Holzbrinck, in fact, from what was said at the time. Tom Doherty actually inked a deal with Jim Baen to put all his new books on WebScriptions, as it was then. And had it shot down at the highest corporate levels. Jim was never dog-in-the-manger, and never doubted that the best way to corral people's beer money was to provide a surfeit of choice - that way there is always _something_ they can't say no to...
NervousEnergy wrote:Yes, I'd imagine ARCs were a casualty of the accelerated publication pace the late turn-in necessitated. I've got two Baen ARCs from the days prior to monetizing them as eARCs, including the last one before that wonderful practice started (SoSag), and even back then the eBay price wars were murderous.
I'd be surprised if they did any ARCs at all given the schedule. Tor would have had to have them printed and softbound within *days* of the final manuscript turn-in, and that would have only gotten them a month of review press from reviewers who got them. The fact that Tor is doing this massive 'drop it all and get it done' 3 month publication push indicates they believe the books audience is rabid enough without any multi-month advertising / review / media campaign to make up for the added costs and displacement of other titles.
From what Himself had mentioned back shortly after OAR was published the management at Tor understands the value of selling pricy advanced eBooks, but the corporate Powers that Be at Macmillian were still living too far in the past and opposed the idea.