[Web4lib] effect of e-use on circulation [was: Authority + Wikipedia]

[Marion Sumerianlibrarian]

The page you provided a link for doesn't explain what Baen books does because, as the title of the
page says, it's "About Baen Books: Who We Are, and What This Is." In other words, it's a statement
about the *philosophy* behind what they do at Baen Books, not meant to be an explication of the
"what," but rather the "why." And, by the way, not unexpectedly it's very much written in the
meandering, self-obsessed story-line style of the literature they publish. 

All of this strikes me as immediately obvious, although I've never visited the site before.
Accusing the Baen Books publisher/editor/web designer of bad practice is not any fairer than if
someone pointed out that *your* email message was stupid because it doesn't explain what *you* do.

What does Baen Books actually do? The answer is clear enough from their homepage. It doesn't need
any further explanation. What is neat, however, is that the way you approach the variety of
offerings they make is entirely up to you. For example, you might like to jump on a book right
away, or you may prefer to dilly-dally all day long in your rubber duckies in the rain with a
shopping bag full of pee-oh-tee (actually, it seems the Baen Books boyz prefer grog).

In any case, let the market (which is variously defined in a free web-world) decide.

Thanks very much for your post and, if you've read *this* far, thanks for allowing me toot my
horn, MS

-- Mike Taylor <mike at miketaylor.org.uk> wrote:

> > Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 17:57:29 -0400
> > From: Jennifer Heise <jenne.heise at gmail.com>
> > 
> > If you want direct evidence that free electronic access is not
> > necessarily an impediment to print sales, Baen books
> > (http://www.baen.com/AboutUs.htm) is probably the place to go.
> 
> What they actually do may be good, but this is an object example of
> how not to write for the web.  I've read the whole first page (five
> paragraphs, 250 words) and still have _no idea_ what they actually do.
> It's full of stupid statements like "Before I explain what [the site's
> features] are, however, I will take the time to make clear that I do
> not believe the superiority of this web site stems from any Intrinsic
> Commercial Virtue, which is the claim normally made by companies
> hawking their wares", but nothing along the lines of "We let you
> download the books".
> 
> I wonder, what proportion of the people who set out to read the
> "About us" document bother to continue beyond the first page?
> 
> Not me, anyway.
> 
>  _/|_	 ___________________________________________________________________
> /o ) \/  Mike Taylor  <mike at miketaylor.org.uk>  http://www.miketaylor.org.uk
> )_v__/\  "Stay tuned for exciting news about chicken zygapophyses" --
> 	 Matt Wedel.
> 
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> 



		
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