Do you want to start a Book Club? Great! But, what is the best way to organize a Book Club with people’s busy schedules? You will have to figure out the how, when, why, who, where, and what in order to organize your Book Club.
How?
Initially our Book Club communicated via email however, we ended up creating a private Facebook group. Once you set up how to communicate with the group, you can determine when you will meet.
When?
We held our Book Club gatherings once a month on the second Monday of the month at 7pm.
I do not recommend holding your Book Club any more frequently than once a month. People need time to obtain the book and to read the book before your next meeting.
Determining a standing date is always best whenever possible however, holidays, summer vacations, work obligations, etc can often get in the way. If you find that the standing date does not work for the majority of the group in the upcoming month, it might be worth switching it up that month for better attendance. In our group, everyone was so busy during the month of December with the holidays, that we never read a book that month, we just met for a holiday social.
In the past, I have loved using Doodle polls to determine the best time to meet. However, it appears that Doodle is no longer free, so utilizing Facebook’s poll feature is a great alternative!
Why?
Why did you choose a particular book for the group to read? Our Book Club created a rule that the chosen book must have been read by someone in the group in advance who can vouch that the book is worthy. Eventually, we ended up determining that if it was your birthday month, you got to choose the book read in your month. If there were no birthdays that month, that’s when we would discuss as a group to decide on a book. It helped ensure that there was a variety in our book choices!
Who?
Who should be a part of your Book Club? I recommend keeping your Book Club group pretty intimate. If it gets too large, it will be harder to organize and you want everyone to be able to be a part of each discussion when you meet. I would try not to exceed 12-15 people. You can always start much smaller to have room for the group to grow organically.
In order to best distribute the work, we had two rotating hosts each month. The Book Host acts as the discussion moderator and develops questions for the group to keep the conversation going. The questions must be ambiguous enough that someone who did not read the book can still participate.
Where?
The second host, the House Host, hosts the Book Club at their home or chosen location. They are also responsible for providing food and beverages for the group. Want to decorate for your Book Club? Here are my 6 Book Club Decor Ideas.
What?
What is a must have for Book Club gatherings? There must be booze or else it will be a snooze! I know, I’m hilarious.
And most of all don’t forget, the point of having a Book Club is to have fun and to get to know the other ladies in your group! If the conversation diverts from that month’s book, that is totally ok!