Bestseller Fiction Club

The Bestseller Fiction Club (BFC) is a way for library customers to have holds placed automatically on new fiction books by their favorite authors. 

How to sign up for the Bestseller Fiction Club

1) Ask for the Bestseller Fiction Club Form at any Branch Library, on the Bookmobile, or at the Reference desk at the Main Library (you can also print out the form by clicking HERE).

2) Choose as many authors as you like from our list of more than 250 popular fiction writers.

3) Return the completed form to your library.

Your information (name, card number, and pick-up location) will be entered into a secure database along with your requested authors. When a new book by one of your selected authors is on order for the library, your name will automatically be placed on the hold list for that book. We'll notify you when the book is available for pick up!

To join the BFC: Bestseller Fiction Club Registration Form

To add to your list of favorites if you are already a BFC member: Newly Added Authors Form

Frequently Asked Questions

• How is the order of the holds for customers determined?

Randomly.  Each customer is assigned a random number when they are entered into the BFC database and when all the requests for a certain author are to be placed the customers are sorted by that random number.

• Are the same customers always at the top of the list?

No. The authors A thru Judith Krantz are sorted using the random number low to high (ascending order). The authors Jayne Anne Krentz to Stuart Woods are sorted high to low (descending).

• Will the same person always be at the top of the list for the same author?

No.  Depending on the author and how many copies of a title we have, the customers from the top of the list are moved to the bottom the next time that author has a new book and everyone else will move up.

• What items won’t be part of the BFC holds that are placed on BFC authors?

Holds on mass market paperback originals (that is small format paperbacks), hardcover editions that reprint previously published titles, Large Print editions, audio book versions, and multi-author collections edited by BFC authors will not be placed as part of the BFC.

• Can I request an author who is not on the BFC form?

No.  Only the authors listed on the form are part of the BFC.  And only regular print hardcover titles of new adult fiction by those authors will have holds placed for the customers.  Customers can feel free to suggest titles for future revisions.

• Will the form ever be updated?

We update the form periodically.  Dead authors (at least the ones who stop writing) and authors whose popularity has slipped will be dropped to make room for new and more popular authors.  If you are already a BFC member, see this list of recently added authors to make new selections for your list of favorites.

• I am already in the BFC, but am not sure if an author is on my list. How do I check what authors I requested?

The database is secure and not all library staff has access, but you can call the library or ask a librarian at your branch.  They can check, and let you know, but it may take a day.  If you aren’t sure whether or not an author is on your list there is no harm in just adding them.  If they were on your list to begin with they will stay on.

• Can someone sign up for the BFC on the library web site?

Right now it is not possible to sign up on the W-TCPL web site.  A printable copy of the BFC form is available HERE, but an actual web form to sign up electronically is not. 

• How does someone add or remove authors from their list of requests?

Fill out a new BFC form, and at the top mark it "additions" or "deletions." 

• Why are new titles by BFC authors asterisked on the Hotlist?

Titles are asterisked so customers (and staff) will know that unless they are in the BFC and any holds they place on these authors could end up farther down the hold list.   They will drop down below the BFC members who have already requested the author.

• What does, “Authors with asterisks are part of the Bestseller Fiction Club.  Club members' automatic holds have priority on these titles,” actually mean?

Priority means that the BFC holds will be at the top of the hold list regardless of when the holds are placed. 

• Why can’t I place holds on the asterisked authors from home?

Those titles have been suppressed in Millennium.  This means they do not show up in the OPAC or on the Web catalog.   The suppression is removed when the BFC holds are placed.

• Can I place holds on a BFC title if the title is suppressed?

Yes. Holds can be placed in Millennium.  If customers request a hold be placed understand that it may not stay in the same position in the holds queue if the BFC holds have yet to be placed.

• What happens to holds that are placed before the BFC hold?

The priority is changed on the hold list to move them down the list below the BFC customer holds.  The order of those holds is maintained.  If a member of the BFC already has a hold on the list the priority of that hold is changed to place them on the list in the appropriate spot. Actually they may move up or down the list.

• What if there are no other holds on a title?

Then that hold will be the first hold after all the BFC holds are placed.