Inspired to start your own Book Club but don't know where to start? We got you!
If you’re anything like me then you probably find it impossibly hard not to force every great book you read onto everyone you possibly know. Or as soon as you’re finished reading a book—whether it was amazing or not—you have this unexplainable yet integral need to speak and gush and rant about it to a friend who gets it. And if you are someone who experiences all of these things, then a reading group may just be the perfect thing for you! So, here are some of the basics on how to form your own, from one book worm to another.
Step One: Find Your Members
If you’re someone with reader friends or family, then you’ve most likely already found your members for your reading group. But if you’re like me and have limited friends—let alone one’s that actually enjoy reading (can you imagine the horror?), then you may be starting your reading group to meet new people or to connect with your community. To do this, you can advertise it by creating a Facebook group, sharing it on Instagram (or any of your other social media accounts), or you can take to posting flyers around town and to your local cork boards. Basically, it’s just important to start getting word of mouth going within your community and to start having conversations about it—whether that’s with your friends, family, colleagues, or a stranger who you see reading a book that you’ve already enjoyed or are interested in starting.
Step Two: Set Group Rules
While this may not be the most fun part about starting your reading group, this is one of the most essential steps to making it function well. What if a member hasn’t had time to read the book, are they still allowed to come to the meeting and join the discussion? Or what if someone in your group is a slow reader amongst fast ones? How much time are you giving your members to read the book that will suit everyone’s schedules? These potential dilemmas can be rectified by setting up ground rules for your group, because while your reading group is meant to be fun, these guidelines will work to eliminate any undue stress for both you and your members.
Here are the key ground rules to set for your reading group:
How long do you have to read the book? (you usually correlate this to whenever you have your monthly meet-up)
Who will your meeting leader be for each month? (designating a leader for each meeting will help the flow of discussion)
Can members come to the meeting if they haven’t read the book?
Where will your meetings be held?
Step Three: Choose Your Book
This is where the real fun begins: choosing your first book! There are multiple ways you can go about this, but I thought I’d share my top three favourite (and most successful) ways to do so:
If you have a small group, then you can simply have a discussion amongst your members about what everyone is feeling like reading that month—whether that be a tension-fuelled romantasy, a high stakes murder mystery, or a heartfelt biography.
If you have a large group, you can employ a voting system using Google Forms where you have a variety of books to select from and each member can vote for which one they’d prefer. The book with the highest votes will be your pick of the month.
Each member—whether it’s a big or small group—can write a book they’d like to read that month on a piece of paper and whichever paper gets pulled out will be your group’s read for that month.
When starting out your reading group, you’ll find that some of these methods may work amazing for your members while others may not. It’s all about trial and error, but once you get into the groove of things and really get to know your group, you’ll find what works best as times goes on.
Step Four: Pick Your Meeting Location
Your meeting location can be held anywhere and it’s ultimately up to you. Whether it’s meeting at a group member’s home, a local coffee shop, at the pub, or wherever you’ll all fit. Though I feel it’s important to say that you should choose somewhere that’s cohesive to having discussions. If you have a large group and you’re at the pub, I’m not so sure that you’re going to want to yell over the top of each other about that gory scene in a thriller or that part in a romance book that set your pulse racing—or maybe you do, and as I said, it’s ultimately up to you to decide where you meet.
Now that you have all the tools you need to successfully run your own reading group, don’t hesitate to start forming your members now. But most importantly, don’t forget to have fun! Reading groups are more than simply reading a book and talking about it, it’s a social event, and you and your group will find your groove eventually.
Did you know we have our very own Book Club?
Each month mystery reader extraordinaire Em selects a new book, along with providing an extract, reading notes for your own book clubs, AND even a lil something extra on the side thrown in (book inspired cocktails anyone?).
ENJOY THE READ? JOIN OUR MAILING LIST FOR MORE!
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