"They're the kind of people who can't seem to get enough books." ~ anon.
"Most people have had the experience of walking into a really big bookstore and not knowing where to start." ~anon.
"In an era when not every community had a bookstore, the book clubs played the great social role of selecting books that would be of interest to the wider public." ~ Michael V. Carlisle
BookClubDeals.com provides a reasonably comprehensive list of book clubs arranged on broad topics. There is also a good FAQ that explains how book clubs work.
With highly subsidized book postal rates [which have now largely disappeared] to promote education and learning, the book was a natural mail order item in the United States. Books were of a convenient size and weight. They were durable for mailing. Most communities outside the large metropolitan areas lacked a book store. The book club became the book store in your mail box.
The first book clubs were German, appearing in 1919, and distributing inexpensive reprints of books that were already popular. This continues today since most book club selections are time-delayed reprint editions of popular books. Today, the German owned Bertelsmann, owner of Doubleday and Random House among others, is the largest book club operation in the world and owns Bookspan, the largest book club provider in the U.S. Bookspan includes the former Times-Warner and Doubleday book clubs.
In 1922, the Literary Guild was created in the United States. It featured mostly fiction choices for a largely female audience. From the beginning, it was thought to be more commercial than literary. Four years later, the Book of the Month Club was established. BOMC featured more non-fiction and "serious" books and reached more male readers. Although not entirely deserved, it was thought to be more "literary."
BOMC was based on the notion that people without bookstores would subscribe to books as they subscribed to a magazine. Instead of issues of a periodical, they would receive a different book each month. The focus was on adding value-added service to a product (books). The services were delivery and expert guidance. Many middle class members thought that they should read, but were uncertain which books were good ones. BOMC appointed a panel of judges (life time appointment) to help select books. Henry Canby and Clifton Fadiman were well known judges. Judges would met for lunch and brandy once a month in a "clubby" wood-paneled room at BOMC headquarters. "The panel developed into a sort of national literary Supreme Court (Martin Arnold)." Curiously, the judge's selections were usually somewhat obvious popular titles and many noteworthy works were ignored. A few years ago, BOMC reinstated judges to make the club unique and true to its traditions. However, BOMC has its own internal editors and staff who review about 5,000 books per year and make recommendations.
When most people in the U.S. think of a book club, it is probably Book of the Month Club which is the largest and most visible. Besides the main club, BOMC had several other specialty clubs, including the "One Spirit Christian Book Club" and the "History Book Club." All together, these clubs had a membership of about 2.8 million. At any time, it had nearly four million members. BOMC became a subsidiary of the Warner-Time-Life conglomerate. Today, it is part of Bookspan (see below).
More recently, magazine publishers have created book clubs to sell their own books as well as others to those who subscribe to their magazines. With their in-house mailing list and customer loyalty, magazine clubs have done well. They tend to be niche players with a relatively narrow focus. Such clubs, via their magazines, tend to have good knowledge of what is hot and what is not. Periodical publishers often have good data on what is popular as well as owning content that can be used for books.
Many members became unhappy with the negative option,
especially when they received a book that they did not want because of a
problem associated with failure to return the option card. Dunning
letters following failure to pay also created public relations
problems. Clubs have not always communicated well to their members.
Some critics have favored a positive option
which would require an option card to be returned before
the book is sent. The Federal Trade Commission has investigated the
negative option and, so far, has found it legal and acceptable as long
as there is a reasonable process for handling member problems.
Given the large number of books published today, selecting titles for book club adoption is difficult since only a few titles may be offered each month. Popular authors receive priority as does the sales history of similar works in the recent past. Since club selections may compete with retail sales, some publishers allow adoptions only after a six month time period. Others will not be interested. Book club adoptions are especially important for smaller publishers and new authors since the club newsletters, websites as well as member reaction may create considerable word of mouth and stimulate sales.
Book clubs made a notable contribution in broadening the market for books, especially in isolated and more rural communities. The club newsletters and monthly selections created buzz and visibility for selected titles. With so many books and so many websites, it can still be difficult to decide which book to buy and read. Thus, narrowing possibilities to a small number of possibles is useful.
For publishers, the book club represents another subsidiary rights opportunity. Additional income from a major club could be substantial. Today, with less competition and declining membership, club fees are lower.
There are about 200 book clubs in the U.S. and they account for about five percent of the books sold. There is some evidence that book clubs are declining in popularity and importance. Membership has declined during the past few years. Ease of purchasing new and used books on the web is often cited as an explanation.
At the same time, moving more club activities and processes to the web saves money. For example, club newsletters could easily be emailed instead of sent by postal mail. Selections can be made via web browsers. Websites provide ample opportunity for interaction with customers and can develop a community of readers. Direct mail promotion and distribution is increasingly costly. Still, book clubs represented a $988 million business in 2006 -- down from previous years.
Bertlesmann is merging Columbia House and Bookspan and that will result in in some fewer employees and some existing clubs will be eliminated or combined. Bookspan's clubs have about eight million members and revenue of about $700 million with an operating margin of about five percent.
The major players in the book club business were Bertelsmann's Doubleday Direct, AOL-Warner Time's BOMC, and Rodale Press (six clubs including the Prevention Book Club). Doubleday Directs 28 book clubs had about 5.2 million members.
In March, 2000, the Doubleday and BOMC book clubs were combined into a new organization (jointly owned) called Bookspan. Bookspan then included 50 different book clubs and had about 10 million members. About 280 direct mail pieces were sent each year and about 50 million packages were mailed. The Bookspan slogan should be a familiar one to librarians:
The on-line subsidiary is Booksonline.com. with about 2,400 employees. Doubleday Direct managed the new company which had more than 70 percent of the book club market in the U.S. Bookspan hopes to use the Internet to build, or rebuild, its business. Catalogs and other information can be sent cheaply by email. Member response can be done by the club web site. Some attempt will be made to create a member community with author interviews and the like. Each Bookspan club has its own web site.
Here were the major Bookspan clubs [this may change with the new ownership and Columbia/Bookspan merger]:
Bookspan studied a sample of book club members and found:
New book clubs begin each year to build on current fads and interests. For example, the success of conservative book clubs led to the creation of a liberal one. Increasingly the focus is on special interest book clubs. The new clubs aim at creating a community with more user interaction and more periodical-like features. Still, community building and making a reasonable profit remain a notable challenge.
Some book clubs, Doubleday Direct for example, also have continuity programs. A continuity program involves signing up to receive a known series of books such as works by Louis L'Amour or Agatha Christie. Time-Life has been successfully selling these series books for some time and it fits well with the book club strengths.
In 2000, Doubleday Direct began selling books without club membership.
Doubleday also has an agreement with Barnes & Noble.com so that those who don't find a title on a Doubleday site will be directed to B&N.
As with any publishing operation, manuscript selection is crucial. A large, general book club may receive 5000 book choices in a year. It is difficult, even with past selection/purchasing data, to select titles that will sell well. There needs to be a good blend of new authors as well as the standards. While there may be little competition among the niche clubs, there is competition for popular titles likely to have a large audience.
The original appeal was the convenience of being able to purchase books without traveling some distance to a book store. The second major appeal element was the fact that a distinguished panel of experts reviewed a number of books and selected those that were best. Thus, ease of selection and home delivery appealed. With some many big box bookstores in many communities, access to a good selection of new books is relatively easy except for specialized topics.
Guidance, however, remains an important matter. Specialist book clubs in particular can offer expert guidance on new titles that may be unfamiliar to the member.
Book clubs that publish books in editions otherwise
unavailable have an advantage. For example, the SF Book Club publishes
reprint editions of books long out of print as well as hard bound one
volume editions of multi-volume series originally issued in mass market
paper. The availability of unique content is a notable advantage and
should receive more attention. However, it does require the addition of
editorial work and increases professional staff.
Although evidence of success is not yet available, most book
clubs are attempting to create a web-based community where readers,
authors, and book club staff interact and discuss books. This has
considerable potential, although there are many other opportunities
with discussion lists, news groups, blogs, and websites for readers to
participate in a reader community. Too, face-to-face book discussion
groups in libraries and book stores are also widely available.
Book clubs have been created for many different audiences including purchasing agents and railroad enthusiasts. In general, these are the major book club categories:
As you might expect, book clubs flourish when certain subjects or topics are popular. For example, when interest increased in holistic health, holistic health book clubs were created and did reasonably well.
The editorial board or team selects the main choice and the alternatives with an eye to having some reasonable variety for the audience. The selectors review sales statistics of recent selections as well as original sales for the books being considered. There is always some tension because the book club edition has to compete with the earlier original edition and the later paper edition. Given the nature of the club, the selectors will decide on a book club printing or purchase a number of copies of the original edition from the publisher (this requires an earlier decision). General book clubs are more likely to print their own edition (it may be less expensive) while specialized clubs are likely to buy books from the original publisher. In a few cases, the book club will publish its own edition, perhaps a hard cover edition of a popular paper back or an anthology containing two or three novels published elsewhere or a reprint. Bonus books and dividend books are also selected although these may repeat from month to month.
Typically, new members select a few titles at no or low cost [but are responsible for P&H]. They are then obligated to purchase a minimum number of items in the next year.
Once each three to four weeks, members receive a brochure promoting the main and alternative selections [12 to 17 times each year]. Two selections are highlighted and will be sent to each member unless declined. Twelve to eighteen other titles are promoted in the newsletter. The negative option card is included in this mailing. While the card may be mailed back, clubs encourage a website visit instead.
Long before this time, enrollment premiums and minimum purchase commitments have been chosen and promotional mailings are sent based on mailing lists rented from appropriate periodicals, mail order stores, or other sources. Magazine and newspaper advertisements are also used. Existing members receive free books for recruiting friends. Because there are many drop outs, promotion and retention activities are continuous. The large general book clubs like BOMC and the Doubleday ones use relatively sophisticated market research to insure that promotion and retention is as successful as possible.
Typically, about 67 percent of book club members are female
and about 54 percent are college educated. Nonfiction is slightly more
popular than fiction. The typical member stays about two years. Some
will later resubscribe to take advantage of a new offer.
Book clubs became popular when many communities lacked a book store. With the advent of the shopping malls and the chains, many Americans now had a reasonably good book store close by. The super stores with their huge stock, long hours, events, and food eventually came to most medium sized cities.
In the beginning, the chains offered substantial discounts on popular books and this made the book club discounts look much less attractive. When postage and handling charges were added, book clubs had a difficult time competing with the chain book stores on popular titles. Today, the chains have substantially reduced their discounts so that book club prices are more appealing. While Internet bookstores often have similar postage and handling costs, their discounts are not as good.
Postal costs continue to increase. The U.S. Postal Service is now an "independent" agency and it is no longer interested in carrying books at an artificially low rate to encourage learning and education. Alternative delivery methods have either been too expensive or have not been successful.
The costs in finding new members is substantial and seems to be more difficult now than before. While the Scholastic school book clubs have been very successful, they do not seem to have led to more older book club members.
Membership turnover ranges from 25 to 40 percent and seems to be increasing. Many members take advantage of the membership premium, purchase the required minimum, and then leave the club. A few, perhaps as many as five percent, take the membership premium and never pay. Clubs often have harsh words for these minimal members:
However, the clubs may encourage this behavior with their "over-hyped come-ons," free gifts, and the negative option. It may be better to have fewer members, but keep those most likely to be regulars. Most book clubs have lost members in recent years.
Club members are likely to be older rather than younger and that's likely to be a problem in the future.
While there is less competition that before, book clubs may not be able to secure the rights to some popular titles. This can be frustrating to club members who wait and hope that a favorite book will appear.
In order to protect hard copy sales, and perhaps trade paper as well, publishers often force the book club edition to wait for several months before being available.
More members are returning the negative option cards instead of purchasing the monthly selection. There appears to be some resistance to both book price and postage/handling fees. In particular, many members believe P&H fees are too high.
With the one dominant book club firm, publishers
cannot profit from competing bids for new works. There would also seem
to be less probability that similar clubs would be created and compete
with each other. Recent declines in the economy and in book sales have
resulted in the elimination of some less popular book clubs [Bookspan's
film and theater club is a good example] and a loss of sales for
smaller, specialized publishers.
Book clubs do better when they have unique items to offer. For example, the SF Book Club offers collections of novels now out of print or originally published only in mass market paper editions.
The school book clubs, discussed under children's book publishing, have been very successful and are relatively inexpensive with their batch ordering and teacher coordination.
Convenience, discount, and guidance may still have powerful appeal for those at some distance from a chain book store or who simply like reading one recommended book a month.
List the assets and liabilities associated with purchasing books via book club membership. Do the assets outweigh the liabilities?
To what degree to WWW book stores and chain super stores minimize the need for book clubs?
If you were creating promotional material for a book club, which appeal elements would you emphasize? Why?
Summarize your experiences with a book or other item of the month club. Are you now a member? If so, are you likely to continue? If not a member, would you join in the future? Why?
Last major revision June 2007.
