The increasing acceptance of remote participation may be a boon to authors seeking engagement with book clubs
As soon as the first state lockdowns were announced, new book clubs were born. Quarantine Book Club was one of the first in the US. Then novelist Yiyun Li invited readers to join her in tackling War and Peace (and found herself with three thousand followers). Naturalist Robert Macfarlane created a spontaneous international book group on Twitter under the banner #CoReadingVirus. For those with commitment issues, there’s the Short Story Club, or if you love tennis, try Racquet Book Club. And of course media outlets of all kinds—The Guardian, The New York Times, Vox, and LitHub, just to name a few—now offer book clubs.
This is good news for authors, right? Well, maybe. It’s unclear how long the fervor for book clubs will last; we expect many to peter out by fall. Regardless of how many survive, book clubs remain an evergreen marketing opportunity for authors. Here’s how to increase your book’s chances of club adoption. Keep in mind that established book clubs plan their reading lists far in advance.
Before you reach out: Have a book club guide ready to go and keep it available and visible on your website. If you need ideas for creating a guide, check out ReadingGroupGuides.com, which aggregates them by the hundreds. It also helps if you have a video of yourself at your site to inspire confidence that your presence at a club meeting will be a good one.
Crystal Patriarche, CEO of SparkPoint Studio, says that having this clear information and direction for book clubs matters. “For instance, if the author wants to be tagged in any photos from book clubs and is willing to share those on their social, something as simple as saying that on the author website can get a book club excited at the prospect of even just being acknowledged on the author’s social in some way. Or if the author will send a thank-you note to the book club. Even a small token from the author—sending a thank-you note, acknowledging them on social—can matter. And how the book-club section of their website looks.”
In short, wherever possible, encourage clubs to reach out about appearances if you’re open to them: in your book’s back matter, in your author bio at Amazon, in social media bios. Always mention special offers—such as swag, promotions, or giveaways— (if they exist) to book-club participants.
Books that work best: Author and marketer MJ Rose, founder of AuthorBuzz, says that she and the founder of BookMovement have studied what types of books work best for clubs. While there are over 500,000 clubs in the US alone (and a club for every type of book), she says the weekly list of top 100 book club picks at BookMovement reflects where the most interest lies: fiction, with some memoir and nonfiction in the mix.
Your book doesn’t have to be new to be selected for a book club. Rose says, “Most book clubs are not as aware of publication dates and new-release status as people in the industry are—unless they are early adopters, meaning they want to read the latest fiction coming out. So it really is an evergreen opportunity. We did a study of over 150,000 readers; less than 2 percent ever looked at pub dates. A book is truly new to anyone who has never heard of it.”
Patriarche advises, “If an author has a new book coming out, then pitching their previous book as a book club pick is a good idea. Book clubs love to read a book and then immediately after, if they liked it, to be able to go out and get a new book by that author—rather than have to wait a year or more for a new book from them.”
How to find clubs: Social media is a good place to start the search during stay-at-home orders. Drill down into the special-interest groups on Facebook, Reddit, and LinkedIn, searching for keywords that relate to your book’s genre or topic. LibraryThing and Goodreads are also rich sources of book club groups. You can even try an old-fashioned Google search for possible clubs if your book is on a niche topic or specific theme.
Big caveat: most marketers suggest authors start with local groups when marketing to book clubs. That means looking for groups that meet at your local library or bookstore. You can also search Reader’s Circle or look for Meetup groups. This strategy may not be the best this spring—clubs may not be meeting right now, even online—but it doesn’t hurt to think ahead.
Make sure your book is available and affordable: Patriarche says a lot of book clubs rely heavily on the book being available in paperback or ebook, so it’s less expensive—and being available in the library is huge. “Timing any book club pitches or chats to paperback [release] and making sure libraries have copies is key.” Alternatively, she says, you could offer to provide five copies to that book club’s local library, something that would definitely go over well with clubs.
Tailor your approach to each club and offer creative ideas or tie-ins: Ingram’s marketing team suggests that you provide clubs with ideas for how to combine your book with a related online activity or other fun resources. They write, “You could include a playlist of music that enhances the reader experience, your Christian romance could be part of a Bible study or singles meetup, or you could share related recipes or prepared dishes.” You could also try pairing your book with a movie or TV show. For more ideas, try browsing Book Club CookBook.
Patriarche suggests that if an author is planning an extended online launch party of any kind (e.g., something that lasts a week), invite book clubs to participate in that celebration, give them a chance at extra swag, and offer copies of the book. You can then carve out a specific time during that week-long launch to have a virtual session with the club.
During the club appearance: While you’ll want to discuss with the club in advance what they’re looking for in a guest appearance and find out how their meetings work, author Jenna Blum advises, “For both book club discussions about my novels and for A Mighty Blaze, I’ve found it useful to have structure, especially when using Zoom: introducing the book, a less-than-four minute reading, opening the floor to questions via chat. And my favorite part, a silver lining of quarantine: being able to walk readers into my study and show them how the book sausage gets made! Don’t forget your tiara.”
Traditionally published authors might consider targeted advertising. Sites that help facilitate book clubs can be prime spots for advertising your availability. These include BookMovement and Bookclubz. Rose, through her service AuthorBuzz, can help with such advertising. She says that right now most book clubs are moving their meetings to Zoom, so she is doing promotion for authors who want to let clubs know they’re available to meet that way. (Contact her through AuthorBuzz.)
Backup plan: An alternative to approaching an existing book club is starting your own on social media. Artist and author Jessica Abel is doing just that with her self-published guide on creative focus, Growing Gills. Take a look.
Bottom line: Author Jessica Strawser says, “I have a deep appreciation for in-person book clubs, where I’ve made lasting connections with many readers who’ve gone on to be vocal supporters of my career (and, just as lovely, to become new friends), so I’m genuinely missing them in these days of social distancing.” However, she says as clubs move online temporarily, it actually makes it easier and quicker to say yes to club appearances in terms of time invested. “For me, traveling to a local meeting typically means missing my children’s bedtime, factoring in transit time and at least a couple hours on site. I do have to limit myself as to how many of those I can manage. … How much those efforts translate into measurable success depends a lot on how you measure success and how readily you accept that certain kinds of success simply can’t be measured. To my mind, book club visits have always been more about a two-way connection between author and reader (and a very gradual, grassroots kind of word of mouth) than about more overt marketing, promotion, and book sales.”
For those interested in learning more, we highly recommend attending the upcoming free Authors Guild webinar with author Amy Stewart on book club strategies for authors.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
