Book Club popularity is growing. Bookstores large and small, libraries, and private homes are hosting several different book club meetings a week. The themes of these book clubs encompass a wide variety of topics, such as, Mystery, Romance, Politics, Games, Cooking, Biographies, Comedy.
Our category, “Practical Spirituality Through The Ages”, was launched by enthusiastic fans of John-Roger and John Morton, authors published by Mandeville Press. Practical Spirituality book club meetings feature the writings of John-Roger and John Morton as well as other authors whose lives or stories explore the multidimensional aspects of Practical Spirituality through the centuries.
Recently I had someone corresponded that they wanted to attend a book club meeting and was sad that there wasn’t a book club in their area. So of course, I was encouraging them to start one. If you would like to participate in one of the Practical Spirituality book clubs or would like to start one of your own, please read the information below. You can also contact Angel Gibson at the Mandeville Press office at Angel@mandevillepress.org or call (323) 737-4055.
CALENDAR OF PRACTICAL SPIRITUALITY BOOK CLUBS
TO START A BOOK CLUB IN YOUR COMMUNITY
1. Go to a local bookstore in your city and say that you would like to start a book club (or group) in this store.
Before arriving at the store: Pick the name for the club, e.g. Exploring Spirit in Your Life, etc. Be ready to tell the manager or event coordinator how you’re going to promote the book club (we will help you with ideas), and have a copy of the Mandeville Press catalog and a few of John-Roger’s books and John Morton’s Blessings book to give to the manager. Go for a monthly day/time (be prepared with some options, such as first Monday of the month at 7:00pm, and be prepared to be flexible to work with what the store can do)
2. When a bookstore agrees to host the book club and a date/time is set, then you start promotion of the book club meetings.
You can do flyers, ask for space in the store’s promotion materials, ads/announcements in papers, and of course through your own MSIA subscriber lists. Let us know. We will also promote the book club in the New Day Herald and on the Mandeville Press and other book websites. The store would order some books for the book club. A book would be designated for the event and would be promoted and, as in some bookstores, is featured on their book club shelf or table.
3. The book club event could be done in a variety of ways, depending on the presenter.
One way is to have the presenter share some of their personal experiences on reading the book; have anyone read from the book and share what they get from that. (John-Roger’s Loving Each Day for Peacemakers book is a fun one where they could read the quote and answer the questions). We will also make available to your book club a list of questions that you can use for each book.
4. If none of the bookstores in the area are open to hosting this book club, you could have the book club meet in someone’s home (they could rotate) or in a library or public meeting room.
In an article in one of the book trade magazines (NAPRA) the book trade was encouraging bookstores to have as many book clubs in their stores as they could manage. Booksellers interviewed for the article reported that “providing services to book groups not only increased customer loyalty to their stores, but also provided many interesting opportunities for staff to become actively involved in customers’ conversations and interest in books.” The bookstores also said that book groups not only bring in customers, but particularly active and loyal customers.”
5. Have fun, and let us know how your book group is doing.
Please contact Angel Gibson at 323-737-4055 x155 or by email at Angel@mandevillepress.org, if you’re interested in starting a book club in your area.
