Trying to choose an appropriate book club to join, especially if you are doing it the first time, and especially if you are looking at bestseller and general interest book clubs, can be a somewhat confusing task. There seem to be several offerings advertising quite similar features and benefits, so the question inevitably pops up: which one is right for you? Which one should you choose? Does it matter at all? Hopefully, this article will go some way toward answering these questions for you.
This comparison entails the three largest bestseller and general interest book clubs: Doubleday Book Club, The Literary Guild and Book-of-the-Month Club. They are all part of the same company named Bookspan, which owns and operates more than 40 book clubs in the US with over 8.5 million members; undoubtedly, the clubs compared in this article are making a weighty contribution towards that number. If you aren't yet familiar with how each of these clubs work, we suggest you follow the links at the bottom of this article and take a look at their summary pages to get a basic understanding of the features and benefits they provide.
SELECTION
The clubs compared here are designated as bestseller book clubs, and that is what they offer: today's bestsellers and tomorrow's discoveries hot off the press, as they like to advertise. All three clubs do a good job of covering a wide range of genres, from romance to suspense, however, they do each have their small partialities: Book-of-the-Month Club, for example, is catering more towards the serious reader; it is stocked exceptionally well with biographies and memoirs, history books and even a small selection of classics. Their fiction library also exhibits a certain sobriety; there is an evident "literary" aspect to it, an attempt to keep a little distance from purely mainstream releases.
Doubleday and The Literary Guild, on the other hand, are predominantly furnished with widely popular fiction titles. Doubleday offers a somewhat larger selection, and this is especially true for romantic books and women's literature in general: you could say this is their forte. Literary Guild's stronger point are mysteries and thrillers, but if you're a science fiction fan neither of these two clubs will have much to offer you.
That said, when it comes to the very latest and most popular offerings - stuff that sells - each of these clubs holds its own equally well. When a hot new book comes out of print, chances are you will find it at each of the clubs sooner rather than later, regardless of its genre and what the club's stronger points might otherwise be. For example, if a bestselling new biography appears in the channels, you will likely see it at Doubleday and Literary Guild as well, despite the fact that biographies could be considered BOMC's domain.
PRICES and SAVINGS
Undoubtedly, the introductory offer is where most of the savings are made by joining a book club. With 6 books for 99¢, Doubleday unquestionably provides the best deal in this area. The Literary Guild with 5 books for 99¢ and Book-of-the-Month with 5 books for $1 are at a slight disadvantage here, but try to make up for it with a free gift (usually a tote). All three clubs also offer an additional book at a discount as a chance to reduce the commitment immediately, however, these offers are not identical: Doubleday and The Literary Guild will give you this additional book for a fixed price ($5.99), while Book-of-the-Month features a 50% discount. In the majority of cases, the low fixed price is better.
Once the introductory offer is used up, all three clubs offer more savings in the shape of discounts on publishers' prices. There is a considerable difference among the clubs in this area, so let's see how are the discounts advertised:
Book-of-the-Month: 30-80% discount
Doubleday Book Club: up to 60% discount
The Literary Guild: minimum 50% discount
At first glance it would appear that BOMC offers the best deal around with up to 80% discount on the regular retail price. Literary Guild, with its 50% seems to lag at the rear. If you look closer, however, you'll realize this isn't exactly the case. What Literary Guild offers is a minimum 50% discount on each and every book; most often, at least so far as the latest bestsellers are concerned, this means that TLG in fact offers better prices than either BOMC or Doubleday.
Let's review how this looks in practice. At Book-of-the-Month, fresh new releases are rarely discounted by more than 30%. Doubleday goes a bit further and in most cases offers a 32-40% reduction on retail price. At The Literary Guild, as mentioned, you'll pay a maximum of half the publisher's price.
Or, if you prefer the straight numbers: a fresh new bestseller which retails for $25.95 will typically cost you $17.99 at BOMC, $15.99-16.99 at Doubleday and exactly $12.99 at The Literary Guild.
Things get a bit complicated with books that aren't in the center of the limelight anymore. In general, the prices at all three clubs go down as the book's tenure at the club increases. You can find plenty of older bestsellers by renown authors for $7.99, but prices can often go down to $4.99 and even as low as $2.99, at all clubs. With these somewhat older titles, however, there can be some pretty wide price discrepancies among these book clubs. A book that costs $7.99 at Doubleday can go for $11.99 at Book-of-the-Month and vice versa, which makes it difficult to single out any specific club as the best source for older titles.
Undoubtedly, Book-of-the-Month club sports the highest prices, however: it is the only club among the three who offers Bonus Points on everything you buy. Bonus Points are redeemable against books and can, in the long run, bring you some nice savings, thus compensating for the club's less attractive pricing policy.
CONCLUSION
Recommending one particular book club is difficult. They all have their strengths and their weaknesses and it's really up to you to make a choice, according to your needs and preferences. Here are some pointers though.
If fresh new bestsellers are your main interest, The Literary Guild might be your best bet. While they don't have the best introductory offer, their well rounded library (pretty much all the hot new titles are available as soon as they're published) and unmatched pricing policy (minimum 50% off retail price) will supply you with plenty of inexpensive reading pleasure for a long time to come.
Doubleday Book Club features the best introductory offer and hence provides the best short term value. If you are not really into long-term membership but don't mind snatching 10 bestsellers for $60 or so, this is the place to do it. Their club prices on latest bestsellers are usually a little higher than those at The Literary Guild, however, they do offer a somewhat larger selection of books, especially when it comes to romance novels and women's literature in general.
Book-of-the-Month is the very first US book club, it's where it all started; being a member carries a certain prestige with it. There is a certain solemnity about it, which reflects in the club's library. They are the only club with their own publishing program in which they are bringing out sets of classics by celebrated authors, but are also committed to introducing up-and-coming writers. BOMC has the highest prices of the three clubs, but compensates that with Bonus Points designed to award members' loyalty: the longer you stay a member and the more books you buy, the more money you will save.
