First things first: celebrity-led book clubs aren’t new; everyone knows that. But when Oprah shuttered her popular book club (after the tumultuous pick of Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections in 2010), the publishing world has often pondered who the next Oprah-level tastemaker would be. In recent years, the mantle has been picked up by a number of celebrities—and even picked up again by Oprah herself in a book club reboot on Apple TV. There’s Reese Witherspoon (first on Instagram and now through her own app), Jenna Bush on the Today Show, and an array of high-profile political and government figures, such as the Duchess of Cornwall, Dr. Jill Biden, and Barack Obama—even industry figureheads like Bill Gates. (And in case there’s any doubt, yes, celebrity endorsements do drive sales.)
All of this is pretty standard stuff—and recommending books is a fairly wholesome activity for all kinds of public figures—but there’s been a new twist on all this in the last couple years. A lot of startup money is flowing into the enterprise, and any time that happens, well … I don’t much trust or admire the venture capitalist model. Do we want Silicon Valley types looking at how to “scale” the book recommendation or book club experience? We’re about to find out through at least three startups now vying for the avid reader’s attention:
BookClub. I profiled this company a couple months ago. It’s trying to be a MasterClass for book readers. It remains in private beta and has probably pivoted at least twice since its inception (it’s taking longer to launch than planned; the pandemic is not helping). Featured clubs so far include one on effective leadership, branded with FranklinCovey, and one on entrepreneurship, hosted by Barbara Corcoran. Still no word on what this will cost subscribers, and I’m sure the internal struggle is real, because there’s no way BookClub can reasonably charge the same as MasterClass ($180 per year) and succeed. Yet what will pay their fancy video production bills if they don’t? So far they’ve raised $6 million in one funding round.
If I were working at BookClub, I would be super annoyed and frustrated at the news coming out of these next two companies.
Literati. This company may look out of place here because Literati started as a service that ships children’s books to subscribers every month, allowing people to pick and choose which titles to keep. But they’ve expanded considerably in the last year—moving from children’s into YA subscription boxes—and just recently introduced adult book clubs led by big names. The landing page that features these clubs says, “Some call them industry leaders, artists, and changemakers—we call them Luminaries.” They include Austin Kleon, Susan Orlean, Malala, Cheryl Strayed, Roxane Gay, and Jesmyn Ward, among others. The aesthetic? Pretty much BookClub and MasterClass. They’ve raised $52 million; their most recent funding round was in February 2021, which added $40 million to the pot.
Fable. This new app, launched last year to support social reading (basically, book clubs), snagged LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow fame—his first-ever book club. Others who are leading the charge: Stephanie Burt, Jason Boog, Elif Batuman, and Adam Grant. It costs $9.99 per month or $69.99 per year. Fable has raised $8.8 million in funding.It’s like all the people with money looked at MasterClass and decided that’s the new model to replicate. But I’m skeptical this can or will last. Oprah’s original book club was part of her TV show, and—like her or not—it was an organic offshoot of her brand—an authentic, community-driven moment. Similarly, Reese Witherspoon’s book club came out of her personal joy and spontaneous connection with others on Instagram through books. Plus she has a much bigger purpose, connected to bringing women’s stories to light, that ties into her production company, Hello Sunshine.
Bottom line: For the celebrities being approached and asked to host a book club, it must be a very attractive offer. Who doesn’t like to recommend books and get paid for it while someone else manages the headaches of administration and customer service? I hope these folks are getting paid handsomely. But even if a celebrity’s motivations are genuine, these startup efforts appear opportunistic and even shallow, with the possible exception of Literati. There, the inclusion of celebrities may possibly add some marketing magic they need or want; plus the expansion does make sense—they started out solving a tangible problem with a subscription service that’s about selling books. In that regard, Literati is not so different from the Book of the Month Club or competing subscription boxes marketed by all types of businesses—including booksellers, publishers, even authors. (See this roundup from Oprah’s website.)
But as for the others, which don’t sell books? I’d be surprised if they become profitable or last long. That’s not to say people don’t like book clubs or that they aren’t doing well—everything I’ve seen and heard in the market indicates they’re as popular as ever. But usually people buy the books and expect to get the discussion and community for free.
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.
