Top Five Online General Interest Book Clubs Review

I buy/read dozens of books every year and I utilize many different retail outlets to purchase books. In the past, my book buying was limited to book stores or the book department inside a large department store. I also joined a few book clubs through the mail and transacted my book buying through mail order or via the telephone.

But today, book buying is much simpler, faster, and more entertaining thanks to the world wide web. Not only are there hundreds of places online to buy books, there are also literally millions of books to choose from. There are also plenty of book clubs that offer an online membership and I have been a member of many of them throughout the years.

Online book clubs come in many different shapes and sizes, but they all fit into two basic categories: General Interest Book Clubs and Special Interest Book Clubs. I have joined both types of clubs- many of them several times- and I have a few that I tend to like/join with greater frequency. Let's take a look at what I consider five of the best online book clubs:

1. Book of the Month Club, bomcclub.com:

Book of the Month Club is a good, all- purpose book club for those who like to read books across a large range of categories. Best- sellers are offered, along with a few lesser- known titles in categories like Biography, History, Reference, Religion & Spirituality, Science & Nature, and more. There are approximately 1,000 titles offered at Book of the Month Club and new releases are added periodically. The standard introductory offer includes five books for one dollar, plus shipping and handling, with the agreement that you will buy four more books in the next two years.  

2. Doubleday Book Club, doubledaybookclub.com:

Doubleday Book Club is similar to Book of the Month Club in terms of the number of books offered (around 1,000), but there are slightly fewer categories with Doubleday Book Club, and that means there is a greater chance you won't be able to find the book you want with this club. However, Doubleday Book Club does offer a slightly better introductory package. The new customer receives six books for 99 cents with an obligation to buy four more books in the next two years.

3. The Literary Guild, literaryguild.com:

The Literary Guild Book Club has been around a long time and it also offers general interest books for sale. But like Doubleday, the categories in this club are a little more limited than with Book of the Month Club. Also, The Literary Guild has a smaller inventory of books to browse, with only about 800 books available for sale. New members get five books for 99 cents with a commitment to buy four more books in the next two years.

4. Quality Paperback Book Club, qpb.com:

Quality Paperback Book Club is designed for those who like to read primarily paperback books, even though there are some hardcover editions of books (particularly for newer releases) for sale as well. This book club offers a good number of categories of books- similar to Book of the Month Club- but there are only 700 books in the Quality Paperback Book Club inventory. On the plus side, the introductory offer requires purchasing only two more books (instead of four, like the others require) and it still includes six books to start you off, even though the overall price is a little higher: Six dollars for the six books instead of 99 cents.

5. Zooba Book Club, zooba.com:

Zooba Book Club offers a completely different plan for the online book buyer. It offers an inventory of about 800 books, but unlike the other clubs, there is no special introductory offer or membership fulfillment requirement. Instead, Zooba offers all of its books for the flat fee of $9.95 per month. There is a selection of the month, like with other clubs, but it is based on a reading list that the Zooba member builds themselves. This ensures that the books received each month are always books of interest.

Book clubs offer consumers a means to browse selections, look for books that fit a particular interest, and accumulate a large number of books for a relatively inexpensive overall price. I have been a member of many different clubs and, like most other people, I was initially drawn into joining these clubs because of the introductory offers. I liked the idea of getting a large number of books in the mail for a low price, so I accepted the offers and slowly began to build my home library. Today, I am still a member of a few different clubs and the ones above rank among the general interest book clubs in which I have been a member for the greatest number of years.

Book clubs do, indeed, offer a means to obtain books at a lower price and this is the main reason I continue to come back to them. Yes, there is a shipping charge with every order (with the exception of Zooba where the flat rate includes shipping) but even with shipping factored in, the overall price paid per book (computed by adding up all the money spent from the introductory package through the fulfillment requirement, and then dividing by the number of books received) is still about half of the cost one would incur if the same books were purchased at a book store. This economic advantage is reason alone to consider joining a book club. The advantage gradually falls over time, however, and this is why I recommend joining a club, fulfilling the minimum requirements, and then quitting and rejoining at a later time. This is what I have been doing for the past twenty years and it has helped to keep my book expenses to a minimum.

The greatest disadvantage of joining a book club is the annoying Selection of the Month- something that most every book club offers as part of its plan. The way it works is simple: The customer is presented with a special selection based on his/her main area of interest. If the special selection isn't declined, it will be shipped automatically. It is very easy to forget to decline the offer, and it results in the annoyance of having a book you don't want shipped to your house. You can, of course, mark "Return to Sender" on the box and send it directly back, without incurring any shipping costs. But this is still very irritating and I wish book clubs in general would eliminate the Selection of the Month Completely.

Among the clubs listed above, the one I have been a member of more than any other is Quality Paperback Book Club. The reason is because the fulfillment requirement is so simple, I can easily meet the requirement, quit, and rejoin at a later time. Actually, it used to be even easier in the past. There was once a time when Quality Paperback Book Club did not require any additional purchase to complete the enrollment agreement! All one had to do was pay for the introductory package and they could quit. I guess too many people took advantage of this offer so QPB was forced to require the purchase of two books as part of the deal. But this is still less than the requirement with other clubs, and this is the main reason I have been a QPB member, on and off, for so many years.  

For those who want something different in a book club, Zooba offers a good alternative and this is the main reason I decided to include it in my list of the Top Five General Interest Book Clubs. It is one of the only (perhaps it is the only) book clubs that doesn't have a fulfillment requirement and that offers all books for sale at a flat rate. This is nice because, as a member, you know exactly what your book order will cost you every time you place an order. Whether you purchase a new release, an older book, a 100- page reference guide, or a 400- page novel, the price you will pay will be exactly the same: $9.95, which already includes shipping.

Bottom Line Viewpoint:

General Interest Book Clubs offer members a convenient and relatively inexpensive way to accumulate books and to find books of interest for an overall low price. It would be nice if most clubs would eliminate the annoying Selection of the Month Plan and I would like most of the clubs even more if they expanded the total books in inventory. But regardless of the few disadvantages, I will continue to use book clubs as one of my primary means for obtaining books. I am able to get the books I want at an overall price that is about fifty percent lower than what I would pay for the same books in a store. With an economic advantage like that, I see no reason to discontinue my relationship with these and other online book clubs.