Top 10 Steps to Starting a Book Club

Decide Book Club Focus. It's important to selecting a book club focus - Oprah selections, French writers, American writers, Booker prize winners, classics, non-fiction, biographies, books made into movies, etc. Selecting a focus is essential to finding the right members and for recruiting new members.

Invite the Founding Book Club Members. Recruit friends and co-workers Invite 4 to 5 friends or co-workers, who you like, to join your book club. Having a group of people who are all familiar with each other will help the book club's initial dynamics and set the tone of future meetings.

Be Careful in Recruiting New Members A bad apple can ruin a book club. And so instead of posting flyers around at Starbucks or at the local library, find new book club members through member referrals and introductions. This will improve the chances that most book club members will get along.

Organize Online. Significantly reduce the overhead in managing the book club by putting the book club's information online. Some new online group sites like Qlubb can help you set up meetings, remind members of upcoming meetings, allow members to RSVP, sharing online reading guides and store member contact information.

Decide on Books - Democratically and Economically. The first set of three to four books should be agreed upon by the founding members. Afterwards, ask members to bring 3 selections that other members can vote upon for future meetings. Members may also want to bring reviews of their suggestions to help other members make the final selection. Be aware of budgetary and book availability when selecting books - some book clubs limit book options to only those books available at libraries or discount stores.

Set Book Club Meeting Dates and Locations. Do not try to meet more often than once a month - with everyone's busy schedule, getting through an entire book in a month is already in itself remarkable. Pick a specific day each month for these meetings, such as the first Wednesday of every month - this will make it easier for members to plan around the meeting and arrange for childcare, etc.. Once these meetings are set, put them online. possibly rotate the book club locations amongst your members. Also, picking a specific day, such as the first Tuesday of each month, can make it easier to arrange child care and remember the meeting time.

Bring Food and Drink! Food an drink are critical to any book club. To add diversity and to share the cost of the food, have book club members "potluck" the food and drinks. Put up an online sign-up sheet for each meeting requesting different people bring wine, cheese, olives, cookies, breads, coffee - finger food is much easier to handle with a book!

Rotate Leading Discussions Rotate the responsibility for leading book discussions. For each meeting, have members sign-up to be discussion leaders. Each leader is responsible for preparing questions about the book and author, bringing outside reviews, reading guides and facilitating discussion. It is also nice for the leader to pick out a few passages that were especially interesting.

Track Member RSVPs. Have members RSVP for each meeting - this will help other members to prepare (e.g., seating, food, drinks, etc.)

Plan Special Evens. Plan special events to book signings, talks by authors of books that the group has or will be reading. These events are held at book stores, local public affair organizations, colleges, etc. These are a great way to build excitement in your books and also strengthen your book club's cohesiveness.

Happy Reading.