[jshier]

Baen used to give away huge portions of their catalog in the CDs included with their hardbacks. Buying the latest in the series meant a good chance the rest of the series was on the CD. Even now they're the kings of available formats, even if they're not quite as high quality as other ebook providers. And their prices are so cheap (most books are $10 new, less as they age) I have to wonder how they and the authors make money.

[toast0]

With new books, selling an ebook means saving all of the production costs of a physical book. If you're buying from Baen directly, they also save all the merchandising costs, too.

With old books, they're competing with used books which are most often very inexpensive, so may as well get you an ebook for free or low cost and if you like it, hopefully you're buy the author's future books when they're new.