Whether it’s a New Year’s resolution or you just want to inject some energy into your current reading group, this guide shows you how to start and run a book club successfully. I’ve just moved house, and making IRL friends as an adult is tricky. So I wanted to start and run a book club to meet new people! Here are my top tips, this guide covers everything from scheduling to discussion questions.

Let’s start with the logistics…

Choosing Members: How to Start and Run a Book Club

• Decide who you’d like to be in your book club 
• To ensure a lively discussion, seek a range of opinions – unless you have a genre-specific book club, invite a couple of friends, family members or co-workers, who are open to different themes and genres
• Start small – 5 people are enough. The bigger the book club, the more overwhelming organisation and discussion becomes

When, where and how often will you meet?

• Agree on a realistic schedule and location that works for everyone and lock it in!
• You might meet online or in person. If your book club meets face-to-face, we recommend having a regular meeting spot, otherwise finding a location becomes another piece of admin the host has to take care of!
• Send out calendar invites for your upcoming book club meetings. Make it the responsibility of whoever is hosting that month to confirm the details 1-2 weeks before you’re due to meet, so everyone knows what’s happening!
• To get things moving, suggest up to 3 books for your first meeting and ask people to vote. These titles could be from your TBR, new releases, prize-winners, classics etc!
• Agree how you will keep in touch in-between meetings, e.g. by email or WhatsApp

Who’s in charge? How to successfully start your book club

• Agree responsibilities and logistics early on 
• Will the organiser change each month? If so, what do they need to do? 
• How will you decide on the book of the month? (Tip: If using a WhatsApp group, the poll function is useful for this!)
• You might need to take the lead initially. Make your life easy by keeping it simple!
• Have a format that everyone is comfortable with and stick to it

Got it? Here are some tips for how to actually run your book club sessions

Set some ground rules for your book club

• The nature of people means that are bound to be differing opinions and disagreements
• It’s key that everyone is willing to agree to disagree on some matters to avoid the discussion becoming too heated
• It’s crucial to be sensitive and listen to different experiences and opinions
• If the book deals with upsetting or difficult issues, share a list of content warnings with people in advance of the meeting 

Being the book club host

• If you have been chosen to be the host for a session, it can be quite intimidating. However, it’s possible to take a relaxed approach and it is a good opportunity to practice social skills
• Just gently stir the conversation back to the questions or key topics if it strays 
• It’s also good for the host to encourage everyone in the group to have an opportunity to speak – if there is one or more dominating personalities, just politely involve others
• If you have the time, it might be a good idea as the host to have specific ideas of what to discuss from the book if the conversation lulls

Discussion questions

• It’s strongly recommended to have some questions prepared to get the conversation going, however we know that coming up with these yourself can be a challenge!
• Perhaps agree on some general ones which you can apply to each sessions
• Use resources to help you. Sometimes, discussion questions are already included at the back of the book, so you can use those as a framework
• Make notes, highlight or bookmark things that stood out to you as you read and formulate these into questions. We suggest:
  • 1 character or character relationship based question 
  • 1 question relating to the themes explored in the book
  • 1 question relating to the format and writing style
  • 1 question relating to the plot development
  • 1 question about the ending
• Here are some links to cheat-sheets for further inspo:

The Ultimate List of Book Club Discussion Questions for Fiction and Non-Fiction

The ultimate list of book club questions

50+ Book Club Questions for a Fun & Lively Discussion

Choosing the Next Read: Tips on How to Start and Run a Book Club

• Gather suggestions at the end of each book club, or be super-organised and agree on a reading list of books upfront and pick one from the list each month
• Either vote and decide on your next title at the start/end of each meeting, or give people a deadline and mechanism for casting their vote for your next book club pick
• Depending on the focus of your book club, you could focus on prize-winners, what’s trending on Instagram and TikTok or even books that have been on your shelves for a while!
• To get the juices flowing, check out this video from our friends at Tandem Collective, sharing their most anticipated reads in 2025

Finally, encourage people to participant in different formats – e-Books and audiobooks are absolutely welcome and also open up different experiences and perspectives!

Let us know how you get on!