Baen's Bar - Growth and Philosophy

Growth and Philosophy

From his days in magazine publishing, Jim Baen had a reputation for being able to recognize a gem in the rough and the ability to take a new author and nurture and train him up able to write salable material, and establish himself, which were some of the qualities desired by Simon and Schuster on their team.

In the later nineties, the publisher embraced the newly emerging internet as a means of "spreading the word" about a book or author and created one of the first, if not the first, writer-to-fan discussion forums "Baen's Bar" capable of using a mix of technologies to support the overall promotion and interest in reading books for education and entertainment. The web board became very dedicated to expanding the shrinking reader base for printed works by using the electronic internet to recapture interest.

One project which came about from this focus was the compendium of great science fiction "The World Turned upside down", and the practice begun circa 2002, of republishing older good science fiction in collections and omnibus editions, such as the works of the sixties authors Christopher Anvil and others.