Baen's Universe, Post Three

[ Post One | Post Two ]

Eric Flint writes:

Baen’s Universe, 3rd post: subscriptions

Starting early next month — don’t worry, we’ll let you know, you can bet on
it — we’ll be starting to offer subscriptions to Baen’s Universe magazine.

I’m using the term “subscription” a bit loosely, since technically what we’ll
be selling are six-volume packages — i.e., the first year of the magazine — much the same way we sell the Grantville Gazette.

The difference is simple: With a package, you always get volumes 1-6, regardless of when you make the purchase. Whereas, with a subscription, you’d start getting your copies as of the date of the subscription itself. That is, you might start with Volume 4 and continue on through Volume 9.

We may eventually move to a modified traditional subscription system, but we don’t want to do it for the moment because that sort of subscription gets you involved with a number of complex legal/financial issues. By keeping them as package sales, we can keep everything simple.

That said, I’ll use the term “subscription” henceforth to refer to the
six-volume packages.

We won’t be selling single issues right away, just subscriptions. The cost of a one-year subscription (Volumes 1-6) is $30. That’s a savings of $6 from what it would cost you to buy the issues one at a time.

In addition, as an incentive for people to buy their packages now — because we need the money, dammit, to keep rolling — instead of waiting until the magazine first starts appearing in June, we are for a limited time only offering these additional items which you will get with a $30 subscription:

• A free electronic copy of The World Turned Upside Down, a very large anthology of classic F&SF stories edited by David Drake, Eric Flint and Jim Baen.

• One electronic book package of your choice among the many we offer (see below).

In addition to selling packages, we are also unveiling at this time...

(roll of drums)

The UNIVERSE CLUB!

People who would like to support Universe magazine over and above simply buying a subscription can do so by buying a membership in the Universe Club. The memberships come in four classes, ascending in price from $50 to $500. Additional electronic (and other) goodies are provided for each class of members, getting more expansive the higher the membership level.

I’’l discuss the details of the Universe Club in my fourth and final post. For the moment, returning to the subscriptions, I remind everyone that what you’ll get for a (measly) $30 is:

• Six issues — the first year — of Baen’s UNIVERSE magazine.
• A free electronic copy of The World Turned Upside Down, a very large anthology of classic F&SF stories edited by David Drake, Eric Flint and Jim Baen.
• One electronic book package of your choice from any of the following:
  1. David Drake, the RCN series:

     With the Lightnings
     Lt. Leary Commanding
     The Far Side of the Stars
     The Way to Glory

  2. David Drake Package A:

     Grimmer Than Hell
     Killer
     Northworld
     Cross the Stars

  3. David Drake Package B:

     Starliner
     The Reaches
     Seas of Venus
     The Sea Hag

  4. Eric Flint and David Drake, the Belisarius series package:

     An Oblique Approach
     In The Heart of Darkness
     Destiny’s Shield
     Fortune’s Stroke
     The Tide of Victory
     “Islands,” from Warmasters

     Special bonus: The Tyrant
  
  
  5. Eric Flint, 1632 series Package A:

     1632 (L)
     1633 (L)
     Ring of Fire
     1634: The Galileo Affair

  6. Eric Flint, 1632 series, Package B:

     Grantville Gazette, Volumes 1-5

  7. Eric Flint and Dave Freer, the Rats, Bats & Vats series

     “Genie Out of the Bottle” from Cosmic Tales II
     Rats, Bats and Vats
     The Rats, The Bats & The Ugly

  8. Keith Laumer:

     Retief
     Odyssey
     The Lighter Side
     A Plague of Demons & Other Stories
     Future Imperfect
     Legions of Space
     Imperium

  9. John Ringo, the Posleen series:

     A Hymn Before Battle
     Gust Front
     When the Devil Dances
     Hell’s Faire

  10. John Ringo, the Council Wars series:

      There Will Be Dragons
      The Emerald Sea

  11. John Ringo and others, the Posleen spin-off series:

      The Hero (with Mike Williamson)
      Cally's War (with Julie Cochrane)
      Watch on the Rhine (with Tom Kratman)

  12. James H. Schmitz:

      Telzey Amberdon
      TnT: Telzey Amberdon and Trigger Argee Together
      Trigger and Friends
      The Hub: Dangerous Territory
      Agent of Vega & Other Stories
      Eternal Frontier
      The Witches of Karres

  13. David Weber, Honor Harrington Series, Package A:

      On Basilisk Station
      The Honor of the Queen
      The Short Victorious War
      Field of Dishonor

  14. David Weber, Honor Harrington Series, Package B:

      Flag in Exile
      Honor Among Enemies
      In Enemy Hands

  15. David Weber, Honor Harrington Series, Package C:

      Crown of Slaves
      Worlds of Honor #3: Changer of Worlds
      “Fanatic” and “In the Service of the Sword” from Worlds of Honor #4: The Service of the Sword

  16. David Weber, Bahzell Series:

      The War God’s Own
      Oath of Swords
      Windrider’s Oath

  17. David Weber, selected titles:

      Empire From the Ashes (contains the complete Dahak series)
      The Excalibur Alternative
      The Apocalypse Troll (L)

  18. David Weber and John Ringo, March series:

      March Upcountry
      March to the Sea
      March to the Stars

By the time we’re ready to put up the subscriptions for sale in early December, I think we’ll have some more packages to make available. In the
meantime, in my next post, I’ll discuss the Universe Club.