BBKristopher.com

James Patrick Baen died on Wednesday, 28th at roughly 5:00 PM EDT after spending just over two weeks in a coma following a massive stroke.

I heard the news around 12:30 PM yesterday.

I was sitting at my desk at work when I heard, and I'll admit, I wasn't really at my best for the rest of the day. I never had the honor of meeting Jim in person. I do feel very blessed by the fact that he took notice of me, and recommended I write an article for the recently conceived Jim Baen's Universe (at the time, still titled Baen's Astounding Stories). I also feel very blessed that he put me in the very capable hands of Eric Flint, who gave me very good advise on turning a lackluster first draft into a saleable article, and who later purchased my first story.

It's hard for me to put into words exactly what Jim Baen meant to me. He wasn't a friend, though I had hoped that he someday would be. He was someone I admired greatly. He was someone who's good opinion mattered a very great deal to me. Jim Baen was the man who, I had hoped, would look at the novel I spent the better part of six years working on, and declare it good. He was someone who, I had hoped, would take the time to extend to me the same guidance and helping hand he'd extended to authors by the name of David Weber, Eric Flint, John Ringo, Travis S. Taylor, Ryk Spoor and a host of others.

I suppose that sounds selfish, because I'm talking about him in terms of what I had hoped he would do for me, but understand, I wanted those things because of who Jim Baen was. He was a man of taste. While his taste might not have always matched mine, I never saw him publish anything lacking in quality. He was a man of principle. He treated both his authors and his readers with respect. Many of his authors didn't even bother with an agent because they knew they were dealing with Jim Baen and Baen books. He was a champion of the movement against Digital Rights Management. He believed if he offered a quality product at a fair price, readers would pay for it. They did. In fact, Webscriptions (Baen's eBook service) customers talked Jim into *raising* the price for his books. He was a man who knew his mind. I might not always have agreed with Jim's opinions on things, but I always admired the fact that he knew his own mind, and was capable of changing it when necessary, but that he stuck to his own ideas and beliefs, even when everyone else said he was dead wrong. He was a man who changed my mind. When I first saw the Webscriptions service, I thought he was insane. I thought the idea of offering ebooks without encryption would send him into bankruptcy. Then one night during one of my bouts of insomnia, I got board and had nothing to read. I went digging around in the free library. In a few hours, I'd finished 1632, and I was hooked on the idea of unencrypted ebooks.

I'll remember Jim Baen was a man who gave me hope that I'll be able to make it as an author. He published the kinds of stories I love to read and write, and he made it profitable for himself and his authors. He gave new authors an opportunity to build a readership. He paired them with better known names to broaden their exposure. In short, Jim did what a publisher was suppose to do. He helped authors build careers, and in the process, made himself and his authors a bit of money.

I'll remember him as a man who wasn't too busy to take time to talk to his readers, and to listen to them. As a man who saw beyond the shortsightedness of others and took the opportunities they missed.

Most of all, I'll remember him as a man who, warts and all, I respected and admired very, very deeply.