With roughly 25% share of the entire book publishing market, romance fiction sits right up there among the top three of the most popular book market categories. It is no wonder, therefore, that several book clubs are catering to this particular segment of the publishing pie, with Rhapsody holding a distinguished position among them.
Rhapsody Book Club has been in existence since 2000, as a mail order as well as 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.
Rhapsody actually 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 seven introductory books from. Member selection expands on this inaugural library significantly, and is accessible to active members only.
Initial Selection
To potential members, Rhapsody Book Club offers an extensive assortment of romance fiction – mostly hardcover editions – spanning a wide range of sub-categories. If best selling titles by names such as Danielle Steel or Nicholas Sparks are your preference, look no further. You will often find entire backlists by many of these hugely popular authors, not just their latest stuff. What's more, these books are all hardcover editions which more likely than not aren't available anywhere else, plus they often go for bargain prices.
But Rhapsody is not just about mainstream blockbusters, far from it. Every niche from the genre is catered for. Historical romance, for example, with its own sub-genres: American history, Westerns, Cowboys & Indians, English history, Scottish history, medieval romance and so on. Authors include Johanna Lindsey, Julia Quinn, Geralyn Dawson, Hannah Howell and many others.
Or, you might be more into romantic suspense: Nora Roberts and Fern Michaels are some of the best known representatives of the genre, as is James Patterson with his celebrated Women's Murder Club series. Of course, there is plenty of somewhat less recognizable names too, such as Catherine Coulter, Diana Palmer, Elizabeth Lowell, Janelle Denison... the list goes on.
Those who like their romantic heroes endowed with supernatural gifts will feel right at home in the paranormal section of the club, the reign of vampires, shape-shifters, immortal warriors, demons, dragons, ghosts... Under this tab you will also find futuristic romances (all the books by Nora Roberts writing as J.D.Robb, for example), fantasy romances, time travel stuff, out of this world love stories and also erotic, historical and modern paranormal romances.
Finally, Rhapsody also features the brides & grooms section for those who are fond of wedding bells, inspirational romance, love & laughter for the humor-inclined and hot sizzlers for readers who do not object to a certain amount of sizzle and steam in their prose.
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 Doubleday Book Club, The Literary Guild, 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, 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 Rhapsody 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 RBC presents a great introductory offer: 7 books of your choice for 99¢. Simply start shopping and add seven 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 $4.99 (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
RBC membership implies the obligation to buy four more books at the club's discounted prices within two years. As a member you will receive the free Rhapsody Book Club Catalog approximately once every 3 weeks. Each issue of the catalog features two Main Selections, new books chosen by Rhapsody's editorial board as the hottest titles of the moment. In addition, there is over 150 other books for you to consider.
The catalog offers real value. As mentioned, romance fiction belongs to the very top of the most popular book publishing categories, there are literally thousands of romance novels being published each year, so the editors have to sift through a lot of titles to present you the ones you should consider. Becoming a Main Selection in such a fierce competition is no small feat, only the best make it to that status. The catalog, therefore, provides a great way to keep current with the happenings in the literary romance 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 Main 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 Rhapsody 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 Rhapsody 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 Rhapsody 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 Main 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 RBC's entire library and place orders.
You might also want to participate in Rhapsody's online community, 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.
Once your commitment (4 books within 2 years) is fulfilled, you are free to cancel your membership at Rhapsody Book Club. 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 RBC'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, or free shipping on your introductory package).
From the great introductory offer, via club discounts to various special offers, savings are undoubtedly one of the best things about Rhapsody 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.
If you are a book enthusiast with a penchant for romance fiction of all shapes and kinds, then joining Rhapsody Book Club is certainly worth a serious consideration. You get first seven books for next to nothing, up to 40% 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 Rhapsody 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 Main Selection. 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 7 books for 99¢ if it tickles your fancy. How? Join, take care of the commitment at once and cancel. You can walk away with 11 hardcover romance novels for $60 or so, and that includes shipping charges. Hardly a deal you will find anywhere else.
