The offer's just so tempting. The Good Cook Book Club offers the chance to buy three cookbooks for just $1 each!
When paging through food magazines, we often come to a full stop at The Good Cook's ads, look at all the tiny cookbook cover shots, and ponder what books we might order.
But then we stop, go online or to the bottom of the ads, and read the fine print: "You will be billed (including $11.71 shipping and handling for your introductory package) when your membership has been approved. All we ask is that you agree to buy just 2 more books at regular club prices during your membership. Take up to 1 year!"
That means the $4 books are now $15.71. Still a good deal, but not as great as we thought at first.
Then there's the commitment to buy two more books from The Good Cook over the next year . . .
I do most of the cookbook previewing at the library, yes: then I make copies of the things that grab my eye at work. If I end up making copies of more than 10 recipes, I figure it's definitely worth just buying the book, and there are some great independent bookstores in Mpls (Booksmart, Magers & Quinn) that tend to run sales on newer releases.
view nadarine's profile
I'm a member, and I've been pretty happy with them thus far. When I joined a few years ago, the deal was 4 books for $1 each (plus shipping)... which still only came out to about $4 per book. The club commitment required buying one more book at full price, and that was it. With that book averaged in with the first 4, I paid an average of $8 each for 5 new cookbooks. It was a great way to get a start on building a cookbook collection.
They run specials constantly, so you very rarely actually pay their full price. Purchases earn you bonus points that can be used to get free books, plus you earn free books for any referrals you make... Stuff like that offsets the higher prices and shipping costs.
view chacha's profile
I scout book prices at www.allbookstores.com which price-checks many online retailers at once, including eBay and Half.com
For over a year, though, I've been a member of PaperBackSwap.com and I LOVE IT for cookbooks and all other books. FREE books for just the price of shipping, and I've gotten many recent and collectible cookbooks.
The library is a great place to preview cookbooks I might be interested in, and InterLibrary Loan can get me almost any cookbook published.
view ohjodi's profile
I was a member of The Good Cook. Bought some of the basics, fulfilled my commitment and canceled my membership. I got some great books for an overall great price.
view Anne in Chicago's profile
I also check out books from the library to try out and then if I like it, I buy it on Amazon or www.half.com, where I've gotten some great deals on almost-new books.
view AppleSister's profile