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  • Re: =?UTF-8?B?4oCcU0ZCQyBzaHV0dGluZyBkb3du4oCd?=

    From Garrett Wollman@21:1/5 to lynnmcguire5@gmail.com on Fri Jan 3 22:19:13 2025
    In article <vl9mo7$3fsk$1@dont-email.me>,
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    I am surprised SFBC lasted this long. I have not ordered a book from it >since the early 1970s. I think that “Dune” was the last book I bought >from it.

    I wrote a blog post more than a decade ago about how the book-club
    business model no longer made any sense, and I am quite surprised that
    it took the private-equity investors so long to come to the same
    conclusion.

    -GAWollman

    --
    Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can, wollman@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
    my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015)

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  • From Ted Nolan @21:1/5 to lynnmcguire5@gmail.com on Fri Jan 3 22:36:04 2025
    In article <vl9mo7$3fsk$1@dont-email.me>,
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
    “SFBC shutting down”
    https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/1hsnqmd/sfbc_shutting_down/

    “Reported in Ansible 450.”
    https://news.ansible.uk/a450.html#14

    "The "How it works" page now says this:"
    https://www.sfbc.com/how-it-works

    "How Your Membership Works<br>Cancel anytime."

    "After 2/1/2025, orders will no longer be processed at Science Fiction
    Book Club."

    "You can still redeem your existing credits on the site as normal until >2/1/2025."

    "You can also still purchase books using a credit card on the site as
    normal until 2/1/2025."

    I am surprised SFBC lasted this long. I have not ordered a book from it >since the early 1970s. I think that “Dune” was the last book I bought >from it.

    Lynn


    I can still tell you what my membership number was for many years, until
    they sold I guess. (I won't, but I can). In the post-Amazon years,
    I would pretty much buy only the omnibi or art/comic offerings, but
    still many fond memories.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Ahasuerus@21:1/5 to Garrett Wollman on Fri Jan 3 17:57:56 2025
    On 1/3/2025 5:19 PM, Garrett Wollman wrote:
    In article <vl9mo7$3fsk$1@dont-email.me>,
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    I am surprised SFBC lasted this long. I have not ordered a book from it
    since the early 1970s. I think that “Dune” was the last book I bought >>from it.

    I wrote a blog post more than a decade ago about how the book-club
    business model no longer made any sense, and I am quite surprised that
    it took the private-equity investors so long to come to the same
    conclusion.

    Certain business models can take a long time to be phased out. For
    example, telegram services are still not quite dead (see this list of
    companies -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwide_use_of_telegrams_by_country).
    AT&T shut down its 411 service just 2 years ago -- see https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-08/at-t-to-end-411-directory-saying-farewell-to-telephone-operator-era

    I wonder how paper books will fare over the next 50 years.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to lynnmcguire5@gmail.com on Sat Jan 4 00:43:00 2025
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
    "After 2/1/2025, orders will no longer be processed at Science Fiction
    Book Club."

    I am surprised SFBC lasted this long. I have not ordered a book from it >since the early 1970s. I think that “Dune” was the last book I bought >from it.

    Oh no! I have never been a member, although I had friends who were members
    buy plenty of books for me over the years. I had no idea it even still existed... if I'd known I'd have joined! They don't advertise and they
    don't have booths at SF cons anymore... how was anyone to know they were
    still in business?
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ted Nolan @21:1/5 to tnusenet17@gmail.com on Sat Jan 4 17:46:32 2025
    In article <vlbrvk$ibja$2@dont-email.me>,
    Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 1/3/25 5:36 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
    In article <vl9mo7$3fsk$1@dont-email.me>,
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
    “SFBC shutting down”
    https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/1hsnqmd/sfbc_shutting_down/ >>>
    “Reported in Ansible 450.”
    https://news.ansible.uk/a450.html#14

    "The "How it works" page now says this:"
    https://www.sfbc.com/how-it-works

    "How Your Membership Works<br>Cancel anytime."

    "After 2/1/2025, orders will no longer be processed at Science Fiction
    Book Club."

    "You can still redeem your existing credits on the site as normal until
    2/1/2025."

    "You can also still purchase books using a credit card on the site as
    normal until 2/1/2025."

    I am surprised SFBC lasted this long. I have not ordered a book from it >>> since the early 1970s. I think that “Dune” was the last book I bought >>>from it.

    Lynn


    I can still tell you what my membership number was for many years, until
    they sold I guess. (I won't, but I can). In the post-Amazon years,
    I would pretty much buy only the omnibi or art/comic offerings, but
    still many fond memories.

    Same here. When I first started reading this group in the mid-1990s, i >quickly learned that I'd had a non-standard intro to written SF, and
    that I had missed a lot of the common classics most others had read.

    SFBC was my primary way of "catching up", including their awesome >introductory deal at the time. I also greatly appreciated Andrew
    Wheeler's contributions and insights here in rasfw over the many years
    he was here.

    I haven't been a member for years, but I'm sad to see it go,
    Tony


    Interestingly, I never dropped out -- they just eventually stopped sending
    me packets. I guess I wasn't profitable enough at the end. Somewhere
    I have a stack of their booklets from the 70s onward when they still did
    their own art.

    I wonder if Columbia House is still around -- they chased me for years trying to get me to renew.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Lynn McGuire on Sat Jan 4 10:13:23 2025
    On 1/3/2025 2:01 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    “SFBC shutting down”
       https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/1hsnqmd/sfbc_shutting_down/


    I am surprised SFBC lasted this long.  I have not ordered a book from it since the early 1970s.  I think that “Dune” was the last book I bought from it.

    Add me to the list of those who thought SFBC was long since defunct. I
    KNOW it ceased operations at least once many years ago as I got the
    notice telling me it was going out of business. I didn't cancel my
    membership, they just stopped operating. Someone must have bought the
    rights and such and started a successor company.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From James Nicoll@21:1/5 to dtravel@sonic.net on Sat Jan 4 22:56:54 2025
    In article <vlbto1$ikm6$1@dont-email.me>,
    Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
    On 1/3/2025 2:01 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
    “SFBC shutting down”
       https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/1hsnqmd/sfbc_shutting_down/ >>

    I am surprised SFBC lasted this long.  I have not ordered a book from it
    since the early 1970s.  I think that “Dune” was the last book I bought >> from it.

    Add me to the list of those who thought SFBC was long since defunct. I
    KNOW it ceased operations at least once many years ago as I got the
    notice telling me it was going out of business. I didn't cancel my >membership, they just stopped operating. Someone must have bought the
    rights and such and started a successor company.

    It was still going when I parted ways with it in the summer
    of 2014.

    The _Canadian_ SFBC had gone under by then and I think there was
    a UK one as well.

    I though they should create a North American version of Gollancz's
    SF Gateway but I don't think anyone higher up thought that was a
    good idea.

    --
    My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
    My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
    My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
    My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

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