Today we’re going to take a look at The Stephen King Book Club and Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club. Both of these book clubs are in the Doubleday Book Club family and pretty much adhere to the same rules.
About Doubleday Book Club
The Doubleday book clubs purchases the rights to print the books they offer then uses their own printing press to make exact copies of those books — except cheaper. The book may be smaller, the paper quality may be of a lower grade than other presses, and the covers may have the book club label. Because of this they are able to produce books for less and pass the savings on to you.
About the Book Clubs
The Stephen King Book Club and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club are both part of the Doubleday Book Club family. The major difference is the books that they offer up front — when you start your membership and in the monthly catalogs — tend to focus on the genre you’ve chosen. However, you do get opportunities to purchase books from other genres, especially in the Stephen King Book Club.
If you’re a big fan of Stephen King and want a great looking collection of his books (over 40 books available), then his book club is the one to join. You’ll also get a chance to purchse other bestselling authors during the course of your membership.
If you’re more of a generalist in horror, dark fantasy or urban fantasy then try the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club. There the focus is on the genres and you get more variety within those genres. You’ll also get a chance to purchase other forms of fantasy and science fiction if you so desire.
How to Join
The easiest way to join the Stephen King Book Club is to click on this link for the sign up page.
The easiest way to join the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club is to click on this link for the sign up page.
These may be affiliate links but they aren’t my affiliate links. When I tried to get the book clubs directly, all I could find was the Doubleday Book Club — not the speciality clubs.
What you do is select four books for $.99 (Stephen King/Doubleday) or $1.00 (SF and F) each. You’ll need to pay shipping and handling charges too. Then you can select a fifth book for free. That’s five books so far. Once you’ve selected them all you have to do is purchase four more books at book club prices during the next two years and your obligation to the club will be done.
You have the option when you sign up to select a sixth book at a severely discounted price which counts against the four you need to fullfill the club obligations — leaving you with only 3 more to purchase. So the introductory package can be as many as 6 books.
Then every 3 months you’ll get a catalog with listings of books you can choose from. The old automatic selections that were mailed to you if you didn’t turn in an order card immediately have been done away with. With this new set up you won’t wind up getting books you didn’t want.
You do need an active credit or debit card to take advantage of this offer.
The Customer Service
At this time I have not joined this book club so I can’t say anything about the customer service. It is probably good as this book club has been around for decades.
The Book Selection
Don’t expect either club to mine deeply in the horror genre.
If the author made the bestseller lists then you’ll probably find them there. Stephen King, Peter Straub, Anne Rice, Whitley Strieber, Rober R. McCammon and F. Paul Wilson are the horror authors they’re likely to cover. For urban fantasy you’ll find Laurell K. Hamilton, Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher, Kim Harrison, and Carrie Vaughan.
Cemetery Dance publishes many different genres of books in hardcover formats. They publish:
- Reprints of current in-print books, These are the standard fare of the Doubleday Book Clubs.
- Reprints of out-of-print or hard-to-get books, Particularly the classics in the various genres, Doubleday will reprint them with new covers.
- Collections — Collection of short stories, novellas and even anthologies.
- Special Omnibus Edditions — Collections of two to four novels in a particular series.
Reprints of current in-print books: Almost all the Stephen Kings books fall into this category. These books are printed to look like the orginal.
Reprints of out-of-print or hard-to-get books: I’ve seen this particularly in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club where classic authors are brought back into print in special book club editions. Alfred Bester and A. E. Van Vogt were popular reprints when I was a teenager and in this club.
Collections: include Night Shift and Just After Sunset by Stephen King.
Special Omnibus Edditions include Preying for Mercy by Patricia Briggs (3 books in one) and Club Vampyre by Laurell K. Hamilton (3 books in one).
In Conclusion
If you want a nice collection of Stephen King or if your tastes in horror leans towards the bestselling authors then this is the book club for you.
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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If you look around, sometimes the membership terms (e.g. number of books to buy after enrollment) changes. Frequently.
Also, I found this to be even more true if you first belong to MyPoints.com and then join the book club through there… plus, you earn a $10 bonus for doing so, which helps with the whole finishing the membership thing.
I was able to join Sci Fi & F with a one book committment, for example.
Science Fiction Book Club:
http://www.sfbc.com
http://www.sfbc.ca
Stephen King Book Club:
http://www.StephenKingLibrary.com
(s/b, but does not seem to be working right now)
Great article!
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