Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a

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-based

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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 choose which book they would like to receive, similar to how the club originally operated when it began in 1926. Members can also discuss the books with fellow members in an online forum. In late 2015, in concert with the club's 90th year, the club announced a relaunch into its current iteration. Within two years, the club had grown its membership to more than 100,000 members, primarily millennial and Gen Z women, and the club's presence on social media grew to over 1.5 million

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followers. Approximately 75% of the club's titles are by up-and-coming authors, and 80% of titles are fiction. The club has also worked with a series of celebrity guest judges who bring broader awareness to new titles, and continues producing its own versions of books that feature special endpapers and casings. In 2016, the club launched a Book of the Year award. In 2017, the club debuted its first ever television advertisement called "Monthly". The club has a tradition of focusing on debut and emerging writers, and is known for having helped launch the careers of some of the most acclaimed authors in American literary history. In 1926 (its first year in operation), the Club's first selection was '' Lolly Willowes'' by Sylvia Townsend Warner. It also featured, but did not select,

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

's ''

The Sun Also Rises ''The Sun Also Rises'' is the first novel by the American writer Ernest Hemingway, following his experimental novel-in-fragments '' In Our Time (short story collection)'' (1925). It portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Par ...

'' in the ''Book of the Month News''. In 1936, (its tenth year), the Club selected ''

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'' by unknown author

Margaret Mitchell Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel that was published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel ''Gone With the Wind (novel), Gone ...

. Mitchell wrote: "I wanted to thank ook of the Monthfrom the bottom of my heart for selecting my book. It was quite the most exciting and unexpected thing that ever happened to me."

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...

's ''

Of Mice and Men ''Of Mice and Men'' is a 1937 novella written by American author John Steinbeck. It describes the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant worker, migrant ranch workers, as they move from place to place in California ...

'' was selected the following year in 1937. In 1951 (its 25th year), the club distributed its 100 millionth book and selected J. D. Salinger's '' The Catcher in the Rye'', which became both the most-censored and the most-taught book in America. In 1978, the Club selected '' By the Rivers of Babylon'', the first book by Nelson DeMille, who later wrote: "I will be forever grateful to Book of the Month for ensuring that my first book, ''By the Rivers of Babylon'', was not my last. When the Club selected ''Babylon'' in 1978, it reached hundreds of thousands of additional readers and became an instant best-seller."

History

Harry Scherman was a copywriter for the J. Walter Thompson

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

in 1916 when he set out to create the Little Leather Library. With his partners Max Sackheim, and Charles and Albert Boni, Scherman began a mail order service that offered "30 Great Books For $2.98" (miniature reprints "bound in limp Redcroft") and sold 40 million copies in its first five years." Harry Scherman," ''Current Biography'' 1943, pp 669–671 Sackheim and Scherman then founded their own ad agency devoted entirely to marketing books. The problems of building interest in a new book led Scherman to create, along with Sackheim and Robert Haas (son of Kalman Haas), the Book-of-the-Month Club in 1926. As Scherman explained it, the club itself would be a "standard brand". "It establishes itself as a sound selector of good books and sells by means of its own prestige. Thus, the prestige of each new title need not be built up before becoming acceptable," he explained later. After starting with 4,000 subscribers, the club had more than 550,000 within twenty years. The size of the club did in fact create the Book of the Month Club as a brand. Being a "Book of the Month Club" selection was used to promote books to the general public. Book of the Month Club was acquired by Time Inc. in 1977; Time Inc. merged with Warner Communications in 1989. The original judges panel was eliminated in 1994. In 2000, the Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc. merged with Doubleday Direct, Inc. The resulting company, Bookspan, was a joint venture between

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

and Bertelsmann until 2007 when Bertelsmann took over complete ownership. In 2008, Bertelsmann sold its US subscription business to the private equity firm Najafi Companies. In 2013, Najafi sold Bookspan to current parent company Pride Tree Holdings, Inc. After relaunching in 2015, under the leadership of CEO John Lippman, Book of the Month hit revenue of $10 million in 2017 and in 2024, industry sources estimated current revenue of $50 million.

Membership terms

The club operates a subscription program, similar to other box subscription services, where customers select a membership plan for a set period of time (3-months, 6-months or 12-months) and books are shipped to all members during the first seven days of the month. Historically, when the club operated through mail-order catalogs, membership involved a "negative response" system whereby a member was shipped the monthly selection on a particular date if the selection was not declined before that date. Members had the option to respond by declining the selection or opting to order another book or merchandise instead. No response was deemed acceptance of the selection.

Book of the Year Award

In late 2016, the club announced its first annual Book of the Year Award, the finalists for which are chosen by the club's members. The award is called the "Lolly", in tribute to '' Lolly Willowes'', the first book selected by the club back in 1926. ''Lolly'' ''Willowes'' was written by Sylvia Townsend Warner, who later went on to become a prolific writer and even wrote short stories for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

''. In 2017, the award added a $10,000 prize, and the winner was '' The Heart's Invisible Furies'' by Irish author John Boyne. In 2018, the members voted ''

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'' by Madeline Miller as best book of the year. In 2019, the members voted '' Daisy Jones & The Six'' by

Taylor Jenkins Reid Taylor Jenkins Reid (born December 20, 1983) is an American author best known for her novels '' The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo'', '' Daisy Jones & the Six'', ''One True Loves'', '' Malibu Rising'', ''Carrie Soto Is Back'', and ''Atmosphere''. ...

as best book of the year. In 2020, the members voted '' The Vanishing Half'' by Brit Bennett as best book of the year.

Winners by Year

2016: Bryn Greenwood – '' All the Ugly and Wonderful Things'' * Paul Kalanithi – '' When Breath Becomes Air'' * Ruth Ware – ''The Woman in Cabin 10'' * Blake Crouch – ''

Dark Matter In astronomy, dark matter is an invisible and hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation. Dark matter is implied by gravity, gravitational effects that cannot be explained by general relat ...

'' * Amor Towles – '' A Gentleman in Moscow'' 2017: John Boyne – '' The Heart's Invisible Furies'' *

– '' The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo'' * Jesmyn Ward – '' Sing, Unburied, Sing'' * Celeste Ng – '' Little Fires Everywhere'' * Ruth Emmie Lang – '' Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances'' 2018: Madeline Miller – ''

'' * Tayari Jones – '' An American Marriage'' * Helen Hoang – '' The Kiss Quotient'' *

Kristin Hannah Kristin Hannah (born September 25, 1960) is an Americans, American writer. Her most notable works include ''Winter Garden'', ''The Nightingale (Hannah novel), The Nightingale'', ''Firefly Lane (novel), Firefly Lane'', ''The Great Alone'', and ''T ...

– '' The Great Alone'' * A. J. Finn – '' The Woman in the Window'' 2019:

– '' Daisy Jones & the Six'' * Blake Crouch – ''

Recursion Recursion occurs when the definition of a concept or process depends on a simpler or previous version of itself. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in m ...

'' * Etaf Rum – '' A Woman is No Man'' * William Kent Krueger – '' This Tender Land'' * Alex Michaelides – '' The Silent Patient'' 2020: Brit Bennett – '' The Vanishing Half'' * Abi Daré – '' The Girl with the Louding Voice'' * Lucy Foley – ''The Guest List'' * Fredrik Backman – ''Anxious People'' * V. E. Schwab – '' The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue'' 2021:

– ''

The Four Winds ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' *

– '' Malibu Rising'' * Emily Henry – '' People We Meet on Vacation'' * S. A. Cosby – '' Razorblade Tears'' * Sarah Penner – '' The Lost Apothecary'' 2022: Gabrielle Zevin – '' Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow'' * Stacy Willingham – ''A Flicker in the Dark'' * Charmaine Wilkerson – ''Black Cake'' * Amor Towles – ''The Lincoln Highway'' * Ali Hazelwood – '' The Love Hypothesis'' 2023: Abby Jimenez - ''Yours Truly'' * Lisa Jewell - ''None of this Is True'' * Emily Habeck - ''Shark Heart'' * Emilia Hart - '' Weyward'' * Meg Shaffer - ''The Wishing Game'' 2024 : Liz Moore - ''The God of the Woods'' * Alison Espach - ''The Wedding People'' *

- ''The Women'' * Marjan Kamali - ''The Lion Women of Tehran'' * Kaylie Smith - ''Phantasma''

References

External links