At the time of recording this, I’ve been a part of a monthly book club since December of 2021 and we’ve met a total of 31 times since we started! Last year, we even had a “book club retreat” where we got to hang out outside of our usual meetings and honestly, it was so much fun. Being able to start a book club and just have FUN with it has been such a blessing, so if you’ve been looking to start something like this (or you’re part of a book club already and want some tips for keeping it fun and still going strong!), you’re going to love today’s episode. I’ve made some really strong friendships in it too. I feel like everybody needs a book club like this (regardless of whether or not you are a “big reader” yet and I know my friends agree!
My goal for this episode is to show you how to start a book club and keep it going so that it quickly becomes a favorite part of the month for everyone!
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Why Start a Book Club?
In case you are curious (or just need a little extra motivation), let me first tell you WHY I think it’s so important to start a book club. First of all, it encourages you to read more and explore different genres than maybe what you would usually gravitate to. I also think that reading is more fun when you have people to discuss what you read with!
Additionally, I find that having a book club is a great way to make new friends and strengthen your existing friendships. In adult life, let’s be real, making plans with friends is hard. In that way, having a book club sets you up with a consistent once-a-month hang-out with friends!
How Our Book Club Started
I’m actually not the one who started our book club, so I asked my friend Gracie (who did) what her advice was. It all started with a group text to me and our other friend Tori about how she was thinking about starting a book club and wanted to know if that would interest us!
When I asked her what she was thinking as she reached out, she said she recommended you ask the friends who you find yourself already talking about books naturally and start there. That’s all it took. I said “Heck yes! I love reading!!” and Tori also said, “Heck yes, I want to start reading more!”
From there, the three of us messaged about what day of the week, week of the month, and time of day would work best for us. We set up a meeting based on that, and then each invited a few more people to join. In my opinion, it’s easier to pick the day/time first and then invite people because this way you don’t have “too many cooks in the kitchen” trying to figure this stuff out. Having a consistent day of the week and time is helpful!
For our group, we do Thursdays at 7 pm. We used to do 7:30 but moved it earlier because we tend to talk and hang out for so long. We have changed what time of the month we meet a few times for various reasons, but for a while, it was always the last Thursday of the month.
From there, Gracie told us to invite anyone else we thought would be interested, and she did the same! I texted a few friends and so did Tori.
From there we had our first meeting on the calendar and our original “group”. Some people were in that first group text but never came to the first meeting, and some came for a few and then eventually just were removed. I think that’s ok! That’s the nature of starting something new. Don’t be discouraged if people drop off in the beginning, you will end up with an established group at some point.
I think Gracie just picked the first book if I am remembering correctly, and then she made a Google Form survey that she sent out asking questions about genres we liked and what we were hoping for from this group! We had a really solid start!
8 Tips to Start a Book Club in 2024
1. Have a leader!
First, I believe you have to have a leader, and that sounds kind of cheesy, but I really believe that this is so needed anytime a group is forming. If you're listening to this as someone who wants to start your own book club, then you are probably that leader. For us, Gracie is the leader as the one who started it. And again, that probably sounds more intense and cheesy than it should. She might not even think of herself as the leader, but truly she's the one that had the energy behind it starting and was able to make sure it kept going.
You need someone calling the shots who will host when no one else will and things like that. It's the same kind of dynamic in our businesses. If you're a business owner, for example, if you have a peer-led mastermind, it does not work if no one is willing to be the one managing the schedule and making sure everyone knows when things are happening.
It's the same way for a book club. Even though everyone's contributing and everyone's equal, you still need someone calling the shots and making the plans. Again, in our case, we're over two years into this, so she's not doing as much leading now, but early on, you need someone to keep that energy going.
Don't be afraid to lead. I truly believe that when you have groups like this, it ends up not being as great when you have a small group and no one will just stand up and be in charge a little bit to lead the discussion. It just fizzles out when that happens.
2. When you think about starting your group, remember you don’t all have to know each other first.
I think that starting a book club is an excellent way to make new friends, and I’d argue that our group is BETTER because we weren’t just a group of “best friends” coming together to read every month! Everyone knew someone, but we didn’t all know each other.
In my group, for example, we are all in different seasons of life which can be really cool for hearing different perspectives on what you just read. We often gravitate towards people in the same season as us, and I’d recommend resisting that and getting some variety.
On top of that, I also recommend keeping the group small-ish if you really want to cultivate deep friendships and make everyone accountable to show up and read the books. Ultimately, you have to create the book club that sounds best to YOU. You may want a big group dynamic where the people change every week and people come and go frequently, and that can work awesome too. I’ve heard of some book clubs that are like 15-30 people and at that point, it’s so huge that it's hard to get to know people and probably really hard to discuss the books well.
Our group is made up of just seven people, and one of those people recently moved away! She sometimes facetimes in, but for the most part, it’s just six of us and that feels like a great number! In my experience, having fewer people makes it easier to plan things (because there are fewer schedules to consider) and it also makes it easier to pick the books. It also makes conversations strong because we can have one BIG conversation about the book versus it needing to be tons of little side conversations. After all, it’s such a large group.
3. Take turns hosting and have the host be in charge of the food and drinks.
My next tip for how to start a book club that you enjoy is to switch up who hosts and try to make sure that everyone who wants to host gets a chance to! For us, we usually decide on the date and who is hosting the next book club at the end of each book club just to keep things easy.
Whoever hosts is in charge of the food and drinks, which means they are spending some money on wine, or a cocktail, and some food too! No one brings anything extra usually, it’s all on the host, but it evens out, as we all take turns hosting. We often do themed food and drinks too, which is so fun! I love when I’m hosting and I try to figure out how to incorporate subtle or not-so-subtle things from the book into the food/drinks.
4. Have a Structure For Your Time Together
For us, we hang out for the first hour usually just talking, and then when it’s time to discuss, we all rank the book without explaining our number! Once everyone has rated it, then we just talk about it! Usually, the person hosting will come up with 2-3 discussion questions if it feels like that would be helpful for the book, but sometimes we just truly talk about it with no structure.
I also think it’s worth noting that we don’t just talk books the whole time! We truly catch up on each other's lives and that is such a fun part of this when you consider that we’ve done this together 31 times now. You can imagine that really grows and strengthens friendships!
5. Don’t just read one genre
Okay, to be fair, this is what we do and I like it but I could also see arguments to just read what you like! We do a lot of mysteries in our group, for example, but I think it’s fun to incorporate as many genres as interest the group and try to keep it balanced and also just try new things! This year, we picked the whole year’s lineup in January and we intentionally included a wide variety (from mysteries, to rom coms, to biographies, to historical fiction).
Another example, is that we did a “novella month” last year, which was a genre that no one besides me had been into before. I’ve read more historical fiction than I ever thought I would because of book club too. Having a book club has expanded what I read personally because now I’ve read plenty of books outside of what I would typically gravitate to!
6. Choose one book a month, and plan months out so everyone can get on the library waitlist
This year we planned the whole year at once, but before that we’d plan out 2-3 books at a time to make it easier to get things from the library. We do “author months” sometimes or “genre months” where it’s more than 1 book too. I don’t mind when there is a bonus book in the month! For the novella month, for example, we ended up reading four books because they are a lot shorter. For “author months”, typically that will happen when we can’t find a book we all haven’t ready so we’ll pick a few at once and then that way everyone is at least reading ONE new book.
While I do love having bonus books, I also know it can be overwhelming so if reading one book a month sounds like enough for you then skip this.
Another thing I would say is that we ALL make an effort to read the book. It’s understood that life happens and sometimes you don’t get to it and that’s OK…you still come! I think that it’s important to make your book club low-stress and fun, but also at the same time if no one ever reads the book then this whole thing fizzles out. It’s a balance!
7. Keeping track of communication outside of the meeting time
For our communication, we have a shared note doc with the book plan that only one person edits and we have a group text. The notes doc has what’s coming up to read (organized by each month) and all the past books we’ve read. It also has an “ideas list” for things we want to read that get mentioned every now and then.
8. Go to interesting locations or add book club events
Last but not least, consider trying new locations or adding in some “book club” events to the calendar. It doesn’t always (or ever) have to be at someone’s home, especially now that I’m 2.5 years into this. For example, we did a high tea last fall just for fun in addition to our usual book club. We also did a Christmas dinner together last year (potluck style). We are planning to go to a winery soon for one book club. The options are endless.
I mentioned how we went on a retreat at the beginning of this episode and that’s an option too! We originally had a house booked in Gatlinburg because we all live in the Nashville area so it was a little drive away. Then, we actually got snowed out and the weather was so bad that we almost couldn't even travel just to each other's houses during that time, so we ended up all hanging out at Sarah Clark's house. We had a one night sleepover and then basically spent the whole first day together and the whole second day after the sleepover together hanging out and it was so fun.
We played games, we make cocktails, we went for dinner, and then we also had a PowerPoint with a book club draft. The draft was kind of funny, basically what we did is we all suggested 2-5 books we’d love to pick for the year. Then, Gracie made a PowerPoint with all of those books on it. We'd put up the PowerPoint and then it might say on the screen, “these are Sarah Clark's book recommendations”, and then she could talk to us about why she’s picked certain books, for example. Then we ended up voting on all the books and deciding for the year!
Read more: 7 Powerful Thoughts Or Affirmations For Working Moms
Some Of My Favorite Book Club Books
If you are looking to start a book club, here are some of our favorites:
- A History of Wild Places (this one was on everyone’s list!)
- Go as a River
- The Test
- The Great Alone
- It Ends With Us
- Daisy Jones and the Six
- Hello Beautiful
Plus, if you’re looking for books that will lead to really great discussions, these were some of the best:
Starting a Book Club
I know this is a business podcast and I normally am here delivering marketing, productivity, and website tips, but I just think that this is something for my personal life that's brought me so much joy. I know my friends in our book club would agree. Life is about so much more than work. This is something that has really been a key thing in my life for the past few years, and it has brought me a lot of joy. I hope that you start a book club that does the same for you!
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