Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
In many ways, our society feeds a sense of being part of the milieu rather than being uniquely you or me. As a result, individuals are looking for others with whom they can connect and share their passions. One of the ways that need is being expressed is through book clubs. While many of us belong to generic book clubs that each year pick a variety of fiction/nonfiction, genre-crossing blends of books, others are founding specialized book clubs. One type of club is the cookbook club. The idea is to pick a cookbook, spend a month testing recipes and then coming together for a potluck.
Other books clubs exclusively read historical novels from a specific era, such as the Civil War. Still others read from the never-ending stream of WWII nonfiction books.
And some read books that involve an outing. The book club I belong to picks one book each year that results in our traveling to a site. For example, one year we read The Maltese Falcon and took a San Francisco walking tour of all the places named in the book. Another year we read a Jack London biography and then ventured to the Jack London State Park, where we had the chance to interview Jack London’s grandson–in the house he had built in the middle of the park and that was filled with London memorabilia. We went to Ashland, Oregon, to watch “To Kill a Mockingbird” performed as a play the month we read that book.
People are looking for ways to “add value” to their book clubs by connecting in a variety of ways over books.
What does that mean for writers? Think about how your book could fit into a specialized type of book club. Look online for such clubs. If you can’t find any but think lots and lots of people would respond to that type of club, start forming them via your website and social media.
What possibilities do you see for book clubs that are highly specialized? (Maybe you have ideas for a club you’d like to be in–even if it isn’t related to what you write about.)
Public libraries are another source for locating book clubs. Most libraries maintain lists of book clubs in their area, noting if the club has a special focus. Some libraries list local book clubs on their websites.
While on the library’s website, see if they offer “book club kits” to local book clubs. Each kit contains multiple copies (usually 12-15)of a title, plus discussion questions. Book clubs check these out for a month. Check with the library to see if they’d consider your book for their kits–that’s a sale of 15 copies.
Janet, believe it or not, I recently joined a book club for the first time. I’m wondering why I waited so long. 🙂 I’m discovering some great reads that I wouldn’t have read otherwise.
I would like to belong to a book club (providing that my time frees up) that specializes in writers from Ohio which is where I live. There are many writers from Ohio. Current writers include Thrity Umrigar and Paula McLain. Past writers include Louis Bromfield (I visited his farm this past October). There are numerous Amish books written by Ohio writers taking place in Amish Ohio. Periodically my local paper does articles that talk about Ohio writers.
Speculative fiction (fantasy/sci-fi) lovers form very naturally into little communities–mostly online, in my experience, though I’m sure there are in-person book clubs, too. This is either because we’re all geniuses or because we’re weird and no one else wants to hang out with us. 😀
Your “destination” book club sounds like so much fun; what a great idea! I’m in the middle of “Roughing It” by Mark Twain, and am delighting in reading his perceptions of familiar sights from my own childhood. It’s had me laughing out loud more than once.
You could do a whole road-trip tour of those locations if your club ever ventures into those pages! 🙂
Judy, thanks for telling us about the book club kits; I had no idea!
Lori, I’d say Ohio Writers would be a very specific definition of a book club, but it sounds fun.
Lindsay, I suspect there are quite a few online book clubs that focus on specific areas of interest.
Amanda, our book club loves the destination reads we’ve done. I’ll have to check out Twain’s Roughing It.
Another type of book club that would appeal to certain readers would be a gardening club. New books are always coming out about gardening, and for avid workers of the dirt, it would be a point of great commonality.
It’s a fun read. His description of his nearly thwarted (due to vague directions) climb to Lake Tahoe was so funny I had to share read it aloud to my husband, and we laughed for a good while.
I LOVE the idea of a traveling book club. The book club I belong to isn’t specialized in anyway, but so open in fact that the host for the next round is allowed to choose anything they want non-fiction to fiction, sci-fi to literary. And it’s broadened my horizons for sure. I look forward to learning which book we’ll be committing to each time we meet.
I would like to be in an “ad hoc book club.” By that I mean that after I read a book (or while I was reading it), I could connect with others online to discuss it.
As I moved on to the next book, it is likely that I would find an entirely different group with which to converse.
(It would be interesting to be part of a book club discussing my book, but I’m not sure I am thick-skinned enough for that degree of communication!)
I facilitated the discussion of my novella, The Dogtrot Christmas, with my church reading group. No one wanted to say much and I couldn’t get anywhere with them. They all claimed to love my book and wanted to know more, but really, didn’t have much else to say!
I wouldn’t mind listening in to others who didn’t know who I was. I think that would be most interesting and very insightful.
Of course it also might be frustrating if they missed all the good points! 🙂
I’ve never belonged to a book club, but I would love to. I read a great deal. Our library selects books that they read together and then the author comes to talk about the book. I haven’t participated in one yet as the selections haven’t been my taste.