Baen Free Library

The Baen Free Library is a digital library of the science fiction and fantasy publishing house Baen Books where (as of February 2007) 94 full books are available for free download 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. [http://www.baen.com/library/palaver6.htm]

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.

Current titles

Current as of 2008-03-05.
#"1632" by Eric Flint
#"1633" by Eric Flint
#"" by Eric Flint
#"Agent of Vega" by James H. Schmitz
#"Anti-Grav Unlimited" by Duncan Long (removed?)
#"The Apocalypse Troll" by David Weber
#"Bedlam Boyz" by Ellen Guon
#"Berserker Throne" by Fred Saberhagen
#"Beyond World's End" by Rosemary Edghill
#"Black on Black" by K. D. Wentworth
#"Born to Run" by Mercedes Lackey
#"Changer of Worlds" by David Weber
#"The Course of Empire" by Eric Flint and K. D. Wentworth
#"Crawling Between Heaven and Earth" by Sarah Hoyt
#"The Creatures of Man" by Howard L. Myers
#"Cross the Stars" by David Drake
#"Crown of Slaves" by David Weber and Eric Flint
#"Crusade" by David Weber
#"Demon Blade" by Mark A. Garland and Charles G. McGraw
#"Destiny's Shield" by Eric Flint and David Drake
#"Diamonds Are Forever" by Ryk Spoor and Eric Flint
#"Digital Knight" by Ryk Spoor
#"Doc Sidhe" by Aaron Allston
#"Emerald Sea" by John Ringo
#"The Excalibur Alternative" by David Weber
#"Fallen Angels" by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn
#"Far Edge of Darkness" by Linda Evans
#"The Far Side of the Stars" by David Drake
#"Fiddler Fair" by Mercedes Lackey
#"Fire In the Mist" by Holly Lisle
#"The Forlorn" by Dave Freer
#"Fortune's Stroke" by Eric Flint and David Drake
#"Forward the Mage" by Eric Flint and Richard Roach
#"Freehold" by Michael Z. Williamson
#"Future Imperfect" by Keith Laumer (edited by Eric Flint)
#"Genellan: Planetfall" by Scott Gier
#"Genie Out of the Bottle" by Eric Flint
#"The Grantville Gazette", Vol. 1, edited by Eric Flint
#"Great Kings' War" by Roland Green and John F. Carr
#"Gust Front" by John Ringo
#"A Hymn Before Battle" by John Ringo
#"The Honor of the Queen" by David Weber
#"The Hub: Dangerous Territory" by James H. Schmitz
#"In the Heart of Darkness" by David Drake & Eric Flint
#"Inherit the Stars" by James P. Hogan
#"Interstellar Patrol" by Christopher Anvil
#"The Lark and the Wren" by Mercedes Lackey
#"Legions of Space" by Keith Laumer
#"The Lighter Side" by Keith Laumer (edited and compiled by Eric Flint)
#"The Lion of Farside" by John Dalmas
#"Lt. Leary Commanding" by David Drake
#"A Logic Named Joe" by Murray Leinster (edited and compiled by Eric Flint)
#"March to the Sea" by David Weber and John Ringo
#"March Upcountry" by David Weber and John Ringo
#"Med Ship" by Murray Leinster
#"Mother of Demons" by Eric Flint
#"The Mountains of Mourning" by Lois McMaster Bujold
#"The Multiplex Man" by James P. Hogan
#"Mutineers' Moon" by David Weber
#"Northworld" by David Drake
#"Oath of Swords" by David Weber
#"An Oblique Approach" by David Drake & Eric Flint
#"Odyssey" by Keith Laumer
#"Old Nathan" by David Drake
#"On Basilisk Station" by David Weber
#Original versions of edited Godwin Stories by Tom Godwin
#Original versions of edited Schmitz Stories by James H. Schmitz
#"Pandora's Legions" by Christopher Anvil
#"Paying the Piper" by David Drake
#"The Philosophical Strangler" by Eric Flint
#"Planets of Adventure" by Murray Leinster
#"Primary Inversion" by Catherine Asaro
#"A Plague of Demons" by Keith Laumer (edited by Eric Flint)
#"Pyramid Scheme" by Dave Freer and Eric Flint
#"Rats, Bats and Vats" by Dave Freer and Eric Flint
#"The Rats, the Bats and the Ugly" by Eric Flint and Dave Freer
#"Redliners" by David Drake
#"Retief!" by Keith Laumer
#"Ring of Fire" by Eric Flint
#"The Road to Damascus" by John Ringo and Linda Evans
#"The Sea Hag" by David Drake
#"Seas of Venus" by David Drake
#"Sentry Peak" by Harry Turtledove
#"The Shadow of the Lion" by Mercedes Lackey
#"Sheepfarmer's Daughter" by Elizabeth Moon
#"Sisters of Glass" by D. W. St. John
#"Slayer" by Karen Koehler
#"Sleipnir" by Linda Evans
#"Star Soldiers" by Andre Norton
#"Stars Over Stars" by K. D. Wentworth
#"Sunrise Alley" by Catherine Asaro
#"Sympathy for the Devil" by Holly Lisle
#"The Tank Lords" by David Drake
#"Telzey Amberdon" by James H. Schmitz
#"Time Traders" by Andre Norton
#"The Two Faces of Tomorrow" by James P. Hogan
#"The Tyrant" by David Drake
#"There Will Be Dragons" by John Ringo
#"This Scepter'd Isle" by Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis
#"TNT-Telzey & Trigger" by James H. Schmitz
#"The War God's Own" by David Weber
#"The Warslayer" by Rosemary Edghill
#"Werehunter" by Mercedes Lackey
#"West of Honor" by Jerry Pournelle
#"Windows of the Soul" by Paul Chafe
#"Wisdom of the Fox" by Harry Turtledove
#"With the Lightnings" by David Drake
#"Wizard's Bane" by Rick Cook
#"Wizardry Compiled" by Rick Cook
#"Wolf Time" by Lars Walker

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.

External links

* [http://www.baen.com/library/ Baen Free Library]
* [http://www.speculations.com/?t=189167 "Building the Baen Free Library" by Eric Flint] - a 2002 essay, republished from Library's news at the link above
* [http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=tlEn9.47642%24xI5.9721%40sccrnsc02&output=gplain Flint's description of the inspiration for the Library] in an USENET post "Sat, 05 Oct 2002 16:22:49 GMT"
* [http://www.allensmith.net/SciFi/Baen/Free.htm Annotated Baen Free eBook Listing] - Baen Free Library and Baen CD-ROM Library
* [http://dak180.dynalias.com:8080/PHP/tracker/ Baen CD Torrents]