E-Book Subscription Oyster will shut down

Subscription swap - July 2015

All of us subscription junkies know that there are hardly a perfect box where we love everything in the box.  This is when the ability to trade comes in Handy, and probably the reason why I keep subscribing - because eventually, all the items will turn into something I love or I can use.  I wrote on how to trade in a previous post - go here for details.

In my recent trade, I was extremely impressed with the lady I traded with.  She had her trades in the area of swap on MySubscriptionAddiciton, and then she informed me of the boxes she has coming her way in addition to items she already listed.  She requested the following items:

Book Riot Summer 2015 Review

Box: Book Riot Quarterly

Cost: $50/quarter + $5 Shipping + tax where applicable.  So for me - it is more of a $60 subscription.

What is it: books and bookish items

Best for: Novel readers who still enjoy the feel of a flipping actual pages.

Book Riot Quarterly Spring 2015 (March) Review

Box: Book Riot Quarterly

Cost: $50/quarter + $5 Shipping + tax where applicable.  So for me - it is more of a $60 subscription.

What is it: books and bookish items

Best for: Novel readers who still enjoy the feel of a flipping actual pages.

Please note, those who are previously Quarterly subscribers, they recently added shipping to their boxes. See their new policy here.

For each shipment, a theme is selected, and the items are picked according to the theme.  This shipment's theme is "Chilling", "to with the oh-so-chilly weather. Hunker down, huddle up, and wrap your mind around some matters of life and death and the in-between."

The box on arrival.  I have always liked their simple packaging, an unmarked box, with the only branding in the tape. 

One of my favorite part of their packaging - "Packed with radness in LA" inside every box.

The initial look upon opening the box. 

The cards explaining the selection for this month.

The paragraph starts with "We come to you from the frozen tundra of Book Riot HQ..." How funny - since I had assumed their HQ is located in LA - from the sticker telling me the entire box is packaged in LA, where the weather is between 70-80 degrees in the winter...hmmm.....

The last card tells subscribers what they could have gotten in addition IF they are lucky...and unless I get a Book Lamp a few days later (the 4 lucky winners will receive a book lamp in a separate package),  I am totally not a lucky subscriber this time.  I didn't get any Lottery Items - it makes me feel sad....I would have really liked to have either "The Book of Memory Gaps" by Cecila Ruiz or "The Devil Takes a Bride" by Julia London.  For the lucky 5% who received the lottery items - I am VERY jealous.

The book lamp I am guessing the lucky readers will receive is the BOOK REST LAMP from SUCK UK.  Super cute!

Now on the the items in the box.

Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel Jose Older and a Half-Ressurection Blues bookmark drawn by DJ Older.  The bookmark is on regular stock shiny paper.  Something that will be hard to keep in good condition upon first use, but it does go nicely with the book.  Value $7.99

Being Mortal: Medicine and What matters in the End by Atul Gawande.  Value $26, but currently on amazon.com for $15.60.  This should be an interesting read as it takes a look at how medicine can also be "the process of life's ending"

Library Card Notebook. Value $6.

Book Riot's #booksandbooze liquid courage flask.  This item is made specifically for Book Riot with their logo on the back of the flask.  It is cute - and who can't use a little booze?  I can't find this on the Book Riot store, and guessed that flasks of this nature should cost around $10.

The value of this box is around $50 (using the full retail value of the books, but without the value of the bookmark).  I am not sure how much the bookmark would cost - but in my case it would need to be $10 for me to "break-even" (after shipping & tax).

While I really enjoyed this curation, and I am looking forward to reading both books, again, I am not too sold on the value, and the fact that Quarterly will start charging for shipping really compound this issue.  Personally, I think I will cancel my subscription after this month...unless...by miracle - a book lamp shows up in my house... then I may just feel too lucky to cancel.

Quarterly will now charge for shipping

All Quarterly subscriptions use to come with free shipping. Starting March 1, subscriptions at $50 will be charged $5 shipping in the US, and boxes $75+ will be charged $8 shipping.   However, all orders before March 1 will be given a one time shipping credit of $5 for the next subscription.

I am very disappointed to hear this - they need to grandfather in all subscriptions before March 1st versus the one time credit.  Now after I receive all my next subscriptions from Quarterly, I will probably cancel them.  They don't have anything that I find as a must have - all nice to have (if the price is right).  Plus with the extra $5 AND all the other excellent curators out there, I am not sure the $55, $73 or $108 will be worth the price.   Whereas, if they grandfather in my old subscription, I will feel like I shouldn't cancel them.  I truly believe this is a bad business decision on their part.

additional subscriptions for the book lover

Since my last post on great subscription options for book lovers,  I discovered additional book subscriptions.  To complete the list, here is the follow on post to "Book Lovers Subscription" post.   In the previous post, the following subscriptions were featured:

1. Book Riot Monthly
2. Book Riot Quarterly
3. Powell's IndieSpensable Subscription
4. Tech savvy subscriptions

For more details on each of the above, check out the "Book Lovers Subscription" post.   If those don't suite you fancy, you can also try:

Uppercase YA Books:

Cost: $29/month or $35/month for books picked on your preference (shipping included)

What is it: "hand-selected books for young adult  & quirky book items"

Best for: young adult book lovers

Book Riot YA by Quarterly:

What is it: 2 books and bookish stuff every 3 months with retail value over $50

Cost: $50/quarter, shipping included

Best for: young adult book lovers.

This subscription will have its first shipment in April....can't want to see what will be included.  Base on the Book Riot YA section, I am excited about this subscription.

Book People's Signed First Club:

What is it: an autographed copy of a first edition book every month

Cost: $35/month

Best for: those who will keep and treasure their books

Sample autographed books from the subscription.

Valentines Subscription Boxes

With Valentines around the corner, our favorite subscription boxes are putting out special boxes for the occasion:

1. Quarterly Romance Novel by Book Riot:  This box actually came out last fall - however with Romance being the theme of this box - it is perfect for Valentines! The bonus part, it is currently 50% off now! Normally $50/box, now on sale for $25.

2. The Date Night box by Fantasy Box:  Must Have Mondays has three different theme Date Night Boxes on sale for 51% off by Fantasy Box....perfect for a Valentine that falls on Saturday.

3. Net-A-Porter Valentines Beauty Kit:  All the beauty essentials to help you get ready for the date.

Quarterly Warehouse Sale

Quarterly is having a warehouse sale marking a lot of their boxes 50% off for $25/box, with $8 shipping. Generally their shipping is included with the $50 order.  So this is not exactly 50% off... more like 34% off.  Still a good deal.

My favorite boxes from available sales are:

1. Sun Box from Cool Hunting: I love any kind of solar items

2. GIRL box by Pharrell Williams: this box has a lot of one of a kind items

3. Expand you Readerly Horizons box from Book Riot: I love this subscription in general with the "insider's" knowledge to the author's thoughts.

What is your favorite? Are you going to order any?

Book Lovers Subscription & Holiday Present

I have been really into books lately - Barnes & Nobles is in trouble, they need to do a subscription box organized like their website i.e. fiction, life stories, bestsellers etc...

Until then, for the book lovers (like myself, I really love the actual pages of books and being able to read from paper, - don't worry there is also a selection for the e-readers as well later), here are the subscription options that I am aware of.  I am always looking for more, so if you are aware of others, please let me know. 

Riot Read Monthly by Quarterly:  a monthly subscription for $25/month, includes shipping, that sends you one book a month. 

Book Riot Quarterly: a quarterly subscription for $50/box, shipping included, that sends you books (sometimes the book will include author's notes and other insights) and books related items. 

Powell's IndieSpensable Subscription: a $39.95/box + 3.99 for shipping, for books, extras & special surprises, that ships once every 6 weeks. 

For the tech savvy and always mind changing and on the go individual - I borrowed the chart below from CNET:

1. Amazon Kindle Unlimited
2. Scribd:
3. Oyster: 

Lets also not forget about your local public library.  Some libraries have a similar online service where you can download the e-books immediately, and it will be returned & checked in for you once the time frame is up.  Generally, this service is applicable on multiple devices, check your local library.  All I can say is - FREE + never have to worry about late fees = why do I need Amazon, Scribd or Oyster? 

Riot Read Monthly v. Quarterly

Riot Read has a monthly subscription that sends you one book a month for $25 and a quarterly subscription that sends you multiple books once a quarter for $50.  The books do not repeat so you can actually subscribe to both if you want.

The monthly sends one book a month, and it generally includes a note from Riot Read why the book is picked for the month plus a brief synopsis of the book.   In the past they have included the following:

The Quarterly subscription contains at least one book and bookish stuff, however, for the last two subscriptions, the box contained three books.  I also really love the "bookish stuff" such as letters and notes from the author throughout the book. Check out some of the past boxes below:

I think the quarterly for $50 is the better value plus the author's notes make reading the book even more fun.  I sure hope they will keep up with 3 books a box to provide subscribers a book a month.

Which subscription would you pick? 

Quaterly Co. celebrity curated boxes on Gilt

Quaterly Co. put three curated boxes on Gilt City for $35, regularly $50-100 with free shipping. Boxes are sent every 3 months (or every quarter).  Available boxes include: the Unbox Therapy's Lewis Hilsenteger Box, the Pharrell William box and the Book Riot box.  

It seems that the Lewis Hilsenteger's Unbox Therapy is the best value because that box is generally $100.  His last box includes the following:

Pharrel Box, regularly $50, is generally filled with items produced by Pharrel, including photos, lyrics and more. This is an ideal box for Pharrel fans.  Some of the items in the past include:

Book Riot box, normally $50, on Gilt for $35, is my favorite.  I think it is so fun to have a book club that reads from the books in the boxes. Past boxes include:

Order them on Gilt here.  New users to Gilt can use code "WELCOME20" to save an additional 20% making each box only $28.

Photos all from Quarterly Co.