As you can see, by joining Black Expressions Book Club not only can you still save, but you can save big: almost $7 per book compared with the chosen online retailer. That's savings of over 50%. For your information, in a regular book store these ten titles would easily cost you over $200.
Note: to achieve such savings, you need to take a bit of care when shopping. Since your first five books will cost you a total of $2 (plus shipping) no matter which ones you choose, it makes sense to stuff higher priced items into the introductory offer, while for the rest of your commitment you might want to pick some more competitively priced books: for the example above we have chosen four moderately priced titles ($10-11).
At Black Expressions, fresh new titles usually cost a little more; the newest bestsellers are typically priced around $13-17, so if those represent your sole interest, your total cost will probably be some $20 higher. That, however, would also be the case with the online retailer.
On the other hand, it is possible to save even more than our example shows. At the enrollment, Black Expressions Book Club gives you the option to choose one more book for $5.99 and reduce your commitment right away. That's a few dollars not covered in our example. There are special bargains to be found – such as these featured in the column to the right – expensive books which can be had for a few cents if you pick them as one of your introductory books. As you can see, you can save almost $50 on a single book!
Clearly, most of the savings in the example above are due to the incredible introductory offer. Once it's been exploited, the playing field levels out to an extent, but that is not to say that membership at Black Expressions will not save you money anymore. At BEC, there are always online discounts, one day sales etc. Special offers such as "buy two books and get one for $1.99" or "make a purchase in January and get a free book in February" will come your way regularly. You will find plenty of titles by many popular authors (books that likely aren't available anywhere else, at least as hardcover editions) with prices like $7.99, or lower even: $4.99 is not such a rare a price tag either.
Note: you can't exploit these ultra low-priced books to fulfill your member obligation, as Black Expressions Book Club has the minimum price for the four commitment books set at $9.98.
Finally, a way of saving money that some people use is by canceling and rejoining – thus effectively taking advantage of the introductory offer over and over. Although Black Expressions Book Club would prefer it by far that you stayed a member for a long time and buy many many books, and although they state that they "reserve the right to refuse memberships", if you cancel your membership and then decide to rejoin at a later date, they will usually take you back without a question. In fact, they will likely invite you to rejoin, and possibly even offer you a special online code to enter at the club web site and be privy to an even better deal than the standard 5+4 offer (less commitment books, for example, or no shipping charges on the introductory offer).
While the cancel-rejoin approach will presumably save you a bit more money, it is probably not for everyone. Which is just as well; as was said earlier, if you remain a loyal member, Black Expressions Book Club will reward you with plenty of opportunities for additional savings: from free shipping to free books.
