Can anyone offer advice on the best way to prepare for taking the GMAT. Do you recommend buying one of the many books and studying that way? If so, which book company?

Or is the online route a better option? Which company?

Or a Hybrid of both?

Very early in the MBA search and could use any good advice...

Duncan?

Take a look at https://find-mba.com/board/general-forum/gmat-study-materials-44166#post-id-44186

Personally, I used Barron's book and took practice tests from the book and then at a local GMAT center. A practice test will quickly give you an idea of where you are, and then your choices should flow from that. The bigger the improvement needed, the more extensively you need to train.

I think first you need to know do you even need GMAT prep or not?
MBA.com provides 2 free assessment test. I would recommend to take the first one to know where you stand.
I have found the Manhattan GMAT prep to be more useful for myself. Their Verbal books are good and give you access to their online tests.
I found that Kaplan and Barron's while good for practice didn't help me improve my weak areas.
Hope it helps.

It really depends. If you've taken a practice test, you should have a good idea of your strengths and weaknesses. If you have specific weaknesses, it may just be worth getting a book and targeting these. I've known many people to have a lot of success in this way.

However, if you're getting broadly poor scores or extremely low section scores, then maybe you need to hire a firm or a tutor.