book club

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Direct-mail book marketing device that invites consumers to buy books (usually at reduced rates). negative option book clubs send books periodically unless the member instructs the club otherwise, according to a set procedure. positive option book clubs require the buyer's permission to send a book. Most book clubs have a minimum purchase requirement (usually within a stipulated time frame), known as a member commitment. Book clubs were originally created when bookstores were less numerous and mail-order book buying was, in some rural areas, the only option. Many of today's book clubs are geared toward cooking, business, science, or some other particular interest. The best known and biggest of the genre, however, are the general-interest Book-Of-The-Month Club and The Literary Guild. Book clubs pay a royalty to publishers and must produce and sell their own printing of each book. Publishers generally view book clubs as a source of publicity more than as a source of revenue.

Book club may refer to:

• Book discussion club, a group of people who meet to discuss a book or books that they have read
• Book sales club, a subscription-based method of selling and purchasing books

Book club may also refer to:

• Bookclub (radio), a BBC Radio 4 programme
• The Book Group, a British television situation comedy
• Literature Circles, a group of students who meet in a classroom to discuss a book or books that they have read
• The Richard & Judy Book Club, a regular chat show segment responsible for 26% of book sales in the United Kingdom in 2008

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