The Baen Free Library is a

digital library A digital library, also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, or a digital collection is an online database of digital objects that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital documents, or other digital me ...

of the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

publishing house Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

Baen Books Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...

where 61 e-books as of June 2016 (112 e-books as of December 2008) can be downloaded free in a number of formats, without

copy protection Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, describes measures to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media. Copy protection is most commonly found on ...

. It was founded in late 1999 by science fiction writer

Eric Flint Eric Flint (February 6, 1947 – July 17, 2022) was an American author, editor, and e-publisher. The majority of his main works are alternate history science fiction, but he also wrote humorous fantasy adventures. His works have been listed ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

Jim Baen James Patrick Baen (, beɪn , ; October 22, 1943 – June 28, 2006) was a U.S. science fiction publisher and editor. In 1983, he founded his own publishing house, Baen Books, specializing in the adventure, fantasy, military science fiction, an ...

to determine whether the availability of books free of charge on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

encourages or discourages the sale of their paper books. The Baen Free Library represents an experiment in the field of

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

and

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

. It appears that sales of both the e-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.

Baen Ebooks Baen Ebooks is an e-book supplier operated by Baen Books. It sells e-books for Baen and some other publishers, as well as hosting the Baen Free Library. Unlike most e-book suppliers, it does not use Digital Rights Management (i.e., copy protection). ...

also sells individual

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

s and a subscription-based

program. The books in the Free Library are available via the website for

in various formats including

HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...

Rich Text Format ) As an example, the following RTF code would be rendered as follows: This is some bold text. Character encoding A standard RTF file can only consist of 7-bit ASCII characters, but can use escape sequences to encode other characters. Th ...

, and

EPUB EPUB is an e-book file format that uses the ".epub" file extension. The term is short for ''electronic publication'' and is sometimes styled ''ePub''. EPUB is supported by many e-readers, and compatible software is available for most smartphones ...

as well as unencrypted .mobi The domain name mobi is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Its name is derived from the adjective ''mobile''. The domain was approved by ICANN on 11 July 2005, and is managed by the mTLD global r ... for Kindle.

Baen CDs

In 2002, Baen also started adding

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

s 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. Some of these CDs also contain

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

versions. As of 2015 CD 24 ''Invasion'' published in 2010 was the last promotional ''Baen CD''. * CD 01

Honorverse The Honorverse is a military science fiction book series, its two subseries, two prequel series, and anthologies created by David Weber and published by Baen Books. They are centered on the space navy career of the principal protagonist Honor ...

also contains ''

The Shadow of the Lion ''The Shadow of the Lion'' is an alternate history/historical fantasy novel set primarily in the Republic of Venice in the 1530s. It is a part of the '' Heirs of Alexandria'' series. The book was written by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Dave Free ...

'' and '' 1632'' among others. * CD 06

Wind Rider's Oath Wind Rider's Oath is a fantasy novel by American writer David Weber David Mark Weber (born October 24, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He has written several science-fiction and fantasy books series, the best known ...

and CD 06b ''

Shadow of Saganami ''The Shadow of Saganami'' is a science fiction novel by American writer David Weber, published in 2004. Set in the Honorverse, it is the first in the ''Saganami Island'' series, spun off from the main Honor Harrington series. It debuted at #16 o ...

'' were published in 2004. * CD 13 '' 1634: The Baltic War'' and CD 13 '' The Best of Jim Baen's Universe 2006'' were published in 2006. * CD 22 ''

Mission of Honor ''Mission of Honor'' is a science fiction novel by American writer David Weber, published on June 22, 2010 by Baen Books. It is the twelfth novel set in the Honorverse in the main Honor Harrington series. Plot summary The book begins in Januar ...

'' also contains ''Exodus'' and '' 1633'' among others. * CD 23 '' 1635: The Eastern Front'' features the 1632 and Heirs of Alexandria series among others. * CD 24 '' Cryoburn'' was replaced by CD 24 ''Invasion'' in the Secret World Chronicles.

References

External links

Baen Free Library
{{Ebooks Science fiction organizations Science fiction websites American digital libraries Libraries established in 1999 1999 establishments in the United States Baen Books