How Does a Book Club Work?

Series Summary

A book discussion club is a group of people who meet to discuss a book or books they have read and express their opinions, likes, dislikes, etc. It is more often called simply a book club. This term is also used to describe a book sales club, which can occasionally cause confusion. Other frequently used terms to describe a book discussion club include reading group, book group and book discussion group. Book discussion clubs may meet in private homes, libraries, bookstores, online forums, pubs and in cafes or restaurants over meals or drinks. In this free video series, an award-winning writer provides advice for starting, finding and joining book clubs or reading discussion groups. Find out how book clubs work, how to host book clubs and how to choose a book for a book club. Discover how to look for book clubs, how to join a children's book club and how to start a book club at school. Enjoy reading and discussing novels with other readers by following these book club tips.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Julia Drake and I am going to talk about how book clubs work. A book club is usually a group of people (8 to 12 usually) who get together to discuss a certain book and you share what they likes about it, what they didn't like about it, what resonated to them about the book in their lives. It's also just a group of people sharing their love for books and their joy for reading. Usually how book clubs work is that you pick a certain genre that everyone is interested in and you start out with the book but obviously, just for the reason that you are reading this book there is something that resonates with your life so you start off with the book but the eventually you start talking about your lives. It's as much as talking about books as is talking about your lives with other people. Usually you get through a book within one to two months and so every week you discuss another aspect of the book. You might start out with the theme and then you go onto characters ans specific questions that members of the group have or they want to address about the book. Book clubs are great for authors because this is a great way for them to get their books out and generate interest in their books in the reading public. Publishers also, that's why every publisher has or offers book groups for people to get their books out. For online book clubs not so much for on site book clubs, but for online book clubs you actually have a chance to correspond with your favorite author about the book and ask questions and they ask you questions back so it's a great way to establish a relationship with an author."