Book of the Month vs OwlCrate: What a Book Actually Costs

The Bottom Line

Book of the Month is a way to read a lot of new hardcovers cheaply. OwlCrate is a way to own beautiful special editions of fantasy novels with themed merchandise attached. Both are good at what they do. Neither is a substitute for the other.

• Choose Book of the Month if the goal is reading more books for less money, and you want to pick the title yourself.
• Choose OwlCrate if the object matters as much as the text, and the unboxing is part of what you are buying.

The gap in per-book cost is larger than the headline prices suggest, because only one of them charges shipping.

The Shipping Fee Changes Everything

Almost every comparison of these two quotes the box prices and stops. That understates OwlCrate by ten to fourteen dollars a month.

Book of the Month includes US shipping in the membership price. OwlCrate charges it separately, per box:

Shipping to Alaska, Hawaii, and US territories runs $21.99 to $26.99. Canada is $14.99 to $19.99. International rates vary, and OwlCrate does not ship to Mexico, Peru, or Iran.

What a Book Actually Costs

The fair comparison is OwlCrate’s Book Only tier against Book of the Month, because the Book & Goodies price includes merchandise.

OwlCrate’s book-only tier costs roughly two and a half times what Book of the Month charges, for one hardcover. That premium buys a genuinely different object: a signed copy with an exclusive redesigned cover, sprayed or stencilled page edges, a reversible dust jacket, and foil detailing on the case. Those editions hold their value, and some resell above the box price.

If you want that, it is a fair price for it. If you thought you were comparing two ways to buy books, you were not.

One caveat on Book of the Month’s price. Published figures vary between $16.99 and $17.99 depending on the plan and when the source was written, and the site does not expose its pricing to us for direct verification. Add-on books are widely reported at $9.99. Check the figure at signup.

How Selection Works

Book of the Month publishes five to seven selections at the start of each month and you choose one. Judges curate the shortlist, you make the call, and you can see every option before deciding. After your third box you reach BFF status, which unlocks extra add-on slots and lets you pick past selections.

OwlCrate curates a single title and reveals it after the box ships. The theme is announced in advance, the book is not. That is the point: the reveal is the product.

Neither approach is better. They attract opposite temperaments.

Genre Has Shifted

If you last looked at OwlCrate a few years ago, update your picture. It was a YA fantasy box. It still is, but it has expanded:

• YA Fantasy, the original line
• Adult Fantasy, book-only
• Quarterly Romance, Romantasy, and Horror, marketed 18+

The company now positions itself for readers of any age rather than teenagers specifically. OwlCrate Jr, the children’s box, was discontinued after December 2023. If you were looking for that, it no longer exists.

OwlCrate also launched its own publishing imprint, OwlCrate Press, in May 2025, so some titles now originate with the company.

Book of the Month covers adult trade fiction broadly: literary fiction, thrillers, mystery, contemporary fiction, with some romance, fantasy, nonfiction, and memoir. It is a general-reader service, not a genre one.

Skipping and Cancelling

Book of the Month requires you to log in and skip before the 6th of the month, or you are charged and shipped. Credits stay usable while your account is paused and expire twelve months after issue. If you cancel outright, you have 60 days to redeem remaining credits before they are forfeited.

OwlCrate lets you skip, pause, or cancel from your account at any time. Cancelling stops future renewals but does not refund a box you have already paid for.

Both are reasonable. Book of the Month’s 6th-of-the-month deadline is the one that catches people out.

Fulfillment Is the Real Risk With OwlCrate

This needs saying plainly, because it is current rather than historical.

As of early September 2026, OwlCrate’s own shipping-updates page reported delays across three product lines at once: the Adult Fantasy box held for a damaged dust-jacket reprint, the YA Fantasy box delayed, and the Quarterly Horror box delayed, with two of them promised within the following week. That is the company’s own disclosure, not a rumour, and we credit it for publishing it.

Its Trustpilot profile sits at 3.5 out of 5 from 168 reviews, and the pattern underneath is worth reading. 84% are five stars, but 10% are one star, and only 11 reviews were posted in the past year. The company replies to about 12% of negative reviews. Recurring complaints include European customers double-charged VAT through customs paperwork errors, and boxes paid for but never received with slow support responses. OwlCrate has no BBB profile at all, so there is no independent complaint record to check. It is a Canadian company, which makes that unremarkable, but it does mean less evidence.

Book of the Month sits at 4.1 out of 5 from 141 reviews and replies to essentially all negative ones. Its BBB file is A+, accredited since 2022, with 23 complaints in three years. Its recurring complaint is books shipping later in the month than expected, which is a smaller problem than not arriving.

Neither has a large review base. Book of the Month has the better record on every measure available.

Who Should Choose Book of the Month?

Choose Book of the Month if you:

• Want to read more books without spending retail
• Prefer choosing the title yourself
• Read broadly across adult fiction rather than one genre
• Want add-on books at around $9.99 to bring the per-book cost down
• Care that shipping is included and the company answers complaints

Who Should Choose OwlCrate?

Choose OwlCrate if you:

• Want collectible editions with sprayed edges, signed pages, and exclusive covers
• Read fantasy, romantasy, or horror specifically
• Enjoy the reveal and the unboxing as part of the value
• Want the themed merchandise, which is most of the Book & Goodies price
• Can tolerate delivery delays, which are happening now

Final Recommendation

For readers: Book of the Month. Around $17 a book, or roughly $12 with add-ons, shipping included, with the title your choice. Nothing else in this category matches that on cost per book.

For collectors: OwlCrate, on the Book Only tier first. At about $40 delivered you get the exclusive edition without paying for merchandise you may not want. Move up to Book & Goodies only once you know you like the curation.

Before subscribing to OwlCrate: check its shipping-updates page. Delays were active across three lines in September 2026, and if you are buying this as a gift for a specific date, that is the thing most likely to go wrong.