Audio Book Club, Inc. and Doubleday Online Announce the Development of Co-branded, Cross Promoted Website.

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 30, 1999--

Audio Book Club, Inc. (AMEX: KLB) today announced the development of a co-branded website to be launched early this summer in conjunction with Doubleday Online (a subsidiary of Bertelsmann, Inc.).

The website is being created as part of the companies' previously announced strategic Internet marketing alliance and will include a comprehensive cross marketing and advertising campaign. As part of the agreement, the companies will also cross promote the other's services through animated links and banners to be located on their respective websites, including Doubleday's www.doubledaybookclub.com and www.literaryguild.com sites and Audio Book Club's www.audiobookclub.com site.

Commenting on the agreement, Norton Herrick, Chairman and CEO, stated, "We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Doubleday on the development of this innovative co-branded website which will offer visitors the very latest in literary and audio content available on the Internet, and which we believe will prove to be an integral part of our online growth strategy. By allowing us access to Doubleday's total member file through the cross-promotion of our various Internet sites, including our portal site which will be located at www.mediabay.com, our recent marketing alliance should also allow us to increase the Company's online revenues through an increase in member recruitment."

Added Seth Radwell, President and CEO of Doubleday Online, "Given both our growing presences in the e-commerce arena, we welcome the opportunity to join with Audio Book Club on the advancement of our Internet sales and marketing campaign and look forward to working together on the creation of what is certain to be a truly unique website."

Doubleday Online is the interactive arm of Doubleday Direct, North America's largest direct marketing consumer book club group with over 30 individual book clubs, including The Literary Guild (www.literaryguild.com), Doubleday Book Club (www.doubledaybookclub.com), The Mystery Guild (www.themysteryguild.com), The Science Fiction Book Club (www.sfcb.com), and Stage and Screen (www.stageandscreen.com), among others. Both Doubleday Online and Doubleday Direct are subsidiaries of Bertelsmann, Inc., the third largest diversified media company in the world.

Audio Book Club, Inc. is the world's largest marketer of audiobooks through its membership club which markets and sells audiobooks via the Internet at www.audiobookclub.com and by mail order. Audio Book Club, Inc. is also a publisher of audio and video content including classic radio and video programs and markets and sells that content on audio cassettes, CDs and video cassettes via numerous distribution channels including the Internet at www.radiospirits.com, catalogues, radio shows, retail and other outlets. Since commencing operations in January 1994, Audio Book Club, Inc. has engaged in an aggressive membership recruitment program to establish a core Audio Book Club member base. Following its acquisition of the Columbia House Audiobook Club and Doubleday Direct's Audiobooks Direct division, Audio Book Club, Inc. will have a combined membership and customer database of approximately 2 million names.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: The statements which are not historical facts contained in this press release are forward looking statements that involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Audio Book Club, Inc. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the ability of the Audio Book Club, Inc. to successfully integrate the newly acquired businesses into its operations and the uncertainty regarding the actual effect of the acquisitions on the Audio Book Club, Inc. risks relating to the Company's direct mail campaigns and its ability to retain members to its book club, risks relating to the Company's growth strategy, dependence on third party service providers, uncertainty of the scope of future product returns, collection and risks associated with selling products on credit, competition and other risks detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The words "believe" and "should" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date the statement was made.