Faced with growing competition in the book marketplace, Book-of-the-Month Club has introduced the Smart Reader Rewards program, encompassing a number of initiatives aimed at keeping current members and luring back old ones.
The major new program is Reader's Choice, which will allow new members to pick their monthly selection from one of six categories rather than receiving BOMC's main selection. Titles are now divided into mystery and suspense; history and biography; nonfiction and current affairs; home and family; health and self-help; and fiction. Members can change their category monthly. Current BOMC members remain enrolled in BOMC.
Another new feature is Booksearch Plus, which allows members to search the BOMC database of 70,000 titles for a book they can't find online or in a catalogue. Also as part of the Smart Reader program, BOMC has started a Web site featuring member reviews and recommendations as well as author interviews and excerpts.
