I received a request for a book but the requestor does NOT want a book club edition. I have no idea how to tell if my copy is one. It doesn't say Book Club Edition on it anywhere but there is a small note stating " Reader's Pick - guide inside". There are three pages at the back, the Reading Group Guide, a conversation with the author.  Any guidance would be appreciated!

Thanks!

I know how to tell with a hardcover: hardcover BCE's are usually a little smaller than a normal hardcover.  They frequently have the ISBN for the paperback version on them.

Your copy doesn't sound like a BCE to me.  By book club edition they mean ones that come from a mail order book club like Rhapsody or something like that.  If it doesn't say anything about a book club on there other than book club questions then I would accept.  If you are unsure and it's WL, you can decline and get to the next wisher. Which might be what I'd to if I wasn't sure.  I don't PM about conditions.

I thought this was a good visual guide created by Powell's book store (not sure if it's complete, though):

http://www.powells.com/info/condition_guidelines.html#bce

Nice link Sophia!

Great link to the Powell's guide, Sophia!

To answer your original query, Kristina, the presence of a Reader's Guide does not indicate it is a Book Club Edition.  You might be thinking of ARCs, which often have a similar sort of circular blurb on the cover? (yours doesn't sound like an ARC either) The tips already listed by the other posters in this thread are great.

I also like to look books up in Worldcat (worldcat.org), and sometimes they say "book club ed." in the edition/format information.  Here is one example: http://www.worldcat.org/title/somewhere-along-the-way/oclc/748721433&referer=brief_results

Like the other tips, this is not the only thing to look at (as it isn't always included in Worldcat), it is just one more thing you can use to double check.

You might also see Book Club Editions listed as "BCE", both here on PBS and in other places, such as Amazon.

BCEs usually DO state somewhere on the book either 'Book club edition' or the name, e.g. People's Book Club, Doubleday Book Club, etc..  Most often it is on the publication page (reverse of the title page). 

The Book Club Edition should also be missing a price on its dust jacket, if that helps.

If the ISBN matches and there is no specific indication stating  the edition type and the requestor has an RC of no Book Club editions I will turn down the request.  I have no way of telling if it is smaller or the same size as a regular edition and not all postable books have a dust jacket with a price.

I have had two occasions two place RC's about this (one for and one against).  After talking with my uncle (who is in more book clubs that you can shake a stick at, and could fill a public library with his personal library if he wished), I would say that unless the book specifically says it is a book club edition, or the requestor tells you what they are looking for you have no way of knowing (in at least one of the cases for what I was requesting, it was the smaller book but it was not a book club edition that is just what everyone calls it, but I posted the size I was looking for in my RC).

To this end, I leave it up to you to determine if you want to accept the request or not.  If it doesn't say book club edition and meets all other requirements then technically you are meeting their RC as it was up to them to be specific on what they wanted.  On the other hand it could result in you having to deal with an unresolved RWAP, when the other member wasn't happy.

Is it possible to get the option to PM the member (it's been long enough when I had a questionable RC, I don't remember).

Requestor can only be PM'd if the Sender accepts the request, unless the Requestor was thoughtful enough to include their member contact information in their Requestor Condition.

If in doubt, decline the request, and list as reason that you are unsure about identifying BCEs.  That may prompt them to include their member contact info or add BCE identifying characteristics in their RC.  Then, if they decide they want it, they can remove their RC and re-request the book from you.

Great link, Sophia!  Says everything I was going to say and is spot on with the pictures.