The Relaunch of the DA Book Club (May Book Club)
Someone, I think it was DA January, suggested we revive the DA Bookclub. We hosted a book club very irregularly in the past but it seemed like a cool thing to revisit. Here is how we will do it. I’ve collected a bunch of recommendations or nominations from the DA reviewing crew. The readers here will vote on which book should be the May book club book. We all get two weeks to acquire and read the book. Then the DA reviewer will post some questions/thoughts about the book to prime the pump. Commenters will leave comments. We might even ask the author to answer questions after a period of time but we want to make sure that readers can feel free to comment without the specter of the author looking over her shoulder.
We’ll also give away one free copy of the book a random person who votes in the polls. Please leave a comment to let us know that you have voted (as the software doesn’t indicate this) if you want to be entered to win the free copy of the book club book.
Loading ...Any suggestions about the book club are welcome. By this I mean, please tell us how to improve this to make it great. How much involvement do you want with the author? How about the editor? What about availability? Should international availability trump print availability? Right now, the criteria for a book club book is that it must be available in both print (even if it is POD) and ebook so that it is available to the widest range of people. So this is me asking you to let me know what the best possible way to run this new/old feature.
voted! I’ve been looking for a new bookclub, can’t wait to see what gets chosen :)
Voted. Cool idea.
Voted! Great idea! I think I missed this last time it was around, but it sounds like a lot of fun. I don’t have any suggestions just yet.
Voted. Great idea. I wonder if you should do monthly themes? Erotic, contemp, historical, indie, romance “classics,” etc.? Could provide interesting focus for the conversation, perhaps. I like the idea of author and editor interviews as part of the mix. It’s always interesting to me to hear about the decisions that went into the creation of a good book.
Voted. I agree with Ruthie’s comment above, that it would be very interesting to hear from authors and editors.
Voted! My suggestion : affordable books that are available all around the globe, if possible. :)
Voted. And I’m ditto’ing both Ruthie’s and Christine M’s suggestions of monthly themes and affordable + globally available books, where possible.
Voted.
Availability of different formats (print & ebooks), at different vendors (not just Amazon) and available globally.
Voted!
I’m all for including books available in both print and digital forms, but not to the total exclusion of digital-only novels. Also, I would love if each book discussion included two parts – a readers-only discussion as well as a separate author inclusive discussion.
Great idea! Voted. Also helps that I have a few of these on my to read list already and on my Kobo. Same for previous comments re: themes and globally available. I also think a mix of e-book and print would be good too.
Voted. Great idea. I’m looking forward to it.
I voted.
Voted! I’m looking forward to the restart :D
Voted! This should be fun.
Voted, cant wait :)
I think only books which are issued in both print and digital should be included.
I voted, too.
Voted – I’ve just discovered Sherry Thomas (thanks DA!) and haven’t had a chance to read this one yet.
Monthly themes is a great idea. I think people will tend to vote the genre they usually enjoy and the most popular genres will win the vote every month. Implementing themes could force us all out of our comfort zones and expand our reading horizons.
I love book clubs, and am glad you are reviving this one! (oh yeah, and I voted).
@Janet P.: Yes! This is exactly what I was thinking :)
@Janet P.: Yes, I think so, too! And then if someone reads in a new subgenre for them and likes the book, they’re bound to pick up lots of recommendations from the other commenters.
Voted. I totally agree with the themes idea. My regular bookclub is composed of non-romance readers and they constantly force me to stretch by reading things that I would never pick up otherwise.
Voted :)
I voted!
Interesting mix of books! ;-) I voted.
Voted! I’m excited to see what everyone picks :)
I voted! But it was such a hard choice. I could happily read and discuss any of the nominated books. I can’t wait to see which one is picked.
I’ve voted! Sounds fun.
I voted! I’m always curious to hear from the author, editor, and any other publishing professionals involved with a book’s production. (For example, stories of a cover’s genesis are popular in YA. I don’t know if cover stories are as prevalent in other genres.)
Voted! Would def want digital options, but I think almost everything that isn’t on a backlist has been converted at this point. Also, editor involvement would be interesting…
I voted – I would love to do the book club.
I voted. Also I love the idea of themes.
Voted!
Looking forward to the relaunch of the book club!
I’m keen to join in with this too. I don’t have all that many local romance readers around me and most of the book clubs I hear about don’t read romance. :(
I agree with the recommendations regarding themes and making the selection globally available at an affordable price.
I like the idea of the author joining in but I wonder if it would be better that the questions for the author be collected and posted separately so that the discussion about the book at first instance isn’t hindered? The author Q/A could maybe be a separate post later that day or the next day? Just a thought.
Maybe one of the booksellers will offer a rebate for DA book club books – like ARe does with the SBTB one?
I voted but already have Beguiling the Beauty and Bared to You. It looks like one of those will be the winner, so no need to include me in the giveaway.
I can’t believe my vote is in the majority, that never happens. :-)
I voted. What a fun idea!
I voted! Thanks, for starting this again. It sounds fun.
Voted! This looks great.
I think it’s really cool that you’ve picked books available both as e-books and print. And I think having the author involved would be neat so long as there was still discussion time for the readers beforehand.
I voted! :)
I voted! This is a great idea.
@Janet P.: Oh yes!
Voted!
I voted, and I like the monthly themes idea.
voted, and looking forward to reading more sherry thomas
I voted. YAY!
Voted! It was a hard choice between Beguiling the Beauty and Bared to You, but thought I would step out of my comfort zone and vote for Bared to You.
I voted. I like the monthly themes idea. Would prefer books that include print and digital format option.
Voted!
Voted! Looks like my choice is popular at the moment. Agree with everyone that print and digital option is great, available internationally, etc.
Voted!
I voted. I’ve heard about that Sylvia Day book and plan to wait for the sequel. :p
@Ruthie: I agree about the themes. Besides picking a genre like “historical” and “contemporary,” some of the lesser read sub-genres would be interesting, such as “science fiction romance” or “m/m.” You could also pick themes that could cross genres, like “road trip,” “cabin romance,” or, per another discussion on this site, “h/h with disability.”
@Kaetrin:
I like this idea.
I voted. And it was hard to choose – three of the four titles are on my TBR list.
Things that would make the book club great:
1) ask the author thread. Book Club participants can post questions in the comments, the author can reply to the questions, everyone can see the q & a’s.
2) I love the real-time chat that SB Sarah does for the SBTB book club, but there are so many participants that it is hard to keep up, even harder to participate in the conversation. I wonder if the DA book club could have smaller discussion groups, each led by a DA moderator. Maybe people could sign up for the month and get assigned to a group as they register. Maybe limit the number of participants to 20 per group? Depending on how many groups there are, it is unlikely that the author could drop into each group, but they could join a random group, a bonus/surprise for the lucky group.
I am excited about belonging to 2 romance-focused book clubs!
I voted. Would really be interested in themes, too.
I voted. I think it’s a great idea. I can’t remember any book club here on Dear Author, so I would really enjoy one.
Voted. What a great idea. Can’t wait to get going.
Voted! Sounds like fun.