How to Start a Book Club

In September, the world celebrates the joy of reading by observing Literacy Month. Whether you’re a seasoned reader or just looking to become more consistent, starting a book club can be a great way to make the celebration of books a year-round occasion. Here’s how you can do it.

Gather Members and Keep in Touch

Consider how big you’d like the club to be, ensuring that it’s manageable for you to coordinate. Then, reach out to your friends and family, and ask them to join. If no one you already know is a reader, try attending events at your local bookstore to socialise and meet potential book club members. Once you have your members, discuss how you’d like to keep in touch – via email, text message, or app.

Consider Timing

Be mindful and realistic about how much you can all read in one cycle. Not everyone whizzes through books, and some may have busy schedules to work around. Make sure that you give members a reasonable amount of time in which to finish each book. One month is standard, but you may want to offer more time depending on everyone’s needs.

Book Selection

Deciding how to select books can be tricky. Here are a few options:

• Alternate
  • Have a different member of the group choose the book for each cycle. Create a schedule to keep everyone on track, and share it via email, phone or a sharing site such as Google Pages or Goodreads.
• Nominate, then vote
  • This method helps make certain that most people are happy with the chosen book. There’s nothing worse than joining a book club only to read boring after boring story! Have everyone nominate a book they’d like to read that month, then vote as a group. The book with the most votes, wins.
• Organiser’s choice
  • This is a less democratic, but less time-consuming method. With all of your group’s approval, you choose the books. You may want to select stories around seasonal themes like Christmas, Easter or Halloween, or pick a few books you know they’d be interested in.
• Work from a list
  • There are endless lists online that you can follow or replicate. From “Top Books of the 20^th Century” to Oprah’s Book Club selections, you’ll have plenty of choice if you’re struggling to decide on your own.

Venue

The number of members in your group may affect what venue you select. For example, if you live in a small studio apartment, it may not be feasible to host a group of 15 at home. Alternatively, you can share hosting duties, or select interesting venues like a public park or beach. For a touch of fun, try choosing venues that are on theme with your book.

Book clubs are a fantastic way to discover new stories, meet new people and celebrate literacy in a relaxed environment. These tips should make creating your own a piece of cake.

Sources: Real Simple, I Love Libraries, Oprah’s Book Club