OPERATIONS OF BOOK CLUBS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27369, 7 June 1954, Page 6

OPERATIONS OF BOOK CLUBS

METHQD OF CHOOSING TITLES GROWTH OF MOVEMENT SINCE 1945 . Of the hundreds of books published in the last 15 by one British book club, only three have been' unanimously approved by the eight-rhan selection committee of» the club. The books were “Bricks and Flowers,” by Katherine Everett, “The Little World of Don Camilla” by Giovanni Guareschi, and “The Wind in the Willows,” by Kenneth Grahame. This «was related by the managing director of World Books (Mr J. H. Barrett) when discussing at a luncheon in Christchurch for members of the book club, the selection methods of the club. The selection committee. he said, comprised the five publishers interested in the club, and three representatives of the club, but the publisher whose firm had originally published the book under discussion did not take part in the ballot. All the members of the committee, read the book before a vote was taken, and it was very rarely that a book was approved by more than four votes to three, or five votes to two, said Mr Barrett. It was significant of the British outlook, in his opinion, that book club members did not split up into violently-opposed factions but treated opposing views with tolerance. Earlier, Mr Barrett, in an interview with “The Press,” was asked to account for the growth of the book club movement since the Second World War. “Book clubs go right into the home,” he said; “they will continue to thrive if they play up to the people and not down to them, if they choose the best titles ‘they can, and if they put their books up in attractive form.” The greatest strength of book clubs, Mr Barrett considered, was the salesmanship of the members themselves, who recommended their club to friends. He acknowledged, when the question was put to him, that the low price of the books was a big factor in the expansion of World Books, whose New Zealand members, according to Mr Barrett, have trebled since World War 11. The New Zealand membership of .his book dub was the highest, on a population basis, of any country where his books were sold, he said. Australia and New Zealand comprised 30 per cent, of World Books’ export market. New Zealanders also supplied more comment on the books they received than the club members of any other country.