Authors, Know Your Book Clubs to Know More Options

Find book marketing inroads in different types of reading groups

Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash.

Authors, your budding entrepreneurial instincts may be nudging you to explore the world of book clubs and you should listen.

What’s better than one person buying and reading your book? Several people buying and reading your book!

What’s better than convincing a store to stock your book on its shelves (books that may or may not be read, that may possibly be returned to you, your publisher, or your distributor if they remain unsold for too long)? Final sales to a group of readers who will not be returning your books — a group of people who will also be discussing your book!

To aid your efforts, I want to expand your idea of what comprises the book club space so that you can find and forge the fits that make sense for your works.

Your Basic Book Club

Let’s start with your Basic Book Club. Friends or neighbors who read the same book at once, then meet on something of a regular schedule to discuss the latest pick. Books may be based on a genre or theme (or not). Members may rotate who chooses the book or have another system of voting. Your inroads here are to pitch your book (and perhaps an author visit) to a club…