How to Start a Book Club

If you're interested in starting a book club, then be warned that starting any group - yes, even a book club - is not for the faint of heart. Creating and maintaining a book club requires lots of TLC.

Having seen the intentions of many book clubs take off and fail - due to weird meeting days (second Wednesday of the third full moon ... OK, not really, but it felt that way), even worse times and locations (sorry, no one wants my toddler in public right before naptime), and too random title selections (not reading that).

Before you take off and run with the idea of creating a book club, consider joining an already established book club in your area. Even if they're reading sci-fi, you'll at least get a feel for how a book club runs and what members expect (yes, even your book club may have something in common with those people).

Once you've visited an existing book club, ask yourself a few questions:

What sort of books do I want my club to read?

How often do I want the club to meet?

Where will the book club meet?

How will I find people to join?

How will we decide which titles to read?

What sort of books do I want my club to read? This seems obvious, but define what sort of book club you are first. Don't gather people and then ask, "What do you want to read?" Have a starting point - if down the road members all agree they want to incorporate some fantasy or translated works, then deal with that later. Going in, know that you want this book club to focus of current best sellers or Christian fiction or whatever you enjoy.