I’ve been running a book club for three years now, and I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned.
I had joined a book club back in 2020 and when, for months on end, nothing was scheduled, I considered dropping it. Not too long after, the organizer of the MeetUp group stepped down. When an organizer steps down, a message is sent advising members that someone should step up and take over, and that if no one does the group will close. Having not been to an event, I waited a bit to see if a more seasoned member wanted the role. Cutting it close to the wire, I stepped up before the group was closed and scheduled the first event on 9/12/2020.
The book club I run is Women, Wine, and Crime. Since I had not had the opportunity to attend an event as I joined after the founder had stopped scheduling events, and all the events in the past were titled “Monthly Wine and Crime”, all I had to go on was the title and a brief description. I decided to start with a non-fiction true crime. The second book was also NF TC, and I asked the members who had attended how they felt about a fiction book. We’ve been switching, not necessarily one for one, between fiction and non-fiction. This has been really great since some of the books were really heavy, both in darkness and death as well as difficult, textbook reading; Helter Skelter was written by the prosecuting attorney and was sometimes dry with plenty of legalese, similarly Killer Clown was jargon filled and lengthy at times. Reading fiction really helped to break it up. We also do a new book every six weeks instead of every four, I have found that this timeline gives everyone more time to read the book and more time between meetings to schedule the other important things in their lives.
Lesson 1: It’s okay to color a bit outside the lines for your book list and schedule
I take recommendations for books and locations from book club members. I try to credit them in the event details. I vet the books, and I research the locations. Since membership has grown, I sometimes have five or six people show, and other times I’ve had give or take fifteen people show up. This has been something especially difficult to plan for with locations. Many establishments require that if there are ten or more people, that you have a minimum requirement to meet for the bill; this is not going to work for this group. Other times, they won’t seat you until the entire party is there but, as with all events, not everyone updates their RSVP so we have ended up waiting, only to change our party size and be sat thirty minutes into the meeting.
I’ve started scheduling open-seating areas. In Denver, breweries with huge, long picnic tables are everywhere. I also like coffee shops, and we have a great bookstore with a basement area so we don’t disturb other patrons.
Lesson 2: Location, location, location
In another effort to remedy the above, post-event I go back and adjust the RSVPs. Anyone who said they were coming and didn’t, I change to no-show. Anyone who commented that they could no longer make it, I change to cancelled. I haven’t decided how many no-shows before I kick them out of the group, but the process is started and I wish I had started sooner. I also clean up the membership every few months. I remove members who haven’t been to the page in 3 months, and those who haven’t attended an event in 6 months.
Lesson 3: Clean up your members list
When we show up, everyone says hi and chit chats about the goings-on in the world and their lives. About five minutes after the start, we do a quick introduction circle, then we get right to the book. I usually give a quick subject to start on, either a particularly shocking part of the book, or commenting on the way it was written, and I usually let the conversation go from there. I have heard from many members that something they love about this book club is that we really do talk about the book. Sure, we have the offhand sidetrack, but I would say we spend ninety percent of the time talking about the book itself.
Lesson 4: Talk about the book
I pay, I think, $95 every six months for the book club, so I charge a very modest $1 per year for membership to help offset the cost. I don’t make money off of my book club, in fact, based on membership count, I still pay more to run the club than I collect in fees. I’ve considered increasing the fees, but I think I just hope that membership will grow to the point where I don’t need to do that, plus I think whatever I am paying, net, is absolutely worth the relationships we’re building and the enjoyment I get out of the togetherness and book-talk.
Lesson 5: Keep membership fees low
I think that’s about it, the last lesson would be to tell you to start that group. It’s going to take a while to build your membership, you may have one person at your first meeting and none and your seventh. It’ll take some work, and it’ll be so worth it to know you created something that fills the world with a little bit more happiness.
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