Bookclubs: Beware

You, humble reader, may not know that I am, in fact, a giant bookworm. A bibliophile of sorts. I attract books. Somehow I seem to get at least 4 or 5 new ones a month, whether because of school requirements or a deal too great to pass up. (Like that time I got 5 boxes of books for just $2 *O* best day of my life, I swear)

So it should come as no surprise that I am a member of 3 bookclubs at the moment. I have also been made aware, through this experience, that some bookclubs are, in fact, a bunch of dirty lying bastards.

Doubleday Bookclub is the worst of the lot. They are the ones I am now struggling to meet my commitment to. Struggling? Why? Don’t I just have to buy 4 books, after all? Well first of all, they must cost $9.98 after discounts. Okay. I load up 4 books in my little cart that cost $12, $10, $14, etc. Then I go to check out.

Oops! that book that was $10.99 is now… $9.45! Oh… Doubleday has a deal where you buy two books at normal membership price, and the rest are half off. Wow, half of?! I could get behind that. Except… Each book has a “publisher’s price” and a “member’s price”. The half off… is half off of the publisher’s price, which is around $18 for my $10.99 book… making it $9.45, and saving me around a dollar… But! disqualifying it for counting towards my commitment, which means I have to buy another $10 book… except I’ll actually have to buy a $20 book for half of it to be considered $10. Except that means it’s now the most expensive book, and my $14 book? Now $7, and not counting towards my commitment. Wow, Doubleday. Way to save me money.

And that’s not the trickiest tumble you’ll have with Doubleday. They also have something called “Book Search Plus” and the books that you buy that come up on Book Search Plus won’t count toward your membership commitment either. But, even worse, it’s very difficult to even discover that information: That Book Search Plus books don’t count, AND even that some books *are* Book Search Plus books. If you search for a particular title it usually won’t tell you. Several books I picked out I didn’t discover were BSP until I was checking out (as it lists it with a BSP price).

The last tasty morsel of shit from Doubleday? They don’t send you the book catalogs. They say they will when you sign up, and the other 2 book clubs I’m a member of have sent catalogs, but Doubleday never has, and I’ve been a member for almost a year now.

They do nothing to make finding books that qualify easy; and it’s quite difficult, especially since most books on their site seem to be BSP. Oh, and if you’re wondering how I’m getting around their wonderful little half off deal? I’m making 3 orders. Each time I will order 2 books… and of course, have to pay shipping on 3 different orders. 3 orders because of the 2 qualifying books I ordered for the 1st order, *they* canceled one of my books. Bunch of assholes.

Now, as to the two other bookclubs… The other one, that I find most satisfactory and have bought from the most, is the Science Fiction Book Club. They’ve sent catalogs every moth, and I easily find a large selection of fair-priced books. They have not made finding books difficult or tricky… I easily fulfilled my membership requirement with no effort, I just bought books when I wanted them. Hey Doubleday Bookclub, maybe you could learn a lesson here. You trick people into buying a bunch of books that won’t qualify, yes, that makes them buy a bunch of books, but they quit as soon as possible. I will be quitting you as soon as I fulfill my duties, and will have bought 5 books from you. I have already bought more than that from the Sci-fi club, AND I plan on sticking with them and ordering more books for the rest of my life! Plus I’ve never had to write a blog post about the Science Fiction Book Club to warn people about assholery. Love ya, sci-fi club ❤ One thing to watch for is what account type you sign up for… My sister accidentally chose to get their 2 top selections each month automatically… which we did not want. A quick call to some very decent customer service people and it was quickly and easily sorted out and switched to the other type of account. The 2 books we received were easily sent back and the money refunded.

That 3rd book club I’m a member of? The History Book Club. To fulfill their membership requirements, you must buy just one book at $13.98. Shouldn’t be too hard, though I haven’t done it yet. They also have the dreaded Book Search Plus bullshit, so be wary of that should you choose to join. So far, I have also received a catalog from them every month since I joined.

Doubleday Book Club: steer clear of, unless you’re willing to deal with a lot of bullshit and stress.
Science Fiction Book Club: Definitely a good deal if you like to buy new Sci-fi/fantasy titles when they come out.
History Book Club: Better than Doubleday. Have not yet tried to fulfill my membership commitments, so no definite judgment yet.

Tags: book clubs, bookclubs, books, doubleday book club, doubleday bookclub, history book club, sci-fi, science fiction, science fiction book club