This week we’re going to be examining a few horror book clubs. The clubs I’m presenting are ones that I’ve had experience with either currently or in the past. All of them have advantages and disadvantages. All of them deliver on their promises and have very good to excellent customer service.
The Horror Book Clubs are:
- The Dorchester/Leisure Horror Book Club
- The Delirium Books Horror Paperback Book Club
- The 2008 Cemetery Dance Book Club
- The Stephen King/Doubleday Book Club
By detailing the clubs over the course of the week, I hope to give you enough information to help you decide which, if any, you want to sign up for. Essentially I want to take the fear out of enrollment.
Each time I joined a book club, I had a sickening mixture of fear and excitement. I wanted what I thought they were offering but I was afraid it wouldn’t be as great as the promise — or that I’d find some way to mess it up. Indeed I tested the patience of a couple of them and found them very understanding and helpful.
One book club changed the method of billing and payment to better accommodate my needs.
Another has easy access help through the Internet and responded to my problems with in hours in the evening.
A third suffered several problems with the printer service they used but kept the customer apprised of the situation throughout the delay. I never once worried that I’d lost my money with them and they made good on their promise.
So, what horror book clubs are out there? What deals do they offer? What kind of books can you get and how much are they going to cost? I’ll be answering these questions and more over the couse of the week.
Advantages of Joining a Book Club
All of the book clubs offer a substantial savings for the books you purchase over the store bought cost — both bricks and mortar and on line stores.
One of the biggest advantages — and the reason I joined The Dorchester/Leisure Horror Book Club was so I could be sure of getting some of my favorite authors — Gary Braunbeck, Brian Keene, Mary SanGiovanni, Edward Lee, Jack Ketchum to name a few — before they disappeared from my local bookstores.
Some of the most impressive horror is being published by small presses which seem to get no time at any bookstore around me. Delirium Books and Cemetery Dance both fall in that category. Many of their books have won awards and yet I’d never heard of the titles or authors because I couldn’t find them in bookstores or libraries.
Joining the Dorchester/Leisure, the Delirium Books and the Cemetery Dance book clubs put new authors into my hands that I might never have read otherwise — authors like Jeff Strand, Brian Knight, J. F. Gonzalez, John Everson, Wrath James White, Sandy DeLuca, Greg F. Gifune, Ray Garton, to mention but a few.
My library has grown by leaps and bounds. I get hardcover, trade paperback and mass market paperback books from the clubs.
Finally, several book clubs have adjacent purchase offers you can only get by being a member. For instance, each month Dorchester/Leisure sends a flier allowing me to purchase older titles, sometimes at a huge discount. And for every 5 books you purchase outside of the monthly offering, you get an additional book for free.
Disadvantages of Joining a Book Club
The monthly cost, or in the case of the 2008 Cemetery Dance Book Club, an up-front cost that pays for an entire year’s worth of books. With the economy spinning down the proverbial toilet, spare change can be hard to come by on a consistent basis. The rewards, however, if you can make it, are well worth it.
Every so often, you get a book that really doesn’t speak to you. It could happen. It hasn’t happened to me yet but I tend to read and enjoy a wide range of horror. If it happens to you, most book clubs have a return policy within a set number of days. Otherwise, they make great gifts . . . or donations to your local library.
In Summary
Horror Book Clubs offer a lot of advantages to the horror reader. They offer variety you can’t get in most bookstores and the comfort of the certainty that a book or author you dearly love, will be in your collection and often well in advance of bookstores. It also helps support the publishers that cater to your reading needs.
The Horror Book Clubs Series:
Part 1 — An Introduction to Horror Book Clubs
Part 2 — The Leisure Horror Book Club
Part 3 — The Delirium Books Horror Paperback Book Club
Part 4 — The 2008 Cemetery Dance Book Club
Part 5 — The Stephen King/Doubleday Book Club
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