Baen Books was founded by Jim Baen in 1984 and quickly emerged as one of America's largest independent publishers of popular fiction, and in particular science fiction and fantasy. Baen had started his career in publishing in the complaints department of Ace Books. He moved on to Galaxy magazine in 1973 as editor and within a short period of time turned Galaxy into one of the leading magazine publishers of short stories at that time. He later returned to Ace under publisher Tom Doherty to run the science fiction line. When Doherty left to found Tor Books, Baen went with him and established its science fiction line.
In 1984 Baen negotiated a deal with Simon and Schuster/Pocket Books that allowed him the opportunity to found his own independent company. Simon and Schuster has continued to distributed Baen Books ever since. The company has enjoyed a string of New York Times bestsellers over the years from writers such as David Weber, John Ringo and Eric Flint. Other significant authors include Jerry Pournelle, David Drake, Larry Niven, Charles Sheffield and Lois McMaster Bujold. Before his death in 2006 from a stroke, Baen helped develop a whole new generation of science fiction writers.
As vocal champion of unencrypted e-books, Baen established Baen Books Webscriptions, which is model in the field. Baen's surviving partners and his heirs intend to continue his legacy of innovative, independent publishing. Long time Baen Books executive editor Toni Weisskopf took over the running of the company in 2006.
[Source: David Drake obituary]
