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Display MoreLast month we discovered some fascinating trade ads for some of Baen's Wing Commander novels. Next I thought I'd take a look at how Baen advertised the Wing Commander novels in their own books and I found a couple of fun examples that were repeated in dozens of Baen paperbacks in the early 90s. Publishers--especially pulpy ones like Baen--would often fill out the last few page of a paperback with advertisements for other things they published. I was particularly impressed with this advertisement that attempts to explain their philosophy behind publishing computer game tie-in books. Neat description of Wing Commander, too: "The computer game which supplies the background world for these novels is a current all-time bestseller. Fly with the best the Confederation of Earth has to offer against the ferocious catlike alien Kilrathi!"
Here's an advertisement that's a sort of "flow chart" that lets you pick the perfect Baen series to try. Wing Commander is suggested for anyone that likes computer games which... seems reasonable!
This is a later take on the same idea which reccomends Wing Commander for anyone that likes Star Wars. It seems crazy to just say it!
The other major mention of Wing Commander in these types of ads is ones specifically promoting the works of Mercedes Lackey. Ms. Lackey was published prolifically with Baen and they didn't miss an opportunity to cross-promote her Wing Commander contribution, Freedom Flight! In case you're curious, the Mercedes Lackey fan club advertised here is now defunct but it was replaced with a newsletter that is still published. Here are three variations of Mercedes Lackey ads, one, two and three page versions.