Keys to Book Club Success: Creativity, Perseverance, and Snacks

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Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C., doesn't limit its book-club topics to, well, politics and prose. According to buyer Mark LaFramboise, the store's 16 clubs include Fascinating History, Spirituality, Spanish Language, and Knitting Circle. There's also a group with a proclamation-as-name: Still Feminist After All These Years.


Barbara Mead, Roz Parr, Mark LaFramboise, Amy Baker, and Jennifer Laughran.

An audience of 100-plus booksellers at the American Booksellers Association's "Book Clubs: A Panel" at BookExpo America also learned that many of Politics & Prose's staff-led reading groups have been in existence for years, including one that's been going strong since 1983. LaFramboise said Politics & Prose selects the books, offers a discount on book-club selections, advertises the meetings, and has a special shelf by the cash register.

"It takes a lot of time, responding to book clubs' needs," he said. But that effort is worth it: "We're known in the neighborhood as the place for book clubs. They are a vital part of our business -- and a way to serve our own immediate community."

That ethos holds sway at Books Inc., too, according to buyer Jennifer Laughran. All of Books Inc.'s 10 locations host book clubs, ranging from Reading the World to Other Realms: Fantasy and Science Fiction. There's also a Hard-Boiled Book Club, Picture Book Pals, and Classics I Forgot to Read.

"We help them pick titles, and they buy a ton of books," she told booksellers at the May 31 education session. "We do registration for off-site community clubs as well. We have the e-mail addresses for all of those people, too -- which is useful for doing targeted marketing for 'book club special events.'"

Another happy result of the stores' enthusiastic support of and participation in book clubs: "Mothers, teachers, librarians, and kids have come to see our children's booksellers' recommendations as vital. They trust us."

Laughran runs the nontraditional, very popular Not Your Mother's Book Club, hosted at Book Inc.'s San Francisco store. "We read edgier stuff, and moms are definitely uninvited," she said.

The just-for-teenagers club follows more of an author-event format, Laughran said. Recent events included a goth prom and a tea party. The events are open to the public, too, "but a core group always comes. They feel involved and part of something," she explained.

Several booksellers in the audience asked about practical considerations, wondering, for example, how to start up a club, and where to host the get-togethers.

LaFramboise said book clubs often come about as a result of requests from customers. "You have to get people to support the idea as a core group -- and you have to be willing to fail and start something else if the original idea [for a book-club topic] doesn't work." Another key to success: "Bring treats."

And be warned, Laughran said: "It's a lot of work in the beginning." However, she said, patience will pay off. "It's like starting up a kids' storytime -- no one may come for months, but once they do, they'll always come back. You need to be patient, and see how people respond."

Panel moderator Barbara Mead, co-owner of Reading Group Choices, which offers an array of materials for reading groups, offered statistics on book clubs' impact on book sales, and introduced two panelists who provided the publisher perspective on book clubs: Amy Baker, associate director of marketing for Harper Perennial and Ecco, and Roz Parr, director of marketing, Vintage and Anchor Books.

Noting book clubs' value to bookstores, Mead added, "Book clubs are about books, fun, and community. Bookstores are about books, fun, community, and profit -- and book clubs are a cash cow that will help you increase sales and profit."

She said there are, on average, 12 people in a reading group, each of whom reads an additional 30 books per year that they discuss with friends and other book club members. Mead said she calculated each book group can mean an additional 500 books sold per year -- so it would behoove booksellers to start reading groups, or be sure to publicize the ones they have.

Baker of Harper Perennial and Ecco agreed, adding, "As a paperback publisher, it's immensely rewarding and fun to work with groups to develop new and exciting initiatives." To that end, Perennial has compiled a spreadsheet of their top reading group titles, including a list of authors available to phone in to meetings. Regarding the Invite the Author program, she said booksellers should get in touch with Perennial to set up events for book clubs large and small.

Baker also described the P.S. initiative, launched last year: an extra 60 pages in the back of each reading-group book features behind-the-scenes details and author information. "It goes a little deeper than the traditional Q&A format [of reading group guides]," she said. Booksellers can find out more about P.S. -- and sign up for a monthly e-newsletter -- at HarperCollins.com.

Parr, of Vintage and Anchor, offered an interesting take on the future of book clubs: "It seems we're at a point where the definition of a book club is changing. Traditionally, it was a small group that met at a private home or bookstore. Now, we're seeing stores working with well-endowed local institutions." She said the resulting partnerships, often called literary societies, can result in big sales and publicity for participating bookstores.

For example, she said, Miami's Brickell Avenue Literary Society is co-sponsored by Northern Trust Bank -- and members pre-purchase 200 books per month from Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida. Parr encouraged booksellers to "think about working with a corporation ... in your city that's active in local affairs."

Parr said she's been intrigued to learn how seasonal bookstores approach book groups. She cited McLean & Eakin, Booksellers in Petoskey, Michigan, which hosts summer events with 100 attendees, and uses a blog and e-newsletter to keep in touch with customers year-round. The store publishes transcripts of off-season events so summer visitors can keep up to date and hosts a summer book club for teenagers.

Another savvy strategy, said Parr: like Books Inc., cross-market author visits and book clubs, which will benefit both endeavors. "There is such a close relationship between author events and reading groups. Promote those events to reading group members, and you will get a larger audience. That's important now, as the events world changes: authors are less willing to go on the road, so when they know there's a large built-in audience, it makes a huge difference."

Booksellers can go to www.readinggroupcenter.com, Parr said, where 400 Vintage and Anchor Reading Group guides are available free online (they can be shipped with book orders, too). Booksellers also may sign up for the Vintage/Anchor Reads e-newsletter, which includes information about paperback releases and author tours.

The panelists and booksellers in the audience all agreed that hosting and managing book clubs can be hard work -- but they definitely are worth the effort. Said LaFramboise, "Reading groups foster our overall mission: to be a place of community." -- Linda M. Castellitto

Even more book club ideas!

- Parr cited The Bookworm in Omaha, Nebraska, as an excellent example of working with local companies. The store website has a section devoted to Berkshire-Hathaway books and annual-meeting DVDs, and the store sells books at the company's annual meetings, too.

- Baker has worked with bookstores that hosted dinner with an author just before an in-store author event. "It's nice for the author, because they typically get more reader feedback from the six to 10 people at dinner than at the readings, which can be attended by people who haven't read the book yet," she said.

- Laughran suggested booksellers consider participating in pre-publication book-club visits or author events, which create excitement and a shared (and fun) sense of being in the know about a book or author.

- Both bookseller panelists said they have special book club-themed displays that make it easier for members to buy books -- and for customers who aren't the join-a-group type to follow along with what the clubs are reading.

- Let passionate staff members lead book groups. They'll talk them up on the sales floor, which helps recruit more members.

- Consider partnering with an alumni association. One bookseller/audience member said doing so results in 75 additional people per month spending hours in her store (before, during, and after the book club meetings). Her store also sells books at local alumni events.

- Local theater groups can be good partners -- consider books that have been adapted for the stage.

- Moveable fixtures help create space for book groups at Books Inc., while Politics & Prose has set aside space in its remainders section (LaFramboise said customers who browse the section during meetings usually are respectful and quiet).

- A bookseller from BookPeople in Austin discussed the store's Literary Day Camps, including Camp Half-Blood, based on the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Click here for more information -- and inspiration! -- L.M.C.