We’re seeing the old aphorism about conservatives being liberals from 20 years ago play out in the science fiction genre:
Earlier this year, Fandom Pulse reported how Larry Correia saw the writing on the wall at Baen Books, a company that’s struggled to retain its identity in science fiction ever since the Sad Puppies controversy of the Hugo Awards in the mid-2010s. While corporate wanted to distance themselves from the event as much as possible, the fanbase actually loved it.
A seminal event in Baen history was when Toni Weisskopf actually shut down the forum “Baen’s Bar” for a time after serial trolls from the mainstream publishing industry were talking about how they might have “liability” because of January 6th, a false flag operation where the left claimed Trump supporters were rioting, but as we now know was an FBI-coordinated psyop.
Since this point, the company seemed to lose its identity and what made it what it was. Baen Books was seen as the alternative to much of the Pink Sci-Fi of the mainstream industry being put out by Tor Books and others. However, their staple of male-driven military science fiction quickly got eaten up by the Amazon algorithm riders who topped charts with rapid-release books that an old publishing company couldn’t compete with.
The company didn’t really develop a next generation of stars to take over from their aging stable of John Ringo, David Weber, David Drake and others. While several of their authors sadly passed away, the company mostly milked their remaining living authors and attached younger co-writers to projects. These books invariably don’t sell as well as the main series, but they also didn’t really bring forth any stars who could sell on their own right.
The result was the state the company is now: their biggest star author flirting with other companies, while they’re trying their hardest to keep the co-written books going. Newer authors tend to be pushing toward the exact Pink SF that Baen Books used to be the alternative to, as increasingly the Baen catalog is publishing exactly that.
It doesn’t get much more turn-of-the-century Tor than publishing a) Catharine Asaro and b) Mercedes Lackey ruining an Ann McCaffrey franchise. At this rate, Baen will be publishing John Scalzi before 2030 rolls around.