Baen changing eBook release dates to match print

[AnemicOak]

Just saw this in the Baen newsletter and thought it might be of interest to some.

ATTENTION: EBOOK RELEASE DATES ARE CHANGING

Dear Baen Readers,

I am writing to let you know that we are reconciling the release dates of ebooks and paper books. From the publication month of April 2016 onward, the release dates will be the same (that is, the ebooks will not be available two weeks earlier than the paper books).

We will not be changing the time the Monthly Bundles are initially offered for sale, we will continue to offer eARCs as usual, and all other policies regarding ebook bundles will remain in place. We will not be making the period you can buy Monthly Bundles shorter, but longer.

The April 2016 bundle contains the ebooks that will be available in print on April 5th. The final versions of these ebooks would have been scheduled to go live as ebooks on all retail venues on March 16, 2015, and will now be available in their entirety April 5, 2016. At that point, the Monthly Bundle will become unavailable for sale.

We will continue to publish two newsletters per month to help you keep track of our offerings, one highlighting the print books which will come out two weeks in advance of the release date, the other highlighting ebook and website offerings on (or very close to) the release date itself.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns, and our whole team will be happy to help.

Good reading!

Toni Weisskopf
Publisher, Baen Books

[HarryT]

Yes, I got the same as an email last night. Not sure that it actually affects anything, but useful to know.

[MikeB1972]

So now I'm going to have to wait an extra 20 days to read the new Baen books.

That's terrible, or at least it would be if I wasn't several months behind anyway.
Yep, can't see it making any difference to me either.

Although, putting on my tin foil hat for a moment
How has Amazon caused this and what other changes will they force on webscriptions.
Right, that's better, possibly watching too much x-files?

And more importantly, why is there no tinfoil hat wearing smilie?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

So now I'm going to have to wait an extra 20 days to read the new Baen books.

That's terrible, or at least it would be if I wasn't several months behind anyway.

I'm almost 14 years behind .

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm almost 14 years behind .

There's a thread around here for that

[pdurrant]

Well, it makes the eARCs two weeks more attractive.

I suspect that this is a change urged on them by Amazon and perhaps other resellers. But it's OK by me.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Well, it makes the eARCs two weeks more attractive.

I suspect that this is a change urged on them by Amazon and perhaps other resellers. But it's OK by me.

And, as the email says, it actually gives people an additional two weeks to buy the bundle.

[murg]

Originally Posted by HarryT

And, as the email says, it actually gives people an additional two weeks to buy the bundle.

We'll still wait until the last day, though.

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by murg

We'll still wait until the last day, though.

Stili can't believe they haven't sorted out a direct debit option.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

Stili can't believe they haven't sorted out a direct debit option.

Pay by PayPal and you can have that.

But in any case I am set up to pay my credit card in full every month by direct debit with an override option.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Well, it makes the eARCs two weeks more attractive.

I suspect that this is a change urged on them by Amazon and perhaps other resellers. But it's OK by me.

One aspect of it that this will improve is the alignment of print/ebooks on the Amazon pages. Because they were released at different times, they ended up being on different pages with no cross-link during the early days of a release cycle. Also, this allows the Audible release to align, potentially making for WhisperSync tie ins.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Pay by PayPal and you can have that.

But in any case I am set up to pay my credit card in full every month by direct debit with an override option.

I think that Mike means that he'd like an option to automatically be sent every monthly bundle, rather than having to buy each one separately. That's something I'd like, too.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think that Mike means that he'd like an option to automatically be sent every monthly bundle, rather than having to buy each one separately. That's something I'd like, too.

Ditto.

I used to go in once or twice a year to catch up and preorder all the listed bundles at once. Now I have to remember to check in every month or two because they only pre-list a month or two. I missed one month that way. First in 15 years...

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Ditto.

I used to go in once or twice a year to catch up and preorder all the listed bundles at once. Now I have to remember to check in every month or two because they only pre-list a month or two. I missed one month that way. First in 15 years...

Almost all the time there are three bundles that can be bought. I guess the extension in availability may mean that there will now sometimes be four.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Almost all the time there are three bundles that can be bought. I guess the extension in availability may mean that there will now sometimes be four.

Yes, four Baen Monthly Bundles available now (April, May, June, July) and for the next 11 days.

http://www.baen.com/catalog/category...undles/id/1999