Writers Digest Book Club: Great Discounts, Sluggish Service
Jun 22 '00
What would you like to know about? Daily life in Renaissance England? Aliens and alien societies? Native American life skills? Zen writing? It’s an eclectic set of topics, but for writers it’s a perfect source of information for the latest book, story, or article.
I’ve been buying books from Writer’s Digest Book Club for nearly ten years. During that time I’ve experienced mostly satisfactory service with a few problems that I’ve learned to live with.
The Good:
Each monthly Bulletin (i.e. catalog) features dozens of books on writing in nearly every format and genre -- articles, romances, SF, thrillers, children’s literature, non-fiction, essay, screenplays, song lyrics, and more -- and well as interesting and even quirky reference books. Want to know how to trace your female ancestors, even in the days when women didn’t show up much on official records? Wondering how forensic scientists do their jobs? Trying to find the right poison to kill off the victim in your latest mystery novel? Wondering what a witch’s tools of the trade might be? WDBC has the books for you.
You’ll also find books on the art of writing: lively books on grammar (such as Sin and Syntax or Words Fail Me), books to get you started (including You Can Write a Mystery and How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy), inspiring books for both new and experienced writers (including audio versions of Writing Down the Bones and Zen and the Writing Life), and the ever-useful Elements of Fiction series.
The Better:
Three great things about WDBC that keep me turning to their Bulletin instead of Amazon.com or the local bookstore when I want a book on writing:
1) The books are all discounted by 15-20% off the cover price.
2) Shipping is free if you pre-pay by check or money order.
3) For every book you buy, you get a bonus point. Four bonus points gets you a free book.
The Bad:
Like most book clubs, WDBC has a selection of the month marked on the card and ready to ship to you. If you don’t want it, you have to send the card back. I suppose they do this to make you open the envelope each month and at least have a glance at the contents. It is annoying, however, if your reply card gets shuffled in the compost on your desk and you forget about it, then receive books you don’t really want. You can mark “refused” on the package and drop it back in the mailbox, but if you’re still expecting an order from a prior Bulletin, you may have to open the package to see what’s inside, which leads us to:
The Ugly:
WDBC is slooooooow to ship. At times I’ve waited as long as two months to receive an order. I once ordered a book titled Fast Fiction with the intent to enter WDBC’s “Fast Fiction” contest and didn’t receive the book until after the contest was closed. Another time I ended up ordering two copies of the same book because the first copy hadn’t arrived by the time I got the next catalog and I’d forgotten I’d included it on the last order. They aren’t always that slow, but if you want the book for a special gift, buy it locally or order from Amazon.com to be sure you’ll get it on time.
Thus when I buy books from WDBC, I never buy things I want right away. I figure that some time later I’ll get a nice surprise package in the mail: a bundle of great, inexpensive books that I almost forgot I’d ordered.
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WritingLife
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