I just read that Jim Baen is seriously ill. I have always had the highest regard for Baen as a publishing firm, and of the man, although I have never met him. Baen’s has had a reputation of dealing fairly with authors in a field that makes its profits by nickel and diming the writers whose works they sell. I’ve heard many personal stories where contracts have been re-written and fee royalty schedules altered in favor of the author to correct inequities. This is something that is not heard of anywhere else in publishing.
I am working on a first draft of an action SF novel that I thought I might submit to Baen some day. I don’t like the prospects of a publishing industry without a Jim Baen.
Strokes can be devastating. Some people can recover, but some never come back completely. I hope Jim makes it through this.
There’s a thread at: Making Light: Jim Baen
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Didn’t Jim Bean launch a webzine concern recently? I hear the zine is a tough market to crack into.
Jim
Yeah he did Baen’s Universe – I think it’s is closed to subs now, but I submitted there 3 or 4 times. I had a rewrite request once, but no sales.
It was nice because they had a 3 or 4 day turnaround.
I had some business dealings with the people at Baen’s and they were nice to work with, too.
Jim is still bad off. There is hope that he will come out of it, but that is not a medical analysis. Strokes are very serious.
Baen’s Bar, a discussion forum at the baen publishing site, is a place to express concern and best wishes.
http://bar.baen.com
I used to work for the Heart and Stroke foundation here back in the mid 1990’s and although I’m no expert but anyone can have a stroke and strokes can be subtle or extreame.
Heck we can even have a stroke and not know we had one. Not all strokes cause death but they are very serious. My wifes mother last year had the 3rd stroke that finaly killed her and they were all in the same place in her body.
I’m diebetic and diebeties can lead to to a stroke just like my wifes mother. She died at the age of 83.
I hope the guy recovers okay. I wonder what will happen to Bean books if he passes away?
most likely the Company will still continue.
I’m sure they will continue to publish no matter what. I’m not even sure that he was involved that much in the company anymore.
They are a tough market to crack, both for short stories and novels. Get an agent if you want to submit a novel to them, otherwise, you can pretty much forget it.
Here’s hoping he recovers!