75 Years Later, Book Clubs Remain Driving Force Behind U.S. Book Sales

    NEW YORK, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Amazon.com and Oprah may read this and
 weep!
     Consumers say book clubs get the highest ratings for helping them decide
 what to read next.  Book clubs also stimulate book purchases in stores and
 online as a result of consumers seeing book club literature; that includes
 consumers who aren't members of book clubs as well as those who belong to a
 book club.  These are just two findings of a newly released study conducted by
 RoperASW.
 
     Among the other Roper findings:
     * Club Members and Book Buyers agree that Book Clubs are the best source
       for helping readers decide what books to read next. (page 22 of study)
 
     * Book club advertising stimulates interest in purchasing books in venues
       other than Book Clubs among both Club members and Heavy Book Buyers.
       (page 37 of study)
 
     * Over six in ten individuals have purchased any book in a store or online
       as a result of seeing a book club advertisement or monthly mailing.
       Almost two-thirds have gone shopping for any book. Over four in ten have
       purchased a featured book in a store or online. (page 37 of study)
 
     These findings are significant because they underscore the value book
 clubs bring to publishing at a time when book clubs face increasing
 competition for market share.
     The Roper study was commissioned by Bookspan, a partnership between AOL
 Time Warner and Bertelsmann which operates over 45 book clubs, including
 Book-of-the-Month Club, Literary Guild and Mystery Guild.  RoperASW
 independently conducted the study.
     The book club catalog, such as Book-of-the-Month Club News, is mailed to
 hundreds of millions of homes each month and is the only catalog focused on
 books.  "Nothing stimulates sales and interest in books like an attractive,
 well-written catalog that arrives in the home by mail," said Mel Parker,
 Bookspan Senior Vice President, Editorial Director.  "Book clubs are
 influential because each book offered has been pre-screened by editors in each
 book club to help consumers sort through the plethora of reading choices."
     The complete RoperASW study is available.  The Roper findings are based on
 a representative sample of approximately 1,000 current members of Bookspan's
 general interest clubs and a national sample of approximately 1,000 heavy book
 buyers.
     Bookspan is the premier direct marketer of general interest and specialty
 book clubs.  With more than 8.5 million members, its book clubs include
 Book-of-the-Month Club, The Literary Guild(R), Quality Paperback Book Club(R),
 Doubleday Book Club(R), and more than 40 others.  Created in March 2000,
 Bookspan is a partnership between Doubleday Direct, Inc. (owned by Bertelsmann
 Inc.) and Book-of-the-Month Club Holdings LLC (owned by Time Inc., a unit of
 AOL Time Warner Inc.).
 
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SOURCE  Bookspan