Book Clubs and Book Commerce

Cambridge Elements in Publishing and Book Culture

by Corinna Norrick-Rühl

In the twentieth century, cumulative millions of readers received books by mail from clubs like the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Book Society or Bertelsmann Club. This Element offers an introduction to book clubs as a distribution channel and cultural phenomenon, and shows that book clubs and book commerce are linked inextricably. It argues that a global perspective is necessary to understand the cultural and economic impact of book clubs in the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. It also explores central reasons for book club membership, condensing them into four succinct categories: convenience, community, concession and, most importantly, curation. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

108 pages, Paperback

Published February 13, 2020

Reviews

[drew]

My first Element of 2025! Read for the Booksellers and Bookselling module that I’m due to start this week.

Mentions ‘middlebrow’, ‘cultural capital’, ‘paratext’ and even Adorno’s work on the ‘culture industry’! I felt very confident in my understanding of these concepts from last term and my Sociology degree. Would love to read more scholarly work on Adorno and publishing!

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for Bookish Book Club, liked the framework it suggested and all of the possible research leads to follow up on later.