With Take Control Premium, you never have to wait for a sale again! After a one-time purchase, you’re guaranteed to get the lowest possible price on all Take Control ebooks (including upgrades and crossgrades) and courses for a full year. It’s that simple. Once your one-year membership is up, prices will go back to normal. We won’t automatically renew your membership, but we will send you a reminder email beforehand in case you want to buy another year of Take Control Premium.
We plan to add other benefits to Take Control Premium as time goes on, too.
Be sure to check the FAQ tab, above, for detailed (and slightly cheeky) questions and answers!
How to Buy Take Control Premium
Because we’re unable to sell Take Control Premium as a standalone item, you can’t buy it here on this page. The easiest way to buy it is to add it to your cart along with a book or course. On each product page, you’ll see something like this:
Click “Add book + TC Premium to cart” or “Course + TC Premium.” (Note that you can do this with an ebook even if you’ve already added that book to your cart another way; we automatically prevent you from buying duplicate items.)
Other ways to add Premium to your cart:
- On the Cart page, when you’re reviewing your order before checking out, you’ll also see a green box with a link that says “add Take Control Premium to your cart for $14.99.” Just click that link!
- Also on the Cart page, if we calculate that you’ll save money on your current order by adding Premium, we’ll suggest that more explicitly when you click Check Out.
How to Use Take Control Premium
Once Take Control Premium is in your cart, all ebook prices will be shown at half off, so you can save 50% on all the books you buy at the same time as Premium. After you check out (and every time you visit and log in for the next year), you’ll see a friendly orange banner at the top of every page reminding you that you can save 50% on all your ebook purchases. But don’t forget to log in. If you are a Take Control Premium member but you’re not logged in, we have no way to know that you’re entitled to discounted ebooks. That’s why we pester you to log in :-).
In addition to saving 50% on all ebooks, Take Control Premium members save 20% on all Take Control Live courses. (Again, you must be logged in to see the discount.) Because these courses are sold on the Teachable website, you can’t combine ebooks and courses in a single order.
One More Thing!
Take Control publisher Joe Kissell joined host Chuck Joiner on MacVoices to talk about Take Control Premium. If you’d like a thorough discussion of the reasoning behind this program, the challenges we’re trying to overcome, and why we think Premium will help both customers and Take Control Books, this interview is well worth a watch (or listen).
Q: What exactly is Take Control Premium?
A: It’s a discount program. For one year from the date you buy a Take Control Premium membership, you save 50% on every ebook you purchase from us. For example, ebooks that are normally $14.99 cost $7.50, and upgrades that are normally $5.00 cost you $2.50. It’s like having a year-round 50%-off sale! In addition, all Take Control Live courses are 20% off. Other benefits may be added over time, at no extra cost.
Q: This is some kind of all-you-can-eat subscription that gives me access to all your ebooks, right?
A: Every word in that sentence was wrong. It’s not a subscription and it doesn’t give you access to any books that you haven’t ordered.
Q: Can I save 50% on books (or 20% on courses) in the same order as Take Control Premium?
A: Absolutely. But the 50% discount does not apply to Take Control Premium itself, for obvious reasons!
Q: Can I buy Take Control Premium as a standalone item?
A: Sorry, but no. It’s available only as an add-on item with paid books. This is a restriction imposed on us by Paddle, but even if that weren’t the case, it makes sense. There’s no point in paying for a year’s worth of discounts until you’re ready to start using it!
Q: So, how do I actually buy it?
A: On any product page, click “Add book + TC Premium to cart” or “Course + TC Premium." Click that! Alternatively, if you add enough ebooks to your cart that buying Premium would lower the cost of your current order, you’re invited to add Premium to your cart when you check out. Reminder: You must have at least one paid book in your order to buy Take Control Premium; free books alone don’t qualify.
Q: What if I hate subscriptions?
A: It’s not a subscription (didn’t we mention that?), and you don’t have to buy it. Take Control Premium is completely optional, and you can carry on buying individual books at full price if you prefer.
Q: How can you say it’s “not a subscription” when it’s something that lasts only a year and then has to be renewed?
A: It’s a one-year membership program. If you want to buy another year after that year is up, you’re welcome to do so. There’s no “renewal” because each one-year membership stands entirely on its own. We don’t store your payment information (and neither does Paddle), so we can’t automatically charge you for another year.
Q: I’m still not sold. I’ll just wait for the next 50%-off sale.
A: Sorry, but there won’t be one. For as long as we continue offering Take Control Premium, we will not have any storewide 50%-off sales. We may have sales involving smaller discounts, 50%-off sales on just a handful of selected titles, or other promotional offers, but no more “everything is half price” sales, because Take Control Premium already gives you that, every day of the year.
Q: Bah. Why don’t you just have more sales instead? I don’t have to pay you for those!
A: Take Control Premium is better for you and better for us. From our perspective, consistent income is way better than the huge ups and equally huge downs that sales involve. Sales train customers to wait to make their purchases, but both you and we are better served if you simply buy that book you’re interested in when you want it, as opposed to when it’s cheaper. (With Take Control Premium, it’s always at its cheapest!) Besides, we think our books are very fairly priced, even without sales or discounts, and we haven’t raised our prices in many, many years.
Q: Yeah, yeah, but you’re actually charging me money to save me money!
A: Yes, we are. We think it’s a great deal for you and for us. If you disagree, don’t buy it!
Q: How do I know I’ll be able to get my money’s worth?
A: If you buy the equivalent of at least three full-price ($14.99) books over the course of the year, you’ll pay less in total (including the cost of Take Control Premium) than if you had bought the books without a discount. How many books you choose to purchase during the year is entirely up to you.
To spell it out more clearly:
3 books at $14.99 = $44.97
Or: buy Take Control Premium for $14.99, plus three books at half price ($7.50 each), for a grand total of $37.49, which is less than $44.97! And, the more books you buy, the more you save.
If you purchase a Take Control Live course, you'll save even more. Because courses are more expensive than books, the 20% Premium discount on even a single course can nearly pay for a year’s membership. For example, if a course costs $69.99, the Premium price would be $55.99 (20% off), for a savings of $14!
Q: How many new books will you publish during the year I’m a member?
A: We don’t know, because we don’t plan that far out. We always publish books on the new versions of macOS and iOS/iPadOS in the fall, plus a large number of updates (many of them paid upgrades to new editions). And we tend to release other new titles every couple of months or so on average. We’ve been doing this since 2003 and we haven’t run out of new topics yet!
Q: If I don’t buy at least three books during the year, do I get a (full or partial) refund?
A: No.
Q: Why did you get rid of the Build-Your-Own Bundle discount that let people save 30% on any three or more books purchased at once?
A: Take Control Premium can save you far more money and doesn't require any minimum number of books in an order; it’s a way better deal. Also, technically speaking, it was too messy to have two different discount programs that kicked in automatically at the three-book level.
Q: Can I use my Take Control Premium discount if I buy your books somewhere other than your site (such as Amazon or Apple Books)?
A: No.
Q: I already have most of your books. Why should I sign up for Take Control Premium?
A: If you think you’ll buy at least three new books over the course of the next year, it’ll still save you money. If you’re unsure, don’t buy it (or wait until you’re ready).
Q: I’m a member of TidBITS or a user group, and as such, I have a discount code for 30% on Take Control books. Why should I sign up for Take Control Premium instead?
A: Because 50% off is more than 30% off, and also, because you want to support our mission. But it’s true that if you’re already saving 30%, you’d have to buy more books over the course of the year to recoup your investment than you otherwise would (six rather than three).
Q: Can I apply an existing coupon code to the cost of Take Control Premium?
A: No, sorry. We don’t permit “stacking” discounts here, and $14.99 is already a great price for what you’ll get.
Q: I think Take Control Premium is too expensive/too cheap. Why did you pick $14.99?
A: At $14.99, we have a simple story: buy 3 books plus Take Control Premium and you save more than you would without it…plus you keep saving for a whole year. You’re helping to support our business and encourage future development. At a lower price, we’d be giving away the store (losing money overall). At a higher price, the story as to why you should buy it becomes less compelling. But if you really want to pay us more, pop a check in the mail. We won’t complain.
