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  • Re: Huh

    From Ahasuerus@3:633/10 to All on Sun Dec 21 07:48:22 2025
    On 12/15/2025 1:33 AM, Robert Woodward wrote:
    In article <10hnfhj$kmr$2@reader2.panix.com>,
    jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:

    I spent a while trying to determine if any big name SF authors
    got their start at Baen after Jim Baen died, and as far as I
    can tell, the answer is no.

    I _thought_ Larry Correia might be one but he was self-published
    before moving to Baen. Likewise, every other possibility turned
    to either have started outside Baen or inside Baen but before
    2006. Almost 20 years is a hell of a run without discovering at
    least one new superstar.

    I did some checking of authors who have shown up recently in the Baen
    catalog and I am wondering if I am seeing more than one group of writers
    who founded their own publishing companies to publish their books
    instead of submitting them to major publishers.

    [snip]

    The action/adventure-oriented part of SF -- which goes back to ERB, the
    first incarnation of _Astounding_ (the Clayton/Bates era), _Planet
    Stories_, etc -- is a very big part of the indie/self-published scene.
    Some authors eventually branch out to offer their services to other
    authors and become indie publishers, e.g. Selkie at Mango Media
    Publishing, James A. Hunter at Shadow Alley Publishing and the team
    behind Aethon Books (https://aethonbooks.com/the-team/).

    There is also some overlap between the indie/self-publishing part of the market and Baen Books. For example, if you pull up the list of David
    Weber's co-authors, you'll find Jacob Holo and Richard Fox.

    Finally, the world of online serials is also heavy on action/adventure
    SF. Places like Patreon let authors make a living without ever
    publishing a book in the traditional sense of the word. For example, see ArcaneCadence's Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/ArcaneCadence), which
    earns $27,860/mo, or The Dark Wolf Shiro's Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedarkwolfshiro/about?), which doesn't show
    the monthly amount, but shows 1,880 paid members with the lowest paid
    tier at $5/mo.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mad Hamish@3:633/10 to All on Mon Dec 22 00:12:12 2025

    On Sun, 14 Dec 2025 23:00:03 -0000 (UTC), jdnicoll@panix.com (James
    Nicoll) wrote:

    I spent a while trying to determine if any big name SF authors
    got their start at Baen after Jim Baen died, and as far as I
    can tell, the answer is no.

    I _thought_ Larry Correia might be one but he was self-published
    before moving to Baen. Likewise, every other possibility turned
    to either have started outside Baen or inside Baen but before
    2006. Almost 20 years is a hell of a run without discovering at
    least one new superstar.

    Did I miss someone?

    This could be the logical outcome of the Del Monte approach to SFF.

    Depends what you count as "started"
    Correiia did self publich Monster Hunter Internatonal but it was
    pretty quickly picked up by Baen so I'm not sure it disqualifies him
    from starting there

    and I'm not really sure how many big name SF authors have really
    started in the last 20 years
    Probably Andy Weir but he'd done webcomics first - starting back in
    2001 with Casey & Andy - and he self-published The Martian before it
    was picked up by a publisher as well...

    I think a large number of authors are hitting amazon ebooks rather
    than going for traditional publishing, and then you've got patrreon,
    royal road etc

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)