The Baen Free Library is a digital library of the science fiction and fantasy publishing house Baen Books where (as of December 2008) 112 full books can be downloaded free in a number of formats, without copy protection. It was founded in autumn 1999 by science fiction writer Eric Flint and publisher Jim Baen to determine whether the availability of books free of charge on the Internet encourages or discourages the sale of their paper books.
The Baen Free Library represents an interesting experiment in the field of intellectual property and copyright. It appears that sales of both the books made available free and other books by the same author, even from a different publisher, increase when the electronic version is made available free of charge.[1]
In 2002, Baen also started adding CD-ROMs into some hardcovers of newest titles in successful series. They contain the complete series of novels preceding the printed book (for those books that were the latest in a series), other works by the same author, some works by other authors, and multimedia bonuses. The CD-ROMs have a prominent permissive copyright license which expressly encourages free-of-charge copying and sharing, including over the Internet.
Baen also operates Webscriptions, a subscription-based e-book program.
[edit] Current titles
Current as of 2008-12-30. Click on a column header to sort the table by that column.
| Title | Author(s) | Editor(s) |
| 1632 | Eric Flint | |
| 1633 | David Weber and Eric Flint | |
| 1812: The Rivers of War | Eric Flint | |
| A Hymn Before Battle | John Ringo | |
| A Plague of Demons | Keith Laumer | Eric Flint |
| Agent of Vega | James H. Schmitz | Eric Flint and Guy Gordon |
| An Oblique Approach | David Drake and Eric Flint | |
| The Apocalypse Troll | David Weber | |
| Bedlam Boyz | Ellen Guon | |
| Berserker Throne | Fred Saberhagen | |
| Beyond World's End | Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill | |
| Black on Black | K. D. Wentworth | |
| Born to Run | Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon | |
| Changer of Worlds | David Weber and Eric Flint | |
| The Course of Empire | Eric Flint and K. D. Wentworth | |
| Crawling Between Heaven and Earth | Sarah A. Hoyt | |
| The Creatures of Man | Howard L. Myers | Eric Flint |
| Crown of Slaves | David Weber and Eric Flint | |
| Cross the Stars | David Drake | |
| Crusade | David Weber and Steve White | |
| Demon Blade | Mark A. Garland and Charles C. McGraw | |
| Destiny's Shield | Eric Flint and David Drake | |
| Diamonds Are Forever | David Drake, Eric Flint, Ryk E. Spoor, and Henry Kuttner | |
| Digital Knight | Ryk E. Spoor | |
| Doc Sidhe | Aaron Allston | |
| Earthweb | Marc Stiegler | |
| Emerald Sea | John Ringo | |
| The Excalibur Alternative | David Weber | |
| Fallen Angels | Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn | |
| Far Edge of Darkness | Linda Evans | |
| Fiddler Fair | Mercedes Lackey | |
| Fire in the Mist | Holly Lisle | |
| The Forlorn | Dave Freer | |
| Fortune's Stroke | Eric Flint and David Drake | |
| Forward the Mage | Eric Flint and Richard Roach | |
| Freehold | Michael Z. Williamson | |
| Future Imperfect | Keith Laumer | Eric Flint |
| Genellan: Planetfall | Scott Gier | |
| Genie Out of the Bottle | Dave Freer and Eric Flint | T. K. F. Weisskopf |
| The Grantville Gazette (vol.1) | Eric Flint, Virginia DeMarce, et al. | Eric Flint |
| Great Kings' War | Roland Green and John F. Carr | |
| Gust Front | John Ringo | |
| The Honor of the Queen | David Weber | |
| The Hub: Dangerous Territory | James H. Schmitz | Eric Flint |
| In the Heart of Darkness | Eric Flint and David Drake | |
| Inherit the Stars | James P. Hogan | |
| Interstellar Patrol | Christopher Anvil | Eric Flint |
| The Lark and the Wren | Mercedes Lackey | |
| Legions of Space | Keith Laumer | Eric Flint |
| The Lighter Side | Keith Laumer | Eric Flint |
| The Lion of Farside | John Dalmas | |
| Lt. Leary Commanding | David Drake | |
| A Logic Named Joe | Murray Leinster | Eric Flint |
| March to the Sea | David Weber and John Ringo | |
| March Upcountry | David Weber and John Ringo | |
| Med Ship | Murray Leinster | |
| Mother of Demons | Eric Flint | |
| The Mountains of Mourning | Lois McMaster Bujold | |
| The Multiplex Man | James P. Hogan | |
| Mutineers' Moon | David Weber | |
| Northworld | David Drake | |
| Oath of Swords | David Weber | |
| Odyssey | Keith Laumer | Eric Flint |
| Old Nathan | David Drake | |
| On Basilisk Station | David Weber | |
| Original versions of edited Godwin Stories | Tom Godwin | Eric Flint |
| Original versions of edited Schmitz Stories | James H. Schmitz | Eric Flint |
| Pandora's Legions | Christopher Anvil | Eric Flint |
| Paying the Piper | David Drake | |
| The Philosophical Strangler | Eric Flint | |
| Planets of Adventure | Murray Leinster | Eric Flint |
| Primary Inversion | Catherine Asaro | |
| Pyramid Scheme (novel) | Dave Freer and Eric Flint | |
| Rats, Bats and Vats | Dave Freer and Eric Flint | |
| Redliners | David Drake | |
| Retief! | Keith Laumer | Eric Flint |
| Ring of Fire | Eric Flint, Mercedes Lackey, Dave Freer, David Weber, et al. | Eric Flint |
| The Road to Damascus | John Ringo and Linda Evans | |
| The Sea Hag | David Drake | |
| Seas of Venus | David Drake | |
| Sentry Peak | Harry Turtledove | |
| The Shadow of Saganami | David Weber | |
| The Shadow of the Lion | Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and Dave Freer | |
| Sheepfarmer's Daughter | Elizabeth Moon | |
| Sisters of Glass | D. W. St. John | |
| Sleipnir | Linda Evans | |
| Star Soldiers | Andre Norton | |
| Starliner | David Drake | |
| Stars Over Stars | K. D. Wentworth | |
| Sunrise Alley | Catherine Asaro | |
| Sympathy for the Devil | Holly Lisle | |
| The Tank Lords | David Drake | |
| Telzey Amberdon | James H. Schmitz | Eric Flint |
| There Will Be Dragons | John Ringo | |
| This Scepter'd Isle | Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis | |
| Time Traders | Andre Norton | |
| The Far Side of the Stars | David Drake | |
| The Rats, the Bats and the Ugly | Eric Flint and Dave Freer | |
| The Two Faces of Tomorrow | James P. Hogan | |
| The Tyrant | Eric Flint and David Drake | |
| The War God's Own | David Weber | |
| The Warslayer | Rosemary Edghill | |
| TNT: Telzey and Trigger | James H. Schmitz | Eric Flint |
| Werehunter | Mercedes Lackey | |
| West of Honor | Jerry Pournelle | |
| Windows of the Soul | Paul Chafe | |
| With the Lightnings | David Drake | |
| Wisdom of the Fox | Harry Turtledove | |
| Wizard's bane | Rick Cook | |
| Wizardry Compiled | Rick Cook | |
| Wolf Time | Lars Walker | |
[edit] Letters to and from Baen's First Librarian
This section lists letters from readers to Baen's "First Librarian", Eric Flint, and responses he made in return about the Free Library and its offerings, but more importantly these discuss the experiences of Baen with offering free titles and further discuss issues in ePublishing in general. Of particular note, are the grateful letters from blind and handicapped individuals, and the wide geographic demographic of the Baen experiment. However, most of the material is historically interesting 'snapshots' of the arguments over intellectual property rights in the early days of the Free Library and development of the Baen Books publishing style of offering titles both by download and in print.
| Link and Title of Page | Description in Brief |
| *Introducing the Baen Free Library | Eight pages on how the library came to be and the software piracy and publisher issues in general. |
| *Letters to the Librarian December 20th, 2000 | A selection of 123 letters about the free library as seen by the readers; of particular note: Messages from a blind reader and a handicapped reader. |
| *Letters to the Librarian January 16th, 2001 | Special Report on 200 plus Letters received in 24 hours when the Free Library made internet news. |
| Letters to the Librarian February 04th, 2001 | Special Report on self-publishing on the internet with commentary by First Librarian Eric Flint. |
| M.P. Macaulay on copyright law 1841 issues | Two speeches on copyright law to the British House of Commons during 1841, characterized by historian Flint as brilliant, as they cover the issues still problematic in copyright law. |
| Letters to the Librarian, Eric Flint September 1, 2001 | This matter deals with intellectual property rights and piracy of intellectual materials |
| Letters to the Librarian, Eric Flint April 15, 2002 | One and a half years into the Library, Flint provides hard numbers on how sales and works listed on the Baen Free Library are related. |
| Letters to the Librarian, Eric Flint April 26, 2002 | More numbers on how hypothetical thefts can't be harming publishing industry to any significant extent. Discusses as well Book Vs eBook preferences, and need for authors to achieve exposure and the role of the Free Library in providing such. |
| Letters to the Librarian, Eric Flint April 26, 2002 | Discusses prominent writers opposed to eBooks for free, and cites how such might help their sales. |
| Letters to the Librarian#1, Eric Flint May 12, 2002 | Stance on helping blind and handicapped persons and others of limited means including kids obtain free materials with an argument of how that eventually helps an authors sales. |
| Letters to the Librarian#2, Eric Flint May 12, 2002 | Discusses paper versus screen reading; studies showing much better retention from paper learning, and includes a long letter relating experiences on sales by an educational publisher once they offered free works like Baen Free Library. |
| Reprint by singer and song writer Janis Ian September 16, 2002 | Three-time Grammy award winner Janis Ian in an article reprint excoriating the music publishing industry and praising Baen and a few others. Flint makes one comment— a minor correction which supports Ms. Ian's point. (This is the last of the Letters to the Librarian) |
[edit] External links
