Marketing your books is always a major pain, and unfortunately, doing your own marketing is a necessity regardless of how you decide to get published. Because of that, authors are constantly scrambling for new ways to get the word out about their books.
Today, we have a new solution for you. Online book clubs exist.
An online book club is used for two purposes. First, it does what we highlighted; it gives authors a way to get their books out into the wild with a large potential audience. Then, it gives people who miss that old-school book club vibe a way to keep the tradition going in an increasingly busy world; people from around the world can participate in an online book club.
It’s a win-win for consumers and authors alike.
Today, we’ll point you in the direction of the three best online book clubs to help you get right into the best communities with the largest audiences.
1: Mariel Hemingway’s Book Club
First and foremost, we have to recommend Mariel Hemingway’s Book Club. This is one of the largest online book clubs you’re going to find, it has a stellar reputation with authors and consumers alike, and it has the financial backing to really put together a great experience for members. You can’t go wrong with this one.
Mariel Hemingway’s Book Club is part of MindStir’s publication services. So, it’s already built into a renowned service, and if you’re an author who already uses MindStir’s services for self-publishing or other resources, it just makes sense to try to get your story into the book club recommendations.
On top of that, one of the strengths of this one is right there in the name. Mariel Hemingway is one of the most recognizable author and celebrity, and she has several top-selling books of her own on the shelves. She is clearly passionate about literature and this also adds a high level of credibility to the platform.
2: Reese’s Book Club
Reese’s Book Club is another fan favorite with a pretty impressive community behind it. This one stands out because its membership is heavily comprised of dedicated readers across a multitude of genres.
With Reese’s Book Club, a selection of books is chosen on a monthly basis, and emails are sent to everyone registered on the email list to tell them which books the club is recommending for the month.
This is a great setup. It gets books in front of readers who are actually interested in purchasing and reading books from certain genres and subgenres. This increases the likelihood of the book club creating conversions for you if you’re an author. The untargeted approach used by other book clubs will put your books in front of more people, but many of those people might not be interested in the type of work you do.
However, this means that you’re going to get your books in front of fewer people thanks to the targeted approach. There also isn’t a large selection of recommendations each month; so, you have to get lucky and be one of the chosen few.
For consumers, this is a great service, though.
3: Between Two Books
Between Two Books is the smallest and coziest online book club on our list. As such, it has less to offer authors, but it can be great for readers.
Between Two Books was started in 2012, and it suggests a book or two every few months. This works against authors because there aren’t as many opportunities to get exposed on this platform, but it’s a great opportunity for readers who don’t like the disconnected feel of bigger online clubs.
This is one we recommend to readers and authors alike as a sort of “supplementary” club. Join one of the bigger clubs, but participate in this smaller, more intimate, community as well for some worthwhile surprises.
Cameron Dickerson is a seasoned journalist with nearly 10 years experience. While studying journalism at the University of Missouri, Cameron found a passion for finding engaging stories. As a contributor to Kev’s Best, Cameron mostly covers state and national developments.