Last May I became a Book of the Month subscriber not knowing at all how I would like it, so I couldn’t be more surprised that nine months in, I not only like it, I find it has added a lot to my reading life. Since we talk about books and reading a lot on this blog, I thought I would let you know why it’s working for me.
Before I do I need to let you know that if you sign up for Book of the Month using one of the links in this post (like this one), I get a free book. That’s not something that just bloggers can take advantage of, by the way; if you become a member you can also earn free books by referring friends.
1. The selection of books is top notch.
Each month Book of the Month makes five new books available for their members to choose from. Some months they’re all fiction choices and other times there will be non-fiction titles thrown in. There are always different genres represented. February’s choices included contemporary fiction, suspense, historical fiction, and literary fiction titles.
The books aren’t randomly chosen; they’re vetted by a panel of editors, subscribers, and judges (authors and book bloggers mostly) to make sure that subscribers will enjoy them.
That has been the case for me. I find that I tend to enjoy my BOTM selections more than those I make on my own. (One of my first BOTM choices, The Night Swim by Megan Goldin, was on my list of favorites books read in 2020.)
2. You get to read books early.
Often, the books are offered through BOTM before they’re officially released. That’s not something I expected to care about but it’s fun to get fresh titles that everyone is talking about.
3. The membership is flexible.
Membership is $14.99 a month plus tax (shipping is free). If you’re not feeling the books offered that month, you can choose to bank your credit for the future, and that’s definitely a feature I’ve taken advantage of. On the other hand, you can add on extra books from prior months’ offerings either by using your credits or by paying for them. You can also cancel your membership at any time.
4. The books themselves have some neat features.
I’m a huge ebook reader (I love my Kindle) so I wasn’t sure I wanted to add more physical books into my reading rotation. But after getting my first few BOTM books I discovered a few little things about them that make me ridiculously happy.
First, they’re bound in such a way that they’re all the same height, so they look uniform on the shelf. I’m not sure why I love that so much, but I do. You can see the beginnings of my little BOTM library above.
Second, when you take the dust jacket off they have the month and year imprinted on the front which creates a history for you of what you got when.
Finally, they come with a bookmark every month, which is the littlest of little things (it’s not even fancy) but I love the little extra.
5. You get a free book twice a year.
After you’ve been a member for a year, you’re eligible to choose a free book in your birthday month. And when BOTM announces their five book of the year finalists each winter, you get to choose one of those for free too.
If you’d like to check out Book of the Month for yourself you can do that here. The website has great ‘how it works’ and FAQ sections but if you have any questions for me, let me know.
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