Everything You Need to Know about Book Box Subscriptions & Special Editions

Have you heard about book box subscriptions? Or maybe you’ve seen gorgeous special edition books popping up everywhere and are wondering where they come from?

Special edition books featuring sprayed edges, custom covers, author signatures, and more have been on the rise for the past couple of years. BookTok and Bookstagram are now filled with readers showing off their prized special edition books.

When you’re first getting into book boxes, it can be very overwhelming. Not only are there about 50 different book box options to pick from, but there’s a whole competitive book box community side as well.

From what I’ve observed, book boxes have two main sides: The special edition and experience sides.

Let’s talk about the special edition side first since that seems to be the most popular subscription overall, and I’ll cover the experience-focused book box subscriptions next. We’ll cover the difference between monthly book subscriptions, and special edition sets, how they relate, and the pros and cons of each of the most popular book box subscriptions.

The Best Book Boxes for Collecting Special Editions

If you’re looking for gorgeous and unique special editions of books to fill out your library, these are the book box subscriptions you’ll be most interested in:

• Illumicrate
• FairyLoot
• TBR (by Litjoy)
• Bookish Box
• OwlCrate

We’ll talk more about each of these companies in more detail below after we’ve covered what you can generally expect from book boxes first.

What to Know about Monthly Book Box Subscriptions

In general, these book box companies generally have two main products: their book box subscriptions and their special edition sets. Seems simple enough right? Well, kinda.

Since some of these book box subscription companies are in such heavy demand and since they are limited in the number of special edition books they’re allowed to print, you often have to have the book box subscription in order to receive early access to the company’s special edition sets. Often, the special edition book sets are the prettiest and most highly sought-after books that they produce whereas the monthly books received can be a bit hit or miss.

Fairyloot, Illumicrate, Litjoy, Owlcrate, and Bookish Box are five of the biggest names in the book box and special edition world right now. They each have various recurring monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly book box subscriptions. If you’re subscribed to the monthly subscriptions, you often do not know which book and book goodies you’ll be receiving each month, but they do themes and monthly hints so that you’re not totally in the dark.

These book box subscriptions generally focus on new and newish releases from popular authors. The monthly books are also usually exclusive additions to the book boxes and include many customizations like new and exclusive cover art, author signatures, stenciled, sprayed, or digital page edges, endpaper art, reversible dust jackets, beautiful foiling, etc. This is a huge plus to the readers getting these books as they love the beautiful special editions and having books signed by their favorite authors.

These book subscriptions generally have the option to just get the books each month or to get bookish boxes filled with fun book-related merchandise. Merchandise generally is themed according to popular books and tropes and can be anything from candles, shelf decor, bookmarks, book pins, book ends, tee shirts, tea cups and saucers, socks, character art, banners, and more. Different box subscriptions usually have items they’re more known for, so you kind of know what type of items to expect each month.

I have a couple of different book box subscriptions currently, but that doesn’t mean I’m actually paying for them every month. Most book boxes have the option to skip boxes. Some have an unlimited skip option, so people literally will skip almost every box that year but still be able to get the special edition early sale access. Others have a set limit, usually around two or four skips per year, that you’re allowed to skip if you decided that the theme isn’t to your liking.

Special Edition Sales from Book Box Companies

If you’re not as excited about receiving surprise books each month, then the special edition sets may appeal more to you. These are books and series that the companies announce throughout the year that are separate from their monthly book boxes.

These sets usually have the most unique and stunning book customizations. They are usually limited, gorgeous, and in very high demand.

Generally, the sales for these books are considered pre-orders. This means you’ll have to wait a couple of months for the books to be created and shipped once you place your order. However, if an edition doesn’t sell out in the pre-order stage, you may be able to find it on the site as already available.

Because they’re in high demand and because these companies are limited as to how many of these special edition books they are allowed to make, these companies give first priority to their book subscribers. Therefore, sales for these books happen in two days generally: day one is reserved for current monthly book box subscribers; day two opens up the sale to the general public.

Unfortunately, many of these special editions never make it to the second day of sales. In fact, most in-demand books sell out within minutes and even subscribers have to set alarms and timers in order to get the set. Although this is rare as the companies do try to ensure they have enough copies for their subscribers.

Early access to these limited editions is considered one of the biggest pluses to keeping your monthly book box subscription. If you’re serious about not missing out on special editions, this early access is to die for.

It’s important to note that many of the big subscription companies like FairyLoot, Illumicrate, Litjoy, Arcane, Broken Binding, and more have waitlists for their subscriptions that are months to years long.

This generally means that if you wait to sign up for one of these companies after a special edition set you really want is announced, you may not be able to become an active subscriber in time to get the early sale access.

If you miss out on the original sale, there are, unfortunately, many people who buy the sets just to resell them second-hand, but these second-hand prices are almost always at least double or triple the price of the original product.

Pros and Cons of the Top 5 Book Box Subscription Companies

1. Illumicrate

Illumicrate offers four different subscription models:

1. Illumicrate Monthly (Book Only): this is their monthly book box which features recently released special edition hardback books in several popular genres. Ships from UK and US to help keep shipping costs lower.
2. Illumicrate Monthly (Full Box): the monthly book has several book-related items, often fandom related in addition to their monthly book. Ships from UK and US to help keep shipping costs lower.
3. Afterlight: a bi-monthly Box (although it’s switching to monthly soon) that is often adult romance. Features a newly released novel and 2–3 fandom-neutral useful items with a focus on self-care. Only ships from the UK, so shipping costs on this subscription can be higher for some subscribers.
4. Evernight: This is their newest quarterly subscription featuring horror books. This only ships from the UK, so shipping costs on this subscription can be higher for some subscribers.

Illumicrate has some of the most beautiful special editions and some of the best items out of all of the boxes. Illumicrate items are often useful or beautiful shelf decor items and their special editions are hard to beat.

They do monthly theme reveals and their books come with content warnings. Some past boxes and special edition books are currently available on the UK version of their site. All special editions and the Afterlight and Evernight subscriptions are only sold through their UK site. The US version only has their main subscription for now. This throughs some people off as they expect the US site to be a duplicate of the UK site, but in reality it has a much smaller offering.

Illumicrate has unlimited skips, which readers love. Although, with how amazing their books are, skips aren’t used very often. However, if you do ten skips in a row, your subscription may be canceled.

Illumicrate is known for having on-time and reliable shipping. They have two main bases of operation: UK and US, which just opened recently. However, their international fees can up. This is probably the biggest con as sometimes shipping costs can be almost as much as the book itself.

Check out their past subscription boxes here.

2. FairyLoot

FairyLoot is a fantasy-focused subscription that offers four different subscriptions:

1. Monthly YA Box Subscription: This includes a hardcover special edition YA/NA fantasy book and 4 themed items.
2. Monthly Book-Only Subscription: This includes just the special edition book of the month and any author letters.
3. Adult Book-Only Subscription: This is their special edition adult book selection with no items.
4. Combination YA and Adult Book-Only Subscription: If you’re not interested in the items but would like both of their monthly books, this combination subscription saves you a little bit of money.

FairyLoot and Illumicrate and two huge competitors, but most bookish people love them both. They both put out stunning editions, although I think Illumicrate has a slight edge in the items game. FairyLoot puts out a higher number of special edition books per year in comparison to Illumicrate. This may be a pro or a con to you. Some people are thrilled that they are able to cover so many of their favorite books, while others wish they would slow down to ensure the book designs are always 100% and save their poor wallets from FOMO. Some people feel that their designs are becoming slightly less original as they attempt to put out more books.

Currently, there are waitlists for all of FairLoot’s subscription offers. The shortest waitlist appears to be for the YA box which appears to be 2 or 3 months currently, and the longest waitlist appears to be for the adult book subscriptions which appears to be approximately 6+ months currently.

Fairyloot’s box prices also are a bit cheaper than some of the other subscriptions. Currently, it’s about $28 USD for book-only options and $35 USD for the full box options. They ship from both the US and the UK to help with shipping costs. They allow four subscription skips per year.

Browse Fairyloot’s past book subscription boxes here.

3. TBR (Formally LitJoy YA Box)

TBR is a brand new subscription option, although doing book boxes isn’t new to the company, LitJoy. They previously had a quarterly YA subscription but evolved it to TBR to give readers more choices in their book subscription options. This is a huge reason why I love TBR.

Each quarter you get the choice between two different book options and, if you choose the book plus item option, you get to choose between several item options as well. This is huge as it allows you to pick items and books you’re interested in, instead of leaving it a surprise that’s up to fate like some of the other options.

They also allow you to shop specific add-on items to their store which will ship with your book for no additional shipping costs. This is huge as international shipping especially can get quite pricy.

If you also prefer to read books in ebook or audiobook format, you can add these items at a discounted price as well. This is the only book subscription that offers these alternative reading methods as add-ons with their boxes.

You’ll have a lot more control over the items you receive from TBR than you’ll have with any other book subscription.

They have three different subscription options that ship quarterly:

1. Book Only: You receive your choice of the beautiful special edition books being offered. If you’d like both books offered each period, you’d have to get two book-only subscriptions.
2. Standard Box Subscription: This box option allows you to pick 3 of the 6 item options available in addition to two surprise items included as well.
3. Deluxe Box: This box option includes all 6 of the items available each quarter as well as the surprise items.

Their books are high-quality and their customizations are pretty. However, while they’ve upped their game recently with the new subscription, in the past many people have felt that their special editions didn’t quite have the wow factor of FairyLoot and Illumicrate. However, I think the LitJoy books and items are perhaps the highest quality of any book box around.

We also love that this book subscription seems to be the cheapest around. Their quarterly instead of monthly delivery option also helps to save on costs, but you will get fewer books throughout the year overall. LitJoy has a history of creating wonderful and high-quality items that are very much in demand. Their book key collection is especially loved as well as their bookshelf alleys. Readers can often expect to see a key as an option for the subscription boxes.

Unlike Illumicrate and Fairyloot, you can gain access to their special editions with a monthly “Luncacorns” membership. So you don’t need a subscription to access their special editions. The membership cost is ten dollars a month, but you also get ten dollars a month in credits to use in the shop. So it’s pretty much a wash.

However, I’ve only ever seen a couple of their special edition books sell out quickly. LitJoy is usually great about ordering enough special edition books to go around, so there definitely isn’t as much stress or competition for this box.

Another amazing thing that LitJoy does with their special editions (not monthly editions) that the other companies don’t is that they have authors annotate the books. These author annotations are a great touch that makes you feel a little closer to the author and gives additional insight into your favorite stories.

LitJoy also has one of the best rewards systems around. You get points for each purchase, book box purchases included, which add up and can be redeemed for coupons off any purchase. You also get points for reviewing products you’ve purchased and a few other actions. These coupons can be life savers for their special edition set announcements.

You can save $5 dollars with this link.

4. Bookish Box

Bookish Box is still a top book box company, but production and shipping delays have left many readers wary. While they still produce gorgeous books, their subscription service is many months behind and pre-ordered special editions are also taking months longer than advertised to arrive. Hopefully, this company is able to get caught up on their production soon, as they have a history of great special edition books.

Bookish Box has 8 different subscription offers and levels:

1. Young Adult Book Only: A monthly exclusive special edition of the book with customizations like exclusive covers, reversible dust jackets, stenciled sprayed edges, signed by the author, foiled hard case, exclusive endpapers, and more.
2. Young Adult Book & Goodies: The goodies box includes 3-5 bookish-themed items. Often one of them is a candle and another is a metal sword bookmark. Items are also usually fandom related, but not always.
3. Young Adult Book, Shirt, & Goodies: This is the item box with the addition of a bookish-themed shirt.
4. Young Adult Theme Shirt & Goodies: This is the YA monthly shirt and items, without the book.
5. Adult Book Only: This is a monthly exclusive special edition book with similar customizations as above, except this book will be an adult one.
6. Adult Book Book & Goodies: 3-5 additional items included that are typically related to adult book fandoms.
7. Adult Book, Shirt & Goodies: this includes a monthly shirt in addition to the book and items.
8. YA & Adult Book Only: This option includes just the two monthly special edition books with no items.

Currently, all of these book subscriptions are sold out, but instead of doing a waitlist for their subscriptions, they open up the available slots each month on their website on a first come first serve basis. So, if you’re hoping for something you can subscribe to right away, this may be a great option for you. I believe that the spots usually open up around the 25th of each month, but I could be wrong.

Another big pro is that shipping to the US is generally included in the price. However, international shipping costs can get pretty extensive for those outside of the US.

They also will reveal their book ahead of time while items generally remain a surprise. I love this because it allows readers to make a better decision on whether they actually want to skip a month or not.

Items can get a little bit repetitive for these boxes. Item quality is a bit hit or miss as well. Some items are amazing, and some leave people scratching their heads like slippers that are too small for the majority of subscribers.

However, despite these cons, this book box does beautifully designed special edition books, has a large variety of great book choices, and is still in high demand despite all of their recent issues, which probably tells you something.

They also have a huge shop in addition to their special edition books and monthly subscriptions where readers can get fun tee shirts, joggers, shelf decor, replicas, art prints, bookmarks, candles, and much, much more.

Check out their site to learn more about their subscriptions and huge collection of bookish merchandise.

5. OwlCrate

OwlCrate is the final book box subscription that I feel makes up the top 5 subscription companies. They are an incredibly reliable company with boxes that ship quickly with great book selections, and useful and quality items, and are the only big book box company to offer a subscription for middle-school-aged children.

They have the following subscription offers:

1. OwlCrate $35.99: A YA book box subscription that offers a new YA hardcover novel signed by the author with a handwritten letter. And several unique bookish goodies plus a collectible enamel pin.
2. OwlCrate JR $32.99: A middle-grade based box for readers aged 8-12. Includes a brand new middle-grade hardcover novel with an exclusive letter and an activity, game, or second book.
3. They also are planning to open up an adult box as well as book-only subscription options this year.

What I love about OwlCrate is that they provide useful items. While some of the other bookish companies provide a lot of fandom-related items that feel more like shelf decor, this company provides items that I can almost always actually use. Plus, the shelf decor pieces that they do include are usually very well-thought and less repetitive than the other companies. I’m a huge fan of their pin and bowl collections.

Also, I love that they offer a subscription for kids. Middle grade can be a tricky age for finding books for kids as well as motivating them to read, I think this book box subscription can help with both.

They also don’t usually sell out of their subscriptions and boxes. Most boxes make it to the general store so that you can pick them up later after seeing what’s inside and deciding if it’s a box you really want. They do cost a little more if you purchase extra stock instead of the subscription, but I think that’s a fair trade for knowing exactly what you’re getting.

They do some special edition sets throughout the year that generally make it to the general sale. Many people feel that their special edition designs aren’t quite as mind-blowing as some of the other companies mentioned here, but I really feel like they’ve up their game in recent months and their upcoming special editions are ones that I definitely have my eye on.

They allow you to pause your subscription for 3–6 months and also have crazy fast shipping and fulfillment times. Even for their special edition books. I’ve never had a late order from OwlCrate.

Learn more about OwlCrate here and they’ll give you 10% off your first purchase.

6. Honorable Mentions

I’ve gone fairly in-depth on the top 5 most popular book subscription and special edition companies, but there are many more worth mentioning that also have gorgeous books, if not the popularity yet. They are:

1. Arcane
2. Mystic Box
3. Faecrate
4. Fabled Co.
5. Beyond the Pages
6. Unplugged
7. Belle Book Box
8. Rainbow Crate
9. Inky Fox Books
10. Dark and Quirky
11. Fox and Wit
12. Dazzling Bookish Shop

And that’s not even to mention other fun book subscription boxes that focus on improving the reading experience, relaxation, and other fun bookish things.

Want me to keep going in-depth on these different book box companies or do you have any more questions about book boxes? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy reading.