Benefits of Joining a Book Club

Though book clubs have a reputation similar to sewing circles, i.e. more gossip than actually accomplishing anything, this is rarely the actual case, and book clubs can provide several benefits to authors as well as reading enthusiasts.

In my experience, the benefits of belonging to a book club—particularly one that fits your target interests—fall into three categories: 1) camaraderie, 2) exposure, and 3) educational growth.

Finding Your Tribe

Writing is an inherently lonely endeavor with the bulk of time spent inside one’s own head building immersive and spectacular worlds, developing interesting and memorable characters, and scheming up creative situations and obstacles. All that time is spent with your butt in a chair and fingers typing on a keyboard.

Periodically connecting with other individuals doing the same thing in the same genre—and experiencing many of the same issues—can provide a strong sense of community.

Though discussion of the monthly book is the primary focus, intimate groups always find time to discuss other issues, whether that may be help with a plot point, a question about marketing, or general thoughts about the industry as a whole. Asking questions and getting answers about one’s own work solves problems and provides progress while providing help to others with their projects gives back and is rewarding. In either case, participation is beneficial.

Expanding Horizons

Of course, the main purpose of a book club is to read and discuss books, and a well-managed, considerate group will regularly find compelling books outside the readers’ comfort zone. Even if a book club focuses on a specific genre—my group is speculative fiction—there are many books out there beyond the bestsellers’ list.

Groups may focus on specific genres like horror or sci-fi, on new releases, on emerging authors, on writers from foreign countries, on award winners, or on a mix of everything. In my group—which consists of other authors, not just readers—we use the opportunity to find books that may be comparable titles to our own works. So, we only read books that have been released in the past two years that are from non-household name authors.

As a result, I’ve been exposed to many books and authors that I would not have read on my own.

Learning From Other Authors

In reading from other authors, particularly authors who have “succeeded” by being traditionally published based on their ability and the quality of their work instead of their name and audience, we can learn what they’ve done.

How did they structure their story? What were their characters like? Did they sound believable? What were the stakes? What voice did they use? How many POVs were there? How did they handle flashbacks? Was the science fully explained or glossed over and did it matter? What made their villain villainous? What made their hero heroic? Was the story relatable or fantastical? Did the language flow or was it stilted, basic, or pretentious?

There is so much information to learn in other author’s books. In reading more and more published novels, unpublished writers can learn the trends and tools used by those published authors and apply them to their own works.

Additionally, if the book club includes general readers who are not authors themselves, they can provide thoughts and reactions the general public may have to the book. And oftentimes, their perspective differs from that of other authors.

Conclusion

Many authors already belong to writing organizations, critique groups, or accountability groups, and spend many evenings attending meetings, writing classes, or workshops. Adding another time commitment may seem like a luxury they can’t afford.

But, in the grand scheme, there is much to learn, to be exposed to, and to generally interact with that makes joining a book club worthwhile. Find a group that shares your interest in terms of genre and approach, and you’ll see the benefits after just a few meetings.