How to Start a Book Club
Posted on March 22nd, 2009 by Carmelia
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Starting a book club is a great way to socialize, learn and have fun with your friends. You don’t have to be Oprah to have a successful book club. Planning on how to execute and sustain your book club is very important. Here’s how to start your very own:
Why Start One?
Starting and helping run a book club requires commitment, patience and time. Before starting, you should really ask yourself if you are willing to commit yourself in this venture, whether book club meetings are once a week, once a month or even once a year. Seriously ask yourself the reasons why you want to start a book club, what you want to get out of it, and why you want to keep it up. Keep these reasons in mind to help you guide with decisions you need to make regarding your book club later on.
What Kind of Books?
There are many kinds of books and genres out there. Decide on what books the book club will focus on. Will it be fiction or non-fiction? Murder-mystery or romance? Sci-fi or fantasy? Of course, you can just choose not to focus on any kind of genre of book at all, and encourage a wider readership.
Core Group
Organizing a core group is vital in any group or organization. Find a core group who will be willing to help you out on the responsibilities of starting a book club. This will help you distribute the responsibilities and have someone to cover for you when you cannot perform duties in the meantime.
What does the core group do? They help you organize the meetings, spread the word, actively invite more members and help make things run more smoothly. In the event that your book club becomes bigger, the members can then help elect the officials of the club.
Schedule
Decide on when your book club will meet. Consider the schedules of your book club members. Some book clubs meet once or twice a month. Having a fixed schedule for each month (for example, the first Monday of every month) will be a fairer way of arranging the schedule to show that it does not move around somebody else’s schedule.
Advertise
Now that you’re ready for your book club, it’s time to advertise. Your book club can garner members simply by word of mouth from you or members of the core group. You can also post flyers in your church, community center, local library or even your own work place. You can also advertise using social networking groups or the e-groups that you belong in.
Ground Rules
Set some ground rules. The primary concern when it comes to book clubs is how books will be chosen, where to meet, who will host and if meetings will include food and drink (believe it, this can cause some real concern as these are an expenditure). You and the core group may have already decided on these matters, but you can also ask the other members of the book club as well on what their preferences and opinions are on this matter.
Books can be chosen at the start of the year, so that all the members can start reading it at once. Meeting places can be as varied from public place like restaurants or private places like a member’s house. You can decide on how long (or short) a meeting should be. You can even agree upon having the next host of the meeting to choose the next book to read.
Remember that the ground rules should be inclusive, not snobbish! Many book clubs allow members who have not finished the book they will be discussing to the meetings anyway. Remember, this is all about sharing your opinions, it’s not writing a thesis.
Other Forums
You can keep a healthy discussion ongoing by using Internet forums, e-groups and even a group website to keep everyone updated. The Internet is a fast and easy way to keep everyone connected, so take advantage of it!
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