Being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane asylum.

- Graycie Harmon

Monday, December 7, 2009

Baen Free Library

My Kung Fu brother and good friend directed me to this site:

The Baen Free Library.

Thanks Phil!

It's a remarkable idea put forth by the authors and editors of Baen Publishing. The idea is.... wait for it.... wait.... FREE BOOKS! That's right. Every author has been asked to volunteer a book or two to be posted up absolutely free.

The author who claims to be the father of the idea (Eric Flint) gives a whole host of reasons on the site with far more eloquence than I could. Go there and read it!

It got me thinking a little bit. Should I offer the first book of The Great Man Series as a free eBook? Certainly if I gather enough of a following, I could benefit. I might be able to generate a little hype about my stuff.

Strangely, I still dream of being published traditionally. I suppose that plenty of authors have been given very pleasing publication deals after they've self-published and became well known. The Celestine Prophecy was one such title.

Then there is the flip side - a lot of publishers stipulate that they will not consider previously published books for publication. Yes, eBooks count as publications. I might not do well on my own. Hell, I'm not doing that well now. No one knows who the hell I am.

I know, I know. I've only been doing this schtick since August. I suppose I am being a little impatient. Le Sigh.

In any case, I promised Tor that I wouldn't do anything until 6 months after they've received the book proposal. So, I have until March, really, to figure it out. I think that I'll offer the first book for free as an eBook if I don't receive any offers from Tor.

That's it from me, since all the ziggs search alerts were from my Kung Fu brother last week! Hope you are all well!

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