
Show HN: Business Book Club – subscription service from an indie bookshop - hughtopping
https://www.businessbookclub.co.uk/
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hughtopping
Hello HN! We've been independent booksellers in the UK for 15 years and
Business Book Club is our first subscription offering.

The pitch: every month you get a book that the Business Book Club team has
read and found thought-provoking or inspiring. £14.99/month or subscribe
yearly and get a free month.

Happy to answer any questions you have!

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samblr
If I understand correctly - the book is fixed for every month for every user ?
Will it not be a better idea - that user could choose from a group of books.

When should user return the book - by end of month ? Who will bear postage
charges ?

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hughtopping
Apologies for the delayed response, and thanks very much for checking it out!

The idea is that the book is yours to keep at the end of the month and your
subscription includes shipping the book to you. If you've already read the
book then you can send it back to us and get a refund for that month (or
choose an alternative title). We're hoping to avoid people having to send
books back by focusing on books that have been published quite recently,
ensuring that the probability a subscriber has already read the book is quite
low. I'll have a look at the copy to make sure it's clear that you get to keep
the book and don't have to send it back.

At the moment we're sticking to one title per month - we think that part of
the value people will get from a subscription will be discussing the book of
the month with others in their social/business circles. At some point if the
subscriber base becomes large enough it would be interesting to see if we
could move some of those discussions online with a subscribers-only forum or
similar.

------
ekpyrotic
Hi Hugh -- thank you for sharing this. Fantastic idea, and there is definitely
legs to it. In fact, I think I have searched for something similar in the past
in the UK, but couldn't find it.

This is perfect for me, and I love the idea. It's definitely a service that I
would use. However, for some reason, I didn't end up signing. That got me
thinking about the consumer psychology of my behaviour. I half entered by
credit card details, then thought "Hmm. Do I really need this?"

I'm sure I'll eventually come back and sign up, but I thought it would be
useful to take you through my thought process. Of course, consumer behaviour
isn't always rationale, and I may be diagnosing my behaviour wrong, but I
thought it would be useful to you -- and, perhaps, other people in any case.
It's also useful for me to analyse my behaviour, and see if I can learn
something from it.

There is a critical moment when people, for whatever reason, decide to buy a
product. Something coalesces -- and we make a decision about buying. I'm sure
it's a complicated tangle of (mainly) emotional but also rational reasons.
I've always believed that understanding that moment is a key to online
business success. How do you create a webpage that is conducive to bringing
about a buying decision? Gives the consumer the psychology security to commit?
Inches them over the line?

I thought my behaviour on your website was interesting because all the
rationale cues were there -- I wanted the service, I like reading business
books, I like the ideas of getting one delivered to my door every month. I
liked the FEATURES. But the emotional side left me cold. Or I think that's
what it was.

Here's my after-the-fact rationalisation:

The website only sells the functional features of the product. It doesn't talk
to the type of person that I want to be and identify as.

After half entering my details, I thought... "Is this payment worth the
service?" I ended up saying to myself "Actually, I can just go around the
corner and picking up a business book myself."

Instead, if I have viewed the buying decision as affirmation of my identity,
then I think I would have gone through with the purchase. I wouldn't have
viewed the purchase as an monetary exchange for the functional features that
you are selling (book delivery), but as a statement of my identity (I am the
type of person who reads business books, is ahead of peers on business theory,
and is looking to always learn and improve himself).

So, what changes might that analysis suggest...

\+ probably the introduction of some messaging around "A bookclub for CEOs,
founders, and other ambitious entrepreneurs";

\+ probably a testimonial from someone I would like to identify with;

\+ I would go bigger on the monthly newsletter. It is not only a newsletter,
but the membership of secret UK community of entrepreneurs, and other people
who are trying to build and scale businesses.

Anyways. Sorry to hijack your post with a 1,000-word self-interested stream of
conscious post. -J

~~~
hughtopping
Hi Jordan,

Thanks very much for your feedback!

> Instead, if I have viewed the buying decision as affirmation of my identity,
> then I think I would have gone through with the purchase.

I think this is a really valuable point and your suggested messaging feels on-
point to me. Watch this space...

> probably a testimonial from someone I would like to identify with

This is something I'd love to include. I'm waiting for the first subscribers
to get a couple of months under their belts and then I'll write to ask for
feedback/testimonials.

> I would go bigger on the monthly newsletter. It is not only a newsletter,
> but the membership of secret UK community of entrepreneurs, and other people
> who are trying to build and scale businesses.

This is an interesting one. Should the project take off I think a members-only
community discussion board (Discourse or similar) could be viable. That's not
something I'd want to add until there were quite a few more subscribers
though. In the meantime, I'll add more emphasis on the newsletter. One thought
I had was that business leaders could submit recommendations for other great
reads, which we could feature each month (with credits).

Thanks again - your comment was really insightful. I'm glad the project struck
a chord with you - hopefully we'll be able to tempt you back before too long!

All the best,

Hugh

