A book sales club is a

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, a ...

-based method of selling and purchasing

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ...

s. It is more often called simply a book club, a term that is also used to describe a

book discussion club A book discussion club is a group of people who meet to discuss a book or books that they have read and express their opinions, likes, dislikes, etc. It is more often called simply a book club, a term that is also used to describe a book sales c ...

, which can cause confusion.

How book sales clubs work

Each member of a book sales club agrees to receive books by mail and pay for them as they are received. This may be done by means of

negative option billing Negative option billing is a business practice in which customers are given goods or services that were not previously ordered, and must either continue to pay for the service or specifically decline it in advance of billing. This is, for example, ...

, in which the customer receives an announcement of the book, or books, along with a form to notify the seller if the customer does not want the book: if the customer fails to return the form by a specified date, the seller will ship the book and expect the customer to pay for it. Alternatively, the business may operate via a "positive option", in which the customer is periodically sent a list of books offered, but none is sent until the customer specifically orders them. The offer of a free book, often a large one, is a frequent enticement to membership. The Compact Edition of the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...

'' for years served this purpose. Some clubs offer new members other (non-book) free gifts, such as book notes or reading lights. Some book sales clubs are "continuity" clubs, which send members a certain number of books (selected by the club or the member) every month until the membership expires or is cancelled. Harlequin Book Clubs are typical of such clubs. Other book sales clubs are "commitment" clubs, which require members to order a certain number of books in order to fulfill the membership obligation and cancel the membership. Most Book-of-the-Month Clubs are commitment clubs. Book sales clubs typically sell books at a sizable discount from their list prices. Often, the books sold are editions created specifically for sale by the clubs, and are manufactured more cheaply and less durably than the regular editions. The

Book-of-the-Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members ...

(founded 1926) is an early and well known example of this kind of business. Others include the Science Fiction Book Club, the Mystery Book Club, and the Quality Paperback Book Club, all of which are run by Booksonline / Doubleday Entertainment (a subsidiary of

Bookspan Bookspan LLC is a New York–based online bookseller, founded in 2000. Bookspan began as a joint endeavor by Bertelsmann and Time Warner. Bertelsmann took over control in 2007, and a year later, sold its interest to Najafi Companies, an Arizo ...

). The largest book of the month clubs had millions of members. Time-Life book produced a large number of book series in the book sales club format, including the

Time Reading Program The Time Reading Program (TRP) was a book sales club run by Time–Life, the publisher of ''Time magazine'', from 1962 through 1966. ''Time'' was known for its magazines, and nonfiction book series' published under the Time-Life imprint, while the T ...

Text publication societies

In 19th-century Britain, the term ''book club'' was sometimes applied to

text publication societies A text publication society is a learned society which publishes (either as its sole function, or as a principal function) scholarly editions of old works of historical or literary interest, or archival documents. In addition to full texts, a text p ...

. Like the modern clubs, these were membership organizations whose members would receive publications automatically in return for their subscriptions. The books were usually scholarly editions of old works of historical or literary interest, or of archival records, which had been edited and published specifically (and often exclusively) for distribution to society members. The oldest of these societies was the highly exclusive

Roxburghe Club The Roxburghe Club is a bibliophilic and publishing society based in the United Kingdom. Origins The spur to the Club's foundation was the sale of the enormous library of the Duke of Roxburghe (who had died in 1804), which took place over 46 da ...

, founded in London in 1812. Although many of the 19th-century societies have ceased to exist, others (including the Roxburghe Club) continue to survive and flourish, and new societies continue to be founded. The modern societies mostly focus on publishing editions of archival records, and are now more usually known as record or records societies.

How book sales clubs work

Text publication societies

See also

References

Further reading