Book-of-the-Month Club Reinstates Editorial Judges Panel

Posted on June 29, 2001

The Book-of-the-Month Club has announced the return of its Editorial Board of Judges. First established in 1926, the board of judges is returning in response to BOMC members who said they missed the literary taste and standards established by the panel. The judges' first selections are scheduled for September 2001.

The board is composed of Bill Bryson, bestselling travel author who wrote A Walk in the Woods, In a Sunburned Country, and The Lost Continent; Nelson DeMille, bestselling author of The Gold Coast, The General's Daughter, and The Lion's Game; Annie Proulx, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Shipping News, Postcards, and Close Range and Anna Quindlen, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, columnist and author of One True Thing, A Short Guide to a Happy Life and Black and Blue.

The judges will serve two-year terms and act as independent advisors offering suggestions for book selections to be offered to members of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Each judge will be asked to recommend at least five books annually. The judges will write original recommendations that will appear in the monthly catalogues sent to BOMC members. In addition, the judges will provide occasional interviews about reading and writing.

``With the incredible volume of books being published today, people are overwhelmed with choices,'' said Mel Parker, Editorial Director of Bookspan, a partnership between Doubleday Direct Inc. and Book-of-the-Month Club Holding LLC. ``Once again, the Judges Panel will be an ideal source for authoritative recommendations. With the return of the Judges Panel, the Book-of-the-Month Club is returning to its heritage.''

Said Ms. Quindlen, ``These three things I love; writing books, reading books and helping books. I would like to think I do almost as much handselling as someone working at an independent bookstore, telling friends about something great I've read in galleys, talking up a wonderful first novel when I'm doing a signing. Being a Book-of-the-Month Club judge enables me to expand my circle of friends, and my circle of influence on behalf of great fiction and nonfiction. Reading and recommending are already a centerpiece of my life as a writer. To have a position in which I'm obliged to do both-that's simply sublime.''

The BOMC Editorial Board of Judges was originally established by BOMC's founder, Harry Scherman, as a way to create brand recognition and lend an authoritative voice to the club's monthly book offerings. The original Board of Judges consisted of Henry Seidel Canby, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, William Allen White, Christopher Morley, and Heywood Broun. Other notable authors who have served as Judges were Clifton Fadiman, Gloria Naylor, J. Anthony Lukas, David Willis McCullough and Wilfrid Sheed.

Established in 1926, Book-of-the-Month Club's in-house editors choose the nearly 500 selections each year from more than 20,000 manuscripts submitted by publishers. Bookspan is a direct marketer of general interest and specialty book clubs. With more than 9 million members, its book clubs include Book-of-the-Month Club, The Literary Guild, Quality Paperback Book Club, Doubleday Book Club, 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.).