Free Books! Legally!

[jaina47]

 Okay, specific free books, but still! I read one of Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan novels - and fell in love with the series. The only trouble? A lot of the books were older, probably originally published in paperback form as they were sci-fi with fantasy elements and are now out of print and impossible to find.

So what's a smart publisher (Baen) to do? Why make a good swath of her past novels available to the public for free download. What's the catch? I haven't found it yet and I'm downloading the entire novels. Why are they doing this?  Because she's releasing a new Miles novel here shortly and they figure that if you've read her past stuff and gotten hooked, you'll be more likely to read her new stuff. Yes, they really said that. 

So you know heads up, here it is if you're interested. There's also a bunch of essay, forewords and other Miles adjacent writings by Ms. Bujold available there for download. 

Edit - And snag her essay on fan fic while you're at it - it covers a lot more than just fan fic and her thoughts on slash cracked me up - in a good way, people!

Comments

[queen-bellatrix.livejournal.com]

Thanks loads for this! I'm a Miles geek at the moment, and most of this stuff is bloody hard to find.

[jaina47.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it! I figured I'd never find Shards of Honor unless it was a very lucky find at a used bookstore!

[geonncannon.livejournal.com]

they figure that if you've read her past stuff and gotten hooked, you'll be more likely to read her new stuff. Yes, they really said that.

That's how I feel about music. I'm a fan of several bands that I wouldn't otherwise have listened to just because I can't afford to buy every single album that intrigues me. I bought Tift Merritt's and Sara Barielles' new albums because I listened and fell in love with them.

So way to go, publisher! :D

[jaina47.livejournal.com]

Plus a lot of these books were published in the mid to late 80's anyway. It's not like giving them away for free is cutting majorly into her bottom line at this point.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I love the Vorkosigan novels! Baen actually does this free ebook thing for a number of their authors, so you can pick up some good books that way. I also love feedbooks.com for free and legit ebooks.

[selinamoonfire.livejournal.com]

I just picked up her books again at the library and have been working my way through them. I squee-ed when I saw that there's going to be a new Miles book.

Have you looked on Amazon lately? I saw some anthologies that combined her novels into three book sets. Course downloading them for free is awesome too. ;)

[demoka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of authors are doing that. And it's true, for the people who really enjoy your work, giving away free stuff will help get you money!

Mark Pesce has some of his stuff free on his site. At the Sydney Writer's Festival he lamented on giving his copyright to the publisher of one of his other books, so he can't even sell it to us in Australia, let alone give it away free online!

Thanks for the info, it might help me with my essay!

[demoka.livejournal.com]

Xp Heck, isn't that what geonncannon, Missy Good and other fanfic writers like them do with their own stuff? It works, right? Turning leisure into a money maker!