If you’re an avid reader, a book club can be tremendously fun, but it can also be a costly hobby. It often requires you to pick up a new book at least once a month, which is particularly frustrating if it’s not a book you would have selected on your own. Hosting the meetings themselves can be expensive, too. Wouldn’t it be more fun to just read something you like with your friends, hang out together and talk about the book you’ve all read without all the expense? Good news: You can.
Starting a book club for you and your friends who also enjoy reading is actually easy and inexpensive if you put in a bit of planning. Here’s how to get started.
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Rally your friends. First, make sure you have friends who are interested. Come up with a list of your friends who might be interested in your book club and pitch the idea to them. Be clear on what you’re suggesting, but don’t take action until you have several friends on board. You might want to suggest the first book that you’ll read along with what the meetings will entail.
If you do have several friends who are interested, it’s time to start planning.
The first step in planning a book club meeting is to work with the local library on lining up some selections. Many local libraries are thrilled to work with book clubs and will help you track down several copies of a book for your club, provided it’s not a hot new release. You’ll want to aim for books that aren’t current blockbusters because those are usually in high demand and may be unavailable at the library. Instead, choose something that was popular a few years ago or is a bit under the radar.
Your local library can help get copies via interlibrary loan and can hold them for you, so members of your book club can stop in at their convenience to check out a copy.
This all starts with a conversation with the librarian. Simply state that you’re wanting to start a book club, with the first book being read by the members during an upcoming month — say, March. This gives the librarian time to track down copies of the book and have them available. You can then schedule the actual book club meeting for late March. As long as you stay a couple of months ahead of schedule and work with the librarian, you should be able to have plenty of copies at the local library for your club members, eliminating the cost of actually buying the books.
[Read: How to Get the Most Value From Reading a Personal Finance Book.]
Plan the meetings. The next step is to plan the actual meetings. For a small low-lost book club, the best strategy is to host on a rotating basis at members’ houses and provide a meal or snacks as a potluck. Simply have everyone bring a snack or a drink. If you want to have a meal, plan the main course and have the guests bring sides or drinks.
It is probably a good idea to plan on hosting at least the first few meetings yourself if you’re organizing things. Keep it relaxed with a simple potluck meal or a few snacks.
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Organize the meeting. You should set a clear start time and approximate end time, so people can schedule around it. Give the book club members plenty of notice and send out a reminder or two when it gets closer, so it stays on their minds.
If you want the book club to be successful, you’ll want to be able to lead the conversation, so read the book in advance and come up with some questions or things to talk about, but let the conversation flow. Only offer up the questions to get things started or to reinvigorate conversation if there’s a lull. Often, book clubs will go off on a tangential conversation, and that’s completely fine as long as people are engaged.
Make sure that if someone isn’t saying much, you directly address them and get them involved in the conversation, as people can feel left out if they’re not particularly good at interjecting their views.
At the end, have a conversation about what’s next. Get other people involved in hosting and selecting books. If you can come up with some suggested titles for future reads, that’s great, as you can work with the librarian to get copies at the library.
Following these steps not only provides you with the opportunity to read a book for free and share that experience with friends, it also sets you up for a great social gathering and an inexpensive meal on a regular basis. There’s no need to buy books or go out for dinner to enjoy the fun of a great book club.
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How to Start a Low-Cost Book Club With Your Friends originally appeared on usnews.com
