The Science Fiction Book Club: Shining Star or Black Hole?
Apr 28 '00 (Updated Sep 06 '00)
Every once in a while, when I try to simplify my life and live within my means, I send off a big batch of letters canceling my membership in all the book clubs with which I've become burdened. After these purges, I somehow repeatedly end up rejoining The Science Fiction Book Club.
Before I describe what makes The Science Fiction Book Club worth joining and rejoining, let's take a quick look at what most clubs offer.
Those Too Good To Be True Offers
If you're anything like me, you've taken the bait at least once. (Actually, if you're anything like me, you've consumed the entire baitshop.) You know what I mean here, those Get six books for $1 offers. "Wow," you think, "what a deal!" Then, when your six free books arrive, you get an invoice for about $25. The S&H will kill you every time! But still, six books for $25 isn't bad at all. Other than flea markets, garage sales, and the Barnes & Noble bargain table, where else can you get pristine, hardcover books for under $5 each.
Then you read the membership details, and you realize that you're stuck with buying another 4, 5 or 6 books at Regular Club Prices, which is book club jargon for highly inflated prices, to which they will add the killer S&H. For most, but not all of the clubs I've joined, no sales tax is added to the purchase price (although the government is working on correcting this small benefit to consumers), but the sales tax savings are eaten up by the S&H, so there are no real savings here.
Generally, by the time I cancel my memberships in these clubs, I find I've purchased books that I probably would not have purchased had I not had an obligation to fulfill. When I figure in the cost of S&H for the inducement books and add to that the additional costs I've incurred, I haven't really been taken to the cleaners, but neither have I gotten any great deal. So, obligation fulfilled, I cancel my membership, vowing to exercise more discretion in future. Memory being a fleeting thing, I sometimes forget my resolution, and take the bait again.
Why The Science Fiction Book Club Bait Is Too Good To Resist
When I rejoined The Science Fiction Book Club for the third time last year, they made me an offer that really was too good to refuse. I was offered 6 books absolutely free with no S&H. Try as I might, I just couldn't say no. My only obligation was to purchase another 4 books during a 2-year period. That is not their normal offer, but I guess I got this special deal because I had ignored their last dozen letters and phone calls inviting me back to their club. This must have been their Impossible-To-Refuse-Package-for-Recalcitrant-Ex-Members.
Unless you enjoy recalcitrant ex-member status such as I, you will get a somewhat less attractive inducement offer. Their more customary and current offer for membership is as follows (per their website www.sfbc.com):
Pick one FREE book (plus shipping and handling) to get you started. When your first FREE book arrives, you'll also receive a coupon to order 5 more books for just $1 (plus shipping and handling) with your membership. Make your selections from Club books priced $15 or less. You won't be billed until membership is confirmed and you receive your shipment. . . . Just pick at least 4 more books at our regular low prices during your membership. Take up to 2 years! Then you may cancel at any time.
I can vouch for the fact that the "cancel at any time" clause is legitimate. I never had any difficulty terminating my membership with them. But, like I said, somehow I just keep coming back, since what they have to offer more than makes up for the annoyances of order cards and high S&H.
That Killer S&H
Alas, as regards high S&H, The Science Fiction Book Club is no better than many other clubs, and indeed even worse than some. My last order for a single book included a charge of $3.65 for S&H. The cost does decrease for additional books ordered. For example, I recently paid $5.75 for a 2-book order, and $8.85 for an order that contained three books and a boxed set of three video cassettes. The cost of S&H still exceeded the amount I would have paid in tax on these items if I had purchased them for the same price at a retail store.
But (and this is a very important but), it is highly unlikely that I would have been able to purchase some of those items at a retail store, and certainly not at any store within driving distance of my home.
I purchased the animated film version of Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters, not the sort of movie one tends to find on the shelves at Walmart or even at most video stores. One of the other items I ordered was an out of print book. While I may have been able to find this title from a specialty dealer, I would expect to pay a premium price for it. Instead, I was able to obtain the book very reasonably through The Science Fiction Book Club, which had revived and reprinted the title for its members. This is one of the strongest points in favor of this club. They really do offer titles that are sometimes very difficult to find anywhere else.
Their Book Prices Are Very Reasonable
Unlike some book clubs who merely claim to offer discounted prices (Book of the Month Club springs to mind), The Science Fiction Book Club actually does offer discount prices. Today, for example, I placed an advance order for the 4th Harry Potter book. The publisher's price is $25.95. Amazon.com offers the discounted book at $18.17, but The Science Fiction Book Club offers this title for just $10.98. (I won't receive it until July when it's published, but I can think about what a deal I got from now until then.) I also ordered Terry Pratchett's latest, The Fifth Elephant for $11.98. Compare that to the publisher's price of $24 and Amazon.com's price of $16.80, and you'll understand why I feel The Science Fiction Book Club offers great value for their hard cover books.
Boo! Hiss! Those Pesky Order Forms
The Science Fiction Book Club still has those pesky order forms to return if you don't want them to send you the selection(s) of the month. You can take care of this by phone or on-line instead of sending them back the card, but neither of these options is particularly convenient. The phone number to call is not toll free, so unless you live in the 317 area code, the call is bound to cost you more than postage. The website (www.sfbc.com) offers a free alternative, but I have used it successfully only once to cancel or place orders. The site is frequently difficult to access, and rivals Epinions in terms of server glitches! The whole ordering/canceling process requires multiple screens which all demand far more time than it would take to stick that old postage stamp on the order form.
A few clubs finally seem to be getting wise to the fact that people really don't want to have to remember to send back those order forms to avoid being stuck with This Month's Selection. I'm generally a pretty organized person, yet there have been a few occasions on which I have neglected to return one of those cards, only to receive a totally unexpected and unwanted parcel. As with other clubs, you may return this parcel to The Science Fiction Book Club and avoid being billed for the book. However, you will have to pay for the return postage unless you remember NOT TO OPEN THE PARCEL.
If you don't know what a parcel contains, it's sometimes difficult to realize that you shouldn't open it. But, let's imagine you're psychic, and you intuit that this unexpected parcel contains a book you really don't want. Now, if you collect your mail at the post office as I do, then this is a fairly simple matter. You merely ask the postal clerk to mail that puppy back to sender, and you're off the hook, free and clear.
But, for all you city slickers who enjoy the luxury of home mail delivery, this could be a major inconvenience. You'll either need to catch your mail carrier and hope that he/she is a pleasant, helpful sort who will be willing to carry that parcel back to the post office for you, or you'll have to haul yourself on down to the post office to return it yourself. What a nuisance!
If The Science Fiction Book Club would get with it and remove the automatic shipment system, I'd probably be less likely to cancel my membership next time I felt a purge coming on.
The Science Fiction Book Club isn't perfect, but it is one of the better clubs out there for selection, quality, and price. If you don't like science fiction/fantasy, avoid it like the plague. But if aliens, ogres, or unicorns appeal to you, this club is worth the nuisance of those pesky order forms.
[Updated 9/6/00: Thanks to the comment left on this opinion by member thejimguy on August 22, 2000, I wrote to SFBC requesting a form of membership in which there would be no automatic shipments. I just received word from SFBC today that my membership would be switched to this status--Hooray! No more pesky order forms. I can now proclaim with confidence that The Science Fiction Book Club qualifies as a shining star.]
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jrk
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Location: California
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