Book of the Month
Subscription-based book buying club / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Book of the Month (founded 1926[2]) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members choose which book they would like to receive, similar to how the club originally operated when it began in 1926. Members can also discuss the books with fellow members in an online forum.[3]
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| Founded | 1926; 97 years ago (1926) in New York City, New York, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Founder | Harry Scherman |
| Headquarters | New York City , U.S. |
Key people | |
| Parent | Pride Tree Holdings |
| Website | www |
In late 2015, in concert with the club's 90th year, the club announced a relaunch into its current iteration. Within two years, the club had grown its membership to more than 100,000 members, primarily millennial women, and the club's presence on social media grew to over 1.2 million Instagram followers.[4][5] Approximately 75% of the club's titles are by up-and-coming authors, and 80% of titles are fiction.[4] The club has also worked with a series of celebrity guest judges who bring broader awareness to new titles, and continues producing its own versions of books that feature special endpapers and casings.[5] In 2016, the club launched a Book of the Year award. In 2017, the club debuted its first ever television advertisement called "Monthly".[6]
The club has a tradition of focusing on debut and emerging writers, and is known for having helped launch the careers of some of the most acclaimed authors in American literary history. In 1926 (its first year in operation), the Club featured Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. In 1936 (its tenth year), the Club selected Gone with the Wind by unknown author Margaret Mitchell. Mitchell wrote: "I wanted to thank [Book of the Month] from the bottom of my heart for selecting my book. It was quite the most exciting and unexpected thing that ever happened to me." In 1951 (its 25th year), the club distributed its 100 millionth book and selected J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, which became both the most-censored and the most-taught book in America. In 1978, the Club selected By the Rivers of Babylon, the first book by Nelson DeMille, who later wrote: "I will be forever grateful to Book of the Month for ensuring that my first book, By the Rivers of Babylon, was not my last. When the Club selected Babylon in 1978, it reached hundreds of thousands of additional readers and became an instant best-seller."[7]