Cailin Riley Books

Look, I’m a sucker for subscription boxes. Throughout my life, I’ve had a sub to many of them, including beauty, meal delivery kits and books.

While I’ve enjoyed most of my subs, there is no doubt they can be expensive. The three most popular book box subscriptions (Owlcrate, Fairyloot and Illiumicrate) all run around $36-38 a month. Most of these offer deals if you buy 3-6 months at one time, but that is still a pretty penny to spend on a regular basis.

So what does a book box sub include?

For that monthly price, most boxes include one special edition of a newly released book, a long with several goodies. Many subs have a monthly theme that they revolve their book pick and goodies around. For example, a young adult book box might be adventure themed, fairy tale themed, or sci-fi themed. Goodies range very widely, but past items I’ve gotten include jewelry, coffee mugs, special bookmarks, candles, and more. Many subs also offer a “book only” option, which as you can imagine, is cheaper than buying the entire box.

So which book box subscriptions are worth the money? Well, it really depends.

A few years back, I was really big into Owlcrate. I loved the themes and got some really cool special editions from it, including books with sprayed edges, which was a fairly new concept at the time. (It’s way more popular now, and easier to get fancy sprayed edges copies through Amazon or retail!) I still have the Nevernight themed ceramic mug that was my favorite item from one box.

That said, I did cancel my sub after about 6 months. Why?

Because it really was just too expensive for what I felt I was getting. I liked most of Owlcrate’s book picks but not all of them. I was always really let down when the book pick didn’t match my vibe. The goodies included also really were hit or miss. Some of them, like that mug, were awesome. But I also got a lot of stuff that felt poorly made or useless to me. (Think a pencil pouch. Who really uses those anymore?) I get that not every item is going to please every person, but it started to feel like the boxes weren’t worth the money I was putting in.

Deciding what book sub to choose really depends on the types of books that specific sub tends to choose. Owlcrate focuses more on young adult book picks, while Fairyloot and Illumicrate mainly do fantasy, mystery and romance.

Here are the general pros and cons of these book box options:

Pros:

• Many, like Owlcrate, offer different sub options such as young adult book box, YA book only or adult fantasy book only
• Book boxes usually work with authors to get exclusive editions and offers for their members
• Speaking of exclusive editions, these can be beautiful. Some people even end up selling theirs online for a pretty penny
• The rush of opening something that’s a surprise

Cons:

• The monthly cost
• You might not like every book picks or the items included in a box
• Book subs can only handle so many members at a time so it’s common to have to join a wait-list, sometimes for months
• They can be difficult to cancel or get refunds if you dislike anything
• Some customers have had concerns about the quality of the goodies (As I said earlier, I can speak to this. I remember getting one cheaply made bracelet that arrived damaged and bent)

In the end, you just have to decide what is worth spending your money on. I think book boxes can be fun to try for a little while, but there’s also something to be said for saving your money for books and goodies that you know you really want and buying them yourself!