Joining a book club has always been on my mind as something I would get around to eventually. Several months ago I started really looking around for one. I checked our local meet up groups, but all of the popular groups were no longer accepting members, and the smaller groups just weren’t active. I made a post in my local “crunchy moms” Facebook group, asking if anyone had a good book club I could join, but there weren’t any to be found! Eventually, after a few bumps in the road, a few of us got together and started our own book club. We have now had several meetings, and we have the rest of the year planned out. Luckily, a mom with a lot of book club experience has taken the reigns and really helped guide us, and I am hopeful that we will have a successful run. If you have ever thought about joining or starting a book club, you might find these tips helpful for your own group!

1. Advertise in the most likely places. At first I was going to start the group through a meet up site, but there were already so many book clubs, and 95% of them were inactive. I decided that the best choice would be to start a private Facebook group and invite like-minded moms. In the beginning, the group was only going to read and discuss parenting books, but it quickly became apparent that most of the mamas in the group wanted to read a more eclectic variety of books, so we changed the format of the club. We also started as a “mom only” group, but now we are open to all women (although so far all members are moms). I posted about the club in all of my local mom groups, and we were up to 50+ members in no time.

2. Keep the discussion going between meetings. The benefit of doing the group through facebook is that we can all get to know each other a little bit between our monthly meetings. People will often chime in and post a photo of how excited they are that their new book has arrived, or will share how they found the book at the library or for a good price somewhere. Keeping a lively discussion going in the group helps keep people interested, and more likely to show up.

ADVERTISEMENT

3. Meet in a public place. Many of the book clubs I found met in people’s homes, which can be a turn off if you don’t know anyone in the group. I already feel awkward presenting myself to a brand new gathering of people, I would be very unlikely to go if my first meeting was in a private home. We tried to find places that had a smaller room where we can gather, as well as food and drinks! Moms generally want to relax and have a nice meal during their night out, so having the book club at a restaurant helps make that easy. After our first meeting, our group decided that to cut costs we would meet at a restaurant every other month, and at a private meeting room (which we are able to rent for free) the other months. This helps keep it more affordable for everyone, since those nights out can get expensive.

4. Don’t worry if you (or others) haven’t read the book. And make sure members know this too! I didn’t read the first book we discussed, and I had read the second book in high school, which was… 20 years ago! I decided that was good enough for now. I am a busy mom, and so is everyone else, so reading the book is not completely necessary. We are able to have lively talks even if only a few people read the novel, and others are able to chime in when we talk about the themes.

5. Plan, plan, plan. A lot of the moms who joined wanted to know what the books would be in advance, what dates we would be meeting, and where it would be happening. I want to know all of that as well! We have our book titles, meeting dates, and meeting type (restaurant or conference room) planned out a year in advance, so that all of our members are able to schedule the dates in far in advance. We have had a wonderful turn out so far, and we hope to keep growing this year.

.  .  .  .  .

Are you in a book club? Please comment and let me know the last book your group read!