James Patrick "Jim" Baen
Born	October 22, 1943(1943-10-22) Pennsylvania
Died	June 28, 2006 (aged 62) Raleigh, North Carolina
Occupation	Science fiction Publisher and Editor

James Patrick "Jim" Baen (October 22, 1943 Pennsylvania – June 28, 2006 Raleigh, North Carolina) was a noted U.S. science fiction (SF) publisher and editor. Events 202 BC - Hannibal Barca, leader of the Carthaginians, is defeated by the Roman legions under Scipio Africanus Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1098 - Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Raleigh (pronounced rah-lee) is the Capital of the State of North Carolina and the county seat of Wake County, USA Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view Editing Language, Images or Sound through correction condensation organization and other modifications in various media Events 202 BC - Hannibal Barca, leader of the Carthaginians, is defeated by the Roman legions under Scipio Africanus Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern Events 1098 - Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Raleigh (pronounced rah-lee) is the Capital of the State of North Carolina and the county seat of Wake County, USA The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view Editing Language, Images or Sound through correction condensation organization and other modifications in various media In 1983 he founded his own publishing house, Baen Books, specializing in the adventure, fantasy, military science fiction and space opera genres. Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view Baen Books is an American Publishing company established in 1983 by long time Science Fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting Military science fiction is a Subgenre of Science fiction in which the principal characters are members of a military service and an armed conflict is taking Space opera is a subgenre of Speculative fiction or Science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often Melodramatic adventure set mainly or entirely A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set In late 1999 he started an electronic publishing business called Webscriptions, considered to be the first profitable e-book vendor despite not using encryption or Digital Rights Management (DRM). Electronic publishing includes the digital publication of E-books and Electronic articles and the development of digital libraries and catalogues Webscription services References and Notes An e-book (for electronic book: also ebook) is the Digital media equivalent of a conventional printed Book. Digital rights management ( DRM) is a generic term that refers to Access control technologies used by hardware manufacturers publishers and Copyright holders

Baen was an outspoken opponent of DRM, regarding it as harmful to publishers and authors as well as readers. He flatly refused to use encryption or even Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) and was quite vocal in lambasting e-copy protection in any form as an act that was cutting the throat of any publisher that adopted it. This stance was quite controversial at the time, but after seven years, other publishers are adopting the same policy, and Baen Book's hardcover sales numbers have soared in direct relation to the number of titles available as inexpensive e-books, while the competition's remained flat or declined in the same period. As another measure, in comparison, e-royalties paid by Baen run circa 5% of a hardcover royalty over the same period, other publishers have paid out less than 1% comparatively on average — typical period numbers are a difference of four figures to two figures in e-royalties. ^[1]

He was considered a controversial figure during his own lifetime, often due to his own personal style. However, with his passing, 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. Eric Flint, who has been called "Baen's Bulldog" on the DRM/Copy protection controversy 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. Eric Flint (born 1947 is an American Alternate history and Fantasy author, editor, and e-publisher. ^[2]

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Magazine editor 1.2 Book publishing 1.3 Book experiments 1.4 The last half-decade 1.5 Jim Baen's UNIVERSE 2 References 3 External links

Biography

Jim Baen left his stepfather's home at the age of 17 and lived on the streets for several months before joining the United States Army where he served in Bavaria. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12

After stints at City College of New York and as the manager of a folk music coffee shop (a "basket house") in Greenwich Village in the 1960s, he started his publishing career in the complaints department of Ace Books. The City College of The City University of New York (known more commonly as the City College of New York or simply City College, CCNY, or colloquially as Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous Greenwich Village (ˌgrɛnɪtʃ ˈvɪlɪdʒ often simply called the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern Manhattan The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 Ace Books is the oldest active specialty Publisher of Science fiction and Fantasy books In 1972 he got the job of an assistant Gothics editor. Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. ^[3]

Magazine editor

Baen was Judy-Lynn del Rey's replacement as managing editor at Galaxy Science Fiction in 1973. Judy-Lynn del Rey née Benjamin ( January 26[[ 943]]&ndash February 20[[ 986]]was a Science fiction editor. Galaxy Science Fiction was a digest-size Science fiction magazine, the creation of noted editor H He succeeded Ejler Jakobsson as editor of Galaxy and If in 1974. Ejler Jakobsson (1911–1986 was a Finnish -born Science fiction editor If was an American Science fiction magazine launched in March 1952 by Quinn Publications owned by James L Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. While at Galaxy (which absorbed If from 1975) he largely revitalised it, publishing such authors as Jerry Pournelle, Charles Sheffield, Joanna Russ, Spider Robinson, Algis Budrys, and John Varley, and was nominated for several Hugo Awards. Jerry Eugene Pournelle (born August 7, 1933) is an American Science fiction Writer, Essayist and Journalist Charles Sheffield ( June 25, 1935 &ndash November 2, 2002) was an English -born mathematician physicist and Science fiction Joanna Russ (born February 22, 1937, New York City) born to teachers Evarett I Spider Robinson (born November 24, 1948) is an American-born Canadian Hugo and Nebula award winning Science fiction Algis Budrys ( January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian American Science fiction Author John Herbert Varley (born August 9, 1947 in Austin Texas) is an American Science fiction Author. The Hugo Awards are given every year for the best Science fiction or Fantasy works and achievements of the previous year

Book publishing

In 1977 he returned to Ace to head their science fiction line, working with publisher Tom Doherty. Tom Doherty (born April 23, 1936) is an American publisher and the founder of Tor Books. When Doherty left to start Tor Books in 1980, Baen shortly followed and started the SF line there. Tor Books is one of two Imprints of Tom Doherty Associates LLC based in New York City Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) 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. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) Baen Books is an American Publishing company established in 1983 by long time Science Fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes Paperback books Simon & Schuster Inc, a division of CBS Corporation, is a Publisher founded in New York in 1924 by Richard L

Baen Books has grown steadily since and established a large readership among fans of accessible adventure SF, publishing books by authors such as David Weber, John Ringo, Eric Flint, David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, Elizabeth Moon, Mercedes Lackey, Larry Niven, and many more. David Mark Weber is an American Science fiction and Fantasy author. John Ringo (b March 22 1963 is an American Science fiction and military fiction author who writes full time Eric Flint (born 1947 is an American Alternate history and Fantasy author, editor, and e-publisher. David Drake (born September 24, 1945) is an author of Science fiction and Fantasy literature Lois McMaster Bujold (born November 2, 1949, Columbus, Ohio) is an American author of Science fiction and Fantasy Elizabeth Moon (born March 7, 1945) is an award-winning American Science fiction and Fantasy author Mercedes Lackey (born June 24, 1950) New York New York (also known as Misty Lackey) is a prolific American author of fantasy novels Laurence van Cott Niven (born April 30, 1938 Los Angeles California) is a US Science fiction author. According to Eric Flint's "Editor's Page" Column just after Baen's death, once tiny Baen Books had been voted the second most looked for "label" among science-fiction fans, up from fourth in 2004, and seventh in 2003. The rapid growth in recent years is credited being due to Jim Baen's visionary electronic marketing strategy — by seeming to court piracy, ignoring encryption and by giving away free titles on CDROM (See "Electronic marketing strategy" under Baen Books), by offering bundled "bargain samplers" and e-ARCs — Baen's e-marketing pulled in sales. CD-ROM (an initialism of "Compact Disc Read-Only Memory " is a pre-pressed Compact Disc that contains data accessible to but not writable Baen Books is an American Publishing company established in 1983 by long time Science Fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. Baen Books is an American Publishing company established in 1983 by long time Science Fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. Baen Books is an American Publishing company established in 1983 by long time Science Fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. People could sample the wares, decide they liked it, and picked up a tangible book to read — which given the series orientation of the SF genre, translated into more than one book. In short, even as the average small town library is trimming titles carried and stocking up on audio-visual media, Baen took advantage of technology to counteract the former "boost" gotten from libraries buying titles and keeping them around.

“

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 thing of all which 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. [4]

”

Book experiments

Baen edited several anthology series, trying to combine the feeling of an anthology and a magazine. ANThology is the first Major label album by Alien Ant Farm released on March 6, 2001 in the USA and March 19 To achieve this, they were numbered and dated like a magazine and contained many magazine features: Destinies (Ace, 11 issues 1978-81), Far Futures (Baen, 7 issues 1985-6), and New Destinies (Baen, 8 issues numbered I to IV and VI to IX 1987-90). He also edited several volumes of reprints from Galaxy and If in the 1970s.

Baen started an experimental web publishing business called Webscriptions in late 1999 and also the Baen Free Library, where authors can make books available free of charge in the hope of attracting new readers. Electronic publishing includes the digital publication of E-books and Electronic articles and the development of digital libraries and catalogues Webscription services References and Notes The Baen Free Library is a Digital library of the Science fiction and Fantasy Publishing house Baen Books where (as of February 2007 Some writers scoffed at the idea of the free library, and most observers dismissed the e-book market as too small or claimed that without copy protection it would fail. Instead, it is one of the few such enterprises which regularly turn a profit, breaking even its first year. Giving away books in the free library turned out to increase sales (to many authors' delight) — people liked taking the car out for a spin before dishing out hard earned money.

Jim Baen was very active on the web forum of the Baen website, called Baen's Bar, which he started in May 1997; his interests included evolutionary biology, space technology, politics, military history, and puns. An, or message board, is a Bulletin board system in the form of a discussion site Baen Books is an American Publishing company established in 1983 by long time Science Fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. Evolutionary biology is a sub-field of Biology concerned with the origin of Species from a Common descent, and Descent of species Space technology is Technology that is related to entering space, maintaining and using systems during Spaceflight and returning people and things Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions Military history is a Humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity A pun (or paronomasia) is a Phrase that deliberately exploits confusion between similar-sounding Words for humorous or Rhetorical One amusing 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' Advance reading copy — (sampler packages of five books) the house was offering called e-ARCs ("Advanced Reader Copies", emphasis on benefit to the "Reader"). An advance copy, also known as an advance reading copy or ARC, is a copy of a Book released by its publisher before the book has gone to press Baen Books is an American Publishing company established in 1983 by long time Science Fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. Jim Baen would have been glad to break even on the e-biz, for he was firmly convinced the increased exposure would lead to increased sales, and it took only three years to prove it beyond much doubt, and about as long before even the competition could no longer deny the successes.

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 e-books-for-money service whose product completely lacks encryption (in fact, Webscriptions makes each book available in a wide range of openly readable formats) and one of the first e-book publishing services to become profitable. An e-book (for electronic book: also ebook) is the Digital media equivalent of a conventional printed Book. (Indeed, it likely the most profitable such service). In the words of David Drake, a writer with more than fifty books published:

“

The two books Jim most remembered as formative influences were Fire-Hunter by Jim Kjelgaard and Against the Fall of Night by Arthur C Clarke. David Drake (born September 24, 1945) is an author of Science fiction and Fantasy literature The theme of both short novels is that 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 very 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. [5]

”

The last half-decade

In 2000, he was the editor guest of honor at Chicon 2000, that year's Worldcon. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. The 58th World Science Fiction Convention ( Worldcon) was Chicon 2000 which was held in Chicago, USA August 31 - September 4, With the interest shown in Flint's 1632 series, he set up a second talk forum for the new writer, one specialized to the buzz of 1632-verse called 1632 Tech Manual. The fans wanted a sequel, "yesterday", the research was daunting, so he advised the fledgling writer to open up the universe, to make it a shared universe long before the "normal point" in a fictional universe life-cycle; Flint, a gambler was willing, and the result was Ring of Fire , but in the meantime he'd paired best selling author David Weber with the emerging mid-list author Flint in a five book contract and the resulting 1633 created a new cycle of buzz and interest. A shared universe is a Literary technique in which several different authors create works of Fiction that share aspects such as settings or characters and that are Ring of Fire is the important canonical third published book of editor-author-historian Eric David Mark Weber is an American Science fiction and Fantasy author.

Flint suggested taking some of the fan fiction submitted for Ring of Fire (or just appearing) and creating an e-zine, Baen was willing to take the risk, contort his e-ARC system and webscriptions and try out a magazine format. Baen Books is an American Publishing company established in 1983 by long time Science Fiction publisher and editor Jim Baen. The last book Baen bought from Flint was for the fourth hardcopy edition of the magazine, which came about as well, because Jim Baen was willing to try an anthology of the Gazette, which became Grantville Gazette I, another experiment that worked. Hard Copy is an American tabloid news television show that ran in syndication from 1989 to 1999 The Grantville Gazette (later Grantville Gazette I or more recently yet Grantville Gazette Volume 1) is the first of a series of

Jim Baen's UNIVERSE

In late 2005 Baen announced plans for a bimonthly online science fiction magazine, which was originally named Baen's Astounding Stories. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A science fiction magazine is a Magazine that publishes primarily Science fiction, in print or on the internet or both After concerns over trademark infringement with Dell Magazines (publisher of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, which was originally titled Astounding Stories), it was renamed Jim Baen's Universe. Trademark infringement is a violation of the Exclusive rights attaching to a Trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that This article discusses the magazine company For other uses see Dell (disambiguation. Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American Science fiction Magazine. Jim Baen's Universe (JBU is a bimonthly online fantasy and Science fiction magazine created by Jim Baen (founder and long-time publisher The magazine, edited by Eric Flint, published its first issue in June 2006, with a number of prestigious authors (including David Drake and Timothy Zahn) contracted. Eric Flint (born 1947 is an American Alternate history and Fantasy author, editor, and e-publisher. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. David Drake (born September 24, 1945) is an author of Science fiction and Fantasy literature Timothy Zahn (born September 1, 1951) is a writer of Science fiction short stories and novels The magazine, another successful Baen experiment goes on.

Jim Baen had two daughters, Jessica (1977) with his wife of sixteen years, Madeline Gleich, and Katherine (1992) with Toni Weisskopf. Toni Weisskopf (born 1965 is a Science fiction editor and the publisher of Baen Books. ^[6] He apparently had a premonition of his own death^[7] and suffered a massive bilateral thalamus stroke on June 12, 2006, and died on June 28 without again regaining consciousness. The thalamus (from Greek θάλαμος = room chamber, IPA= /ˈθæləməs/ is a pair and symmetric part of the brain A stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain functions due to a disturbance in the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1098 - Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul. ^{[8] [9]} According to Flint, he did get to see the first issue of his magazine before passing.

References

External links

• http://www.baen.com Baen Books Homepage
  • 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. David Drake (born September 24, 1945) is an author of Science fiction and Fantasy literature 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
• Obituaryin Los Angeles Times
• Jim Baen at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

David Drake (born September 24, 1945) is an author of Science fiction and Fantasy literature Lois McMaster Bujold (born November 2, 1949, Columbus, Ohio) is an American author of Science fiction and Fantasy John Ringo (b March 22 1963 is an American Science fiction and military fiction author who writes full time

---

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic