Are bookclubs worth it?

In the latest Insider there is an Advertisment for the Science Fiction Bookclub. When you join get 5 books for 1 dollar. The only condition I can see is that you must buy 4 more books at the regular club price within 2 years, after which you can quit if you want. Seeing how the club is selling Hardbacks and the "Essential Guides' To" 5 for a dollar seems like a pretty good deal. Even if you have to buy the 4 other books at normal price it seems like you're getting 9 books for the price of 4.

But a part of me is skeptical of the whole thing. I think i've seen to many shows with the character joining the Music club and getting a bajillion CDs sent to his house and being forced to buy them all.


Is anybody a member of a bookclub like this, and was it worth it?

 

The shipping costs will kill ya. It just seems easier just to pick up the books you know you want from a store, rather than having to pick from a list.

 

I'd say so, but I never joined that particular book club. Good starting out deals and a reasonable contract.

 

I dont think book club editions bindings are all that great and if I recall correctly sometimes they delete chapters or other parts of the book. I have this one book club edition that has an alcott story that I couldnt find anywhere else at the time and 1/2 the bloody story is gone!

Personally, I wouldnt do it, but thats just me.

 

They don't delete chapters. Not intentionally, at least. I heard about that happening as a mistake one time.

Anyway, I was a member of the sfbc for a while, so let me give you a firsthand account. I was able to get a lot of really good books for really cheap. I chose the Star Wars Encyclopedia as one of my first books. That book cost $70 cdn, and I got it for less than $1! That made my whole membership worth it right there. The rest of that $1 got me a hardcover edition of "Vision of the Future", and 2 other books! (the encyclopedia counted as two choices). Sure, I had to pay for shipping, but that didn't even match what one of the books I got in my initial order would have cost in stores. In order to meet my membership requirements, I later bought "Vector Prime", a single volume hardcover edition of "The Lord of the Rings" (for about half of what one cost in stores), and a hardcover omnibus edition of Asimov's "Foundation Trilogy" (again, for cheap). Also, the sfbc has many exclusive editions. For example, they offer hardcover editions of all of the NJO paperbacks. Star Wars paperback duologies and trilogies like "the jedi academy trilogy", or the "Dark Tide" duology are offered in hardcover omnibus editions.

But here are the negative points: Book club editions of most books (not special ones like the SW encyclopedia) are lower quality than regular hardcovers. Their measurements are smaller, the pages are thinner, the dust jackets are flimsier, and the binding is a bit weaker. So basically, you get what you pay for. They're not terrible though, if you take care of them they'll last. Also, the sfbc sometimes takes a while to add new releases to their selection. I had to wait about a month after release to get "Vector Prime", but that may also be because I was dealing with the Canadian branch of the club, which has slightly poorer selection. Finally, unless they've changed since I was a member, they don't force you to buy anything you don't want. What they do is have a featured book every month which they will send to you unless you tell them (by phone, or I guess online now) that you don't want it. However, even if you forget to tell them and they do send it, you can send it back.

So, you just have to weigh the good and the bad and decide if you think it's worthwhile.

 

There's a simple way out of this, just write "Return to Sender" on the box in permanant marker and drop it back in the mail. I've done this dozens of times over the years and never had a problem. Legally you can't be expected to pay to return it since you never "techinally" asked for it in the first place.

I've been a member for many years and had no idea that the books are of lower quality. They seem well worth it to me.

 

I was in SFBC and I loved it at first. Then I became a Manager at Books-A-Million. Better deals so I cancelled the memebership.

It only took like 25 mins to ACTUALLY get someone on the line to tell them.

I hate computer messages.