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. It ...

-based method of selling and purchasing

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

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 books they have read. It is often simply called a book club, a term that may cause confusion with a book ''sales'' club. Other terms include reading group, book group, and book disc ...

, which can cause confusion.

Business model

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 principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' 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 ch ...

(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 Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and Direct marketing, direct ...

book produced a large number of book series in the book sales club format, including the Time Reading Program.

British book clubs

During the 20th century British book clubs included the Book Club, the

Left Book Club The Left Book Club is a publishing group that exerted a strong left-wing influence in Great Britain, during its initial run, from 1936 to 1948. It was relaunched in 2015 by Jan Woolf and Neil Faulkner, in collaboration with Pluto Press. Pionee ...

, the Right Book Club,

Collins Crime Club Collins Crime Club was an imprint of British book publishers William Collins, Sons and ran from 6 May 1930 to April 1994. Throughout its 64 years the club issued a total of 2,012in "The Hooded Gunman -- An Illustrated History of Collins Crime ...

Book Club Associates Book Club Associates (BCA) was a mail-order and online book selling company in the United Kingdom. It came to dominate the mail-order book-club business in the U.K. in the 1970s and 1980s through extensive advertising in Sunday newspaper colour s ...

(BCA), The Reprint Society, the Readers' Union, the Travel Book Club, Others included the Companion Book Club, the Sportsman's Book Club, the Science Fiction Book Club, the History Book Club, the Victorian and Modern History Book Club, the Catholic Book Club, the Garden Book Club, the Thriller Book Club,COLLECT – The Thriller Book Club – 3 Christie titles
collectingchristie.com. Retrieved 15 March 2024. and the

Folio Society The Folio Society is an independent London-based publisher, founded by Charles Ede in 1947 and incorporated in 1971. Formerly privately owned, it became an employee ownership trust in 2021. It produces illustrated hardback fine press edit ...

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 Bibliophilia, bibliophilic and Text publication society, publishing society based in the United Kingdom. Origins The spur to the Club's foundation was the sale of the enormous library of the John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe ...

, founded in London in 1812. Although many of the 19th-century societies have ceased to exist, others (including the Roxburghe Club) continue to operate, 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''.

American book clubs

20th century book clubs in the U.S. included Book League of America, the

Literary Guild The Literary Guild of America is a mail order book sales club, book club selling low-cost editions of selected current books to its members. Established in 1927 to compete with the Book of the Month Club, it is currently owned by Bookspan. It was a ...

, the

Junior Library Guild Junior Library Guild, formerly the Junior Literary Guild, is a commercial Book sales club, book club devoted to juvenile literature. It was created in 1929 as one of the enterprises of the Literary Guild, an adult book club created in 1927 by Samue ...

, the Mystery Book Club, the Science Fiction Book Club, the

Book of the Month 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 ch ...

Club, the Quality Paperback Book Club, Reese's Book Club, and

Treble Clef and Book Lovers' Club Formed in 1908 in Richmond, Virginia, the Treble Clef and Book Lovers' Club (TCBLC) is one of the oldest African American book clubs in the United States. The social, nonprofit organization is an association for women who possess an affinity fo ...

(TCBLC).

European book clubs

German book clubs have included

Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft The Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft (WBG) was a German publishing house in Darmstadt. With about 60,000 subscribers (as of 2023) it was one of the largest book clubs in Germany. German scientists founded the WBG in 1949 as a voluntary associati ...

(WBG) and French book clubs have included the Club français du livre.

Business model

British book clubs

Text publication societies

American book clubs

European book clubs

See also

References

Further reading