What is a Flexible Pre-paid order membership and how does it work?
Flexible Membership gives you a benefit similar to receiving a standing order, but you control which books you receive by reading the reviews first. Flexible Memberships pre-purchase credit of $1000 (minimum) value on top of their yearly membership. Approximately 8-10 times a year we’ll send you an email with an order form and details of our recent reviews.
What if I want to invest more in this flexible service?
You can add extra funds at any time during the year. You can choose any amount to start between $1000 and $2500. Please note that funds are encouraged to be spent within the relevant membership year but can be used on any (in print) books in our review database. Credit value cannot be rolled over into the next year's membership cost, but you have up to 18 months to use your credit value. We will also give you warning if you haven't ordered anything and want to!
How many books do you review for us to choose from?
We expect to review approximately 600 books a year with a backlist database of over 5000 reviews. Some of these reviews may be outside the scope of your school, but each order form will contain approximately 50 titles to choose from.
Is there a cut-off date to order based on the featured order form?
No there is no cut-off date. It will be faster to supply books if ordered directly after the order form has been released as most of the time these will feature new releases, however, backlist titles can also be chosen. There will always be space on our order form for you to add whatever you like. As all orders are completed with upfront payment there is no extra quote or purchasing process to do at the time of ordering.
Do we receive any extra discount off retail?
All prepaid flexible members will receive 12.5% discount off the recommended retail and a flat postage per order of $15.00. The postage fee can also be deducted against the prepaid amount to keep accounting simple.
How do you select which books to include?
We closely monitor which books are being released each month (from a wide range of large and small publishers within Australia, New Zealand and overseas) and select the most interesting titles to review.
Are the books reviewed always new releases?
The vast majority of new reviews are new releases, however we will also review titles that have previously not been featured. Examples include international titles that were not previously released in Australia, books in series where you might want more details (or one of our reviewers wants to keep reading), books from small publishers in Australian or New Zealand (or indeed international).
What does it mean by "Content Insight" and why do you include them in your reviews?
We are committed to providing you with the closest possible experience to reading the books yourself, therefore extensive content notes are included in our reviews. Content comments are not a judgement or designed to curate the book. They are a statement of fact, included to give you a more complete picture of the book, including placing them within the context represented in the book. We list Language and Representations as part of our reviews to help you find books that suit your school.
What if I want a traditional standing order?
This is not a service we offer, however, there are some amazing Australian and New Zealand companies that specifically do standing orders. The great thing is if you just want to avail yourself of our reviews you can!
Can I order books on the review form without being a flexible pre-paid member?
We can review this sort of ordering on an individual basis, but this site and service is provided primarily to see books revealed and shared and is not only intended as a bookselling service. For the greatest flexibility in purchasing, we recommend checking in with your local bookstore.
The advantage we offer in the pre-paid membership is that you do one set of payments for the year or six months and that saves accounting time. Then just order as you need and we will let you know when your credit is used or getting low!
If you would like any more details and are considering this service for the next school year please email us on admin@novelinsight.com.au and we can arrange to call you and help set you up.