomplished author and did co-write a City novel with McCaffrey (The Ship Who Searched), that was over 30 years ago. I had to look up Veronica Giguere and while she has written a handful of novels, they were all co-written with Lackey and two other writers (Dennis Lee and Cody Martin). Maybe it'll be a great book, but I'll wait until the reviews come in before I drop any cash for it.
If her son Todd was involved and it was additional books in the Pern series, I could see it. He co wrote with her and did several on his own. The fact that he is not involved, even as a figure head is a bad sign.
What is this other than what any number of entertainment businesses do once they lose sight of their market niche?
The truth of the matter is that Baen was facing a tough time no matter what due to the changing market in books. The big gorilla in the room is of course Amazon.
But one can survive with market changes. The real problem is that Baen was kinda for boys. I read David Weber when I was in my late teens.
When you have a whole market that goes one way (in this case, catering to women), you have to disrupt that to beat economies of scale.
What none of the college grads from businesses trying to write for female audiences have bothered to ask is “How do we write to male audiences?”
Yes, women read more in general than men, and they read much more fiction than men. The entire industry has more or less assumed that this is because women are just more into that. They are not acting from the possibility that they weren’t writing for men.
Which is hilarious. It’s pretty obvious.
Baen's been doing this for as long as they've been around - republishing (and remixing) old classic stuff.
This strikes me as a desperate gambit. I'd be happy to write for them if it meant they'd publish my works. But who knows if that'll ever happen.
I keep seeing covers with women and effeminate males. I'm telling you now that I won't be purchasing that book... especially if the author is a woman.
Chick-lit is widely covered by other publishers, so why doesn't Baen specialize in Sci-Fi directed at the male audience?
As Chris Gore at Film Threat said about films, "Make Marvel Male Again", how about Make Baen Male Again?
We may not like it, but lads its time to move on. Don't know what we can do but there is enough talent in this thread alone. We might have to wait for the industry to fully balkinze, before there is a level feild.