Doubleday Book Club is one of the largest and probably the most prominent of the discount book clubs, boasting, at the time of this writing, 1.2 million members. It has been in existence since 1930, first as a mail-order outfit only, and today as a mail order and Internet based service. The club relies on what could be called a standard operational procedure for book clubs: an enticing introductory offer is combined with an obligation to buy a certain amount of books within a certain amount of time at a discounted price, and spiced with an attractive catalog that helps the members wade through the plethora of reading choices.
Let's see how this works in more detail.
The choice of available books is the first thing to be considered before joining a book club. Great introductory offers, special deals and low prices, all that is pointless if the club doesn't have what you're looking for.
Doubleday Book Club features two different selections. Initial selection is intended for prospective members: it is available for everyone to search through and browse. This is where you choose your six introductory books from. Member selection expands on this inaugural library significantly, and is accessible to active members only.
Initial Selection
To potential members, Doubleday Book Club offers quite an extensive assortment (over 2000 titles) of best selling fiction and non-fiction – mostly hardcover editions – spanning a wide range of categories: contemporary fiction; today's female fiction; mysteries & thrillers; romantic reads; African American; children's; biographies & memoirs; health, mind & body; cooking & entertainment etc.
If you're an avid reader with an interest in latest bestsellers from a variety of genres, then you've come to the right place. At Doubleday Book Club you will find the majority of books currently reigning the bestseller lists and the ones that have done so in the past few months. There is also plenty of somewhat older titles by many of the widely popular contemporary authors; you can find entire libraries by Danielle Steel, Stephen King, Sandra Brown, John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, Nicholas Sparks, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Dean Koontz, Sylvia Browne – to name just a few. An added attraction is, most of these books aren't available in book stores – not the hardcover versions, anyway – and, what's more, they often go for bargain prices ($7.99 or so).
However, some authors – such as Jackie Collins, Michael Crichton or Tom Clancy – are represented by only a few (usually the latest) titles. To some degree this might be due to the editors' preferences, but it probably has more to do with the deals the club had managed to secure with the respective publishers. However it may be, if there's a specific author you are particularly interested in, checking her/his representation before joining is a good idea.
Although non-fiction is not a stronger point of Doubleday Book Club, there's a decent selection in that department too. Current popular titles, stuff that sells, prevail here also, but there are also many books which do not currently receive much attention but offer sizable value nonetheless, books coming from such eminent outfits as Betty Crocker®, Pillsbury®, Stanley Tools®, Burpee®, Frommer's®, Rodale®, Martha Stewart®, Dr. Andrew Weil®, John Gray, Ph.D.®, Webster's® and Guinness®.
Quite often, Doubleday is marked as women's book club and not without reason, as it does feature an extensive women's library, more so than other bestseller book clubs. However, it would be wrong to think of it in that light exclusively; if we had to put a tag on it, we would describe it as a general interest book club with a disposition towards women's fiction.
So, who shouldn't join Doubleday Book Club? Well, if your interest lies primarily in books that, regardless of their quality, do not at present enjoy much exposure – such as venerable classics that, while not exactly forgotten, certainly aren't in the limelight anymore, or new books that aren't likely to generate broad enough appeal to make them profitable – then DBC is not for you. With a very few honorable exceptions, its introductory offer library is devoid of classics: you will have a better chance of finding what you want if you head over to Book-of-the-Month club, which is better stocked in this particular area.
There are exceptions to this rule, and they usually come about if a book has recently sparked a renewed interest. It happens, for example, when a high-profile movie based on the book in question is being made, or a sequel to the book has come out, or some other such event transpires and makes the book suddenly become a hot topic.
Member Selection
Members have a much wider selection of books to choose from. They have access to all the books carried by other Booksonline.com clubs (over 70,000 titles), including the afore mentioned Book-of-the-Month Club (for a bit more "literary" selection), One Spirit Book Club (spiritual and inspirational books), The Good Cook, Science Fiction Book Club, Rhapsody (romance books), Mystery Guild, Children's Book of the Month, Black Expressions (books by, for and about African Americans), History Book Club and many others. Note that all the same rules apply to these books (a purchase counts toward member's commitment obligation etc).
Joining
Joining Doubleday Book Club is quite easy: it takes only a few minutes and can be done on the club web site. Not even a credit card is necessary. To each new member DBC extends a great introductory offer: 6 books of your choice for 99¢. Simply start shopping and add six books to your cart. When done, you will be taken to a page where you can review the contents of your shopping cart. At this point you can still remove an item if you change your mind and continue shopping for another one. You are also offered an opportunity to buy one more book for $5.99 (look in the upper right corner) and thus reduce your commitment right away. It's a fair offer, so you might want to take it.
At the next stage you will need to enter your personal information, which includes your name, shipping address and e-mail address. Phone number is optional. That done, you will be prompted to choose your billing method. You can either pay by credit card, or select the “Bill Me” option in which case you will be sent an invoice to the address you provided on the previous page.
The last step requires you to set up a password which you'll need to access the members only area. Setting up the password will also confirm your membership. And that's it. You're in.
Modus Operandi
As a member you will receive the free Doubleday Book Club Magazine approximately once every 3 weeks. Each issue of the Magazine features two Selections, new books chosen by Doubleday's editors as the must-reads of the moment. In addition, there is over 180 other books for you to consider.
The Magazine offers real value. There are hundreds of books being published each month, so the editors have to cut through a lot of titles to present you the ones you should consider. Becoming a Featured Selection, therefore, is no small feat. Only the best, a crème de la crème, make it to that status. Moreover, the Selections these days are accommodated to your personal taste, based on your previous purchases and declared interests. In short, the Magazine provides a great way to keep current with the happenings in the literary world, find out about the latest titles from your favorite authors, or discover some fresh new talent. Many people actually keep memberships in different book clubs mainly for this reason: to receive recommendations on what's hot.
The current Featured Selections will be sent to you automatically, unless you tell the club otherwise. You can do so online, via the club web site, or by returning the Member Reply Form (included with the Magazine) through regular mail. This practice is known as “negative option” or “advance consent” marketing and it has been utilized by book clubs such as Doubleday for more than eight decades. Some people consider it a nuisance, a relic of the past, others find it convenient.
While we are inclined to agree with the former group, in all fairness it needs to be said that these days the hassle really is reduced to a minimum: it's just a matter of logging in to your account on the club's official web site, selecting the “Featured Selections” tab and clicking on the “Don't Send” button. And that's it. You're done. It only takes a minute or so of your time once every three weeks. The important thing is not to forget to do it, and Doubleday Book Club will even assist you in the matter by sending you a reminder e-mail before the Selection is shipped.
Finally, if you do happen to forget to cancel the Selection, you can always send it back if you really don't want it. You won't even have to pay for the return postage so long as the package was not open.
Managing Your Account Online
In this respect Doubleday Book Club deserves much plaudit: the web site makes it easy and convenient to manage every aspect of your membership online. View detailed order and payment history; check the account balance, remaining commitment, and the shipping status of all recent orders; respond to the current Featured Selection or view older Selections; change your billing and shipping address and other personal details including payment method; choose shipping method, and, of course, browse or search DBC's entire library and place orders.
You might also want to participate in Doubleday's online community called Reader's Circle, where you can share your own book reviews and recommendations with other club members. This is also the place to find exclusive interviews, read profiles of your favorite authors and excerpts from their latest books.
Doubleday Book Club membership is not exactly a “till death do us part” affair. Once your commitment is fulfilled, you are free to cancel your membership. The process, not surprisingly, is a trifle more difficult than joining. You don't have an option to simply close your account online, but instead have to send an e-mail to DBC's customer service, or a written cancellation request to the Member Service Center. A bit of a complication, in our opinion not entirely necessary. But then, perhaps we are being too finicky here. It is, after all, just one simple e-mail.
It goes without saying that you will always be welcome back should you decide to rejoin. You can do so simply by visiting the club web site and enrolling again, as described earlier in this review. However, there might be an even better way to do it. If you don't cancel your e-mail subscription as well, you are likely to receive periodic invitations to rejoin the club; usually there is a special offer attached to such an invitation, and these offers are often even more advantageous than the standard one available on the web site (lower commitment, for example).
From the great introductory offer, via club discounts to various special offers, savings are undoubtedly one of the best things about Doubleday Book Club and for many probably the #1 reason to join. This being such an important subject, we have put together a separate page with detailed information on it and a real-world example.
Shipping Rates
A word or two on shipping charges as they are somewhat complicated. With the initial order the cost is $5.74 for the first book and $1.99 for each additional book. Somewhat high, but we suspect this goes some way toward recouping the loss Doubleday has to be generating by giving you first 6 books for practically nothing. With subsequent orders the charges are $3.99 for the first book and $2.49 for others. If your total order exceeds $25, DBC will charge you $2.49 flat shipping rate for the whole package.
Free shipping would have been better; it certainly has a nicer ring to it, plus all decent online book shops are offering it. That said, with online retailers not each and every item is usually eligible for free shipping, so you might end up having to pay for it anyway. Doubleday Book Club, on the other hand, will ship you everything you put in your basket for $2.49 as long as the total of your order exceeds $25. So, all things considered, this is not a bad deal.
For credit card orders, Express Delivery is available. Express orders incur an additional $5.99 per shipment. State sales tax will be added if shipped to NY, PA, IN, TX, TN, NJ, or SC.
Payment
Doubleday Book Club gives you an option to pay by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express), or be billed later. If you choose to pay by credit card, you will be charged when your order ships. Otherwise, the bill will arrive with the shipment and you can settle it either by using your credit card, or by sending in money order or check.
In order for this to work, the club grants you a certain amount of credit. Each time you pay on time, your credit increases, up to a maximum of $500. Note that you might be charged a late fee (approximately $4), if your bill is not settled on time. However, this fee can usually be removed by giving a call to customer support and explaining why the payment is late.
Billing methods are part of your profile and you can add or change your preferred method as you like. You will also have a chance to change the method during the checkout process. If you don't, the method specified the last time you ordered from the site will be used.
If you are a book enthusiast with a penchant for latest fiction bestsellers from pretty much any genre, joining Doubleday Book Club is certainly worth a serious consideration. You get six books for next to nothing, up to 60% discount on all subsequent books you purchase, plus a shiny magazine in your mail every three weeks or so with book reviews, author interviews, and book-industry related articles.
Since you are not required to part with any money up front, joining is completely devoid of risk. If for whatever reason you don't like the introductory package, or if you simply change your mind, just return the package to Doubleday Book Club within 20 days and that's that. No strings attached.
The only real downside to the whole deal is the somewhat awkward business model the club employs, which requires you to take action if you don't want to take action – that is, buy the proposed book. In our opinion, however, just getting a free magazine with recommendations on what to read outweighs this inconvenience by a hefty margin.
Good thing is, even if you feel the practice is an absolute deal breaker, you can still take advantage of the incredible introductory offer of 6 books for 99¢ if it tickles your fancy. How? Join, take care of the commitment at once and cancel. You can walk away with 10 hardcover bestsellers for less than $60, and that includes shipping charges. Hardly a deal you will find anywhere else.
