Want to Start a Book Club? Here’s How to Get Started

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If you love to read you may already be a part of a book club. After all, they are a great way to get together with people and discuss something that you all love to do – READ! But, maybe you just haven’t found the right book club for you or you’ve always wanted to start your own. It may seem a little daunting, but once you answer these questions you’ll be underway.

Starting a book clubWhat kind of book club do you want?

This is probably the most important question to answer. Do you want a more social book club or a more focused discussion group? What type of literature do you want to focus on? Do you want everyone in your book club to read the same book each month? Or, do you want your book club members to read their own book choices and share their thoughts on their individual books? This is your book club so you are in control, but think about who you would like to be in your group and choose accordingly.

Where are you going to meet?

Now that you know what type of book club you want, you can choose where you’re going to meet. You could choose to meet in someone’s home. You might decide that a cafe or restaurant works for your group. Some libraries allow book clubs to meet there. You might even try an online book club where you have video chats or just post to a forum.

How often will you meet?

Monthly is pretty standard for book club meetings. This usually allows everyone to finish a book and be prepared to talk about it. It also allows for picking a consistent day and time to meet each month. Check with your members to see if there are times of the year where getting together will be difficult. Some groups take summers off due to vacations and school breaks.

Who are you going to invite?

A good book club needs between 8-16 members in order to maintain a good conversation and account for the fact that not everyone will meet every meeting. You probably have a few people in mind that you’d like to invite, so start with them. Then you could ask each of them to ask some additional people to join your group. You can also post your book club information on meetup groups, in your apartment building or at a local library to find new people to join in.

Some additional ideas

Be sure to share with your book club members what you hope the book club will be like, but allow for some flexibility. You may find that as the group grows more comfortable with one another that your book club improves.

At your initial meeting, bring several book suggestions to vote on for the first book so you have a starting point. After that, you can take suggestions from your group members and vote each month should you wish.

Think about how you want to structure your discussions. There are lots of resources online where you can send your members a survey about the book or share pre-written questions about popular book club choices.

If your book club starts to fizzle out, don’t be afraid to ask why. It can probably be resurrected with the help of your book club members.

A book club is a great way to get together with your current friends and meet new people. Book clubs can lead to great discussions – and lots of laughs! Start planning your new book club today!

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