Today my guest is Kitty Bullard of Fayetteville, NC who earlier this year co-founded Great Minds Think Aloud Book Club. Her online group, which is now called a literary community, has a busy Facebook page with 480 members and a website with forums and a pro board, http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.proboards.com. Today Kitty tells us how the group came about.
U. S. residents may comment on this post by August 15 to be entered to win a paperback of Sarah Ferguson’s memoir, Finding Sarah: The Duchess’ Journey to FInding Herself, courtesy of Great Minds. Subscribe via FeedBurner for extra points, and when you comment, let us know if you are in a book group.
Kitty Bullard:
Great Minds all started when my dearest friend Amber Rendon from Texas and I were discussing the groups on Facebook. Right then, we decided we should start a group of our own. Both avid readers, we had been writing a supernatural thriller for months. We thought it was a shame that not many people seemed to read as much, and we wanted to devise a way to get the word out about some of the phenomenal books and talent we had run across. Thus, Great Minds was born. I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams that I’d ever meet so many wonderful people as this venture took off.
At first it was meant to be a club for women to mutually share and discuss their favorite authors and books. In no time, I began connecting with publicists, authors, and publishers. Never did I expect to get such a tremendous and positive response. I then began to research indie authors and found that they needed help getting the word out about their books. I started by getting involved with GoodReads, Library Thing, and IndieBound, and from there the club just took off.
To broaden my horizons and put the club to work for readers, as well as publicists, authors, and publishing companies, I started hosting contests and interviews on my forum. Some of the first people I approached were Stephanie Barko, JKS Communications (Julie Schoerke), and Atria Books (Mellony Torres). I really am indebted to them for helping me get the ball rolling. The next thing I knew I had several others willing to step in and take a chance with me.
The process I use to determine our monthly reads involves the books that I give away. I usually hold a book giveaway, allow time for the winners to receive their books and then include them in the monthly reads. That way I am sure to get reviews on the titles. I also feature more than one title a month to give members a choice of what they would like to read and review. I also make sure my own reviews are posted not only on the forum but at various sites on the internet.
As for how the group works, I made it up as I went along and then it coalesced into what it is today, a showcase for authors to interact with their readers, as well as publishers and publicists, in a positive atmosphere.
Come on over and check us out at: http://greatmindsthinkaloud.proboards.com or on Facebook, GoodReads, & Library Thing.
All of Sarah’s books fascinate me just because I share her name. My maiden name is Sara Ferguson and I too, also have fire red hair. I’m in a semi-book club. My three best friends live in Columbus, OH, Phoenix, AZ, and Seattle, WA and we all love to read. As we read along with our own books, we mark them up with sayings and LOLS and then send the book on. Eventually the book passes through each one of our hands. It’s a great experience.
I have always thought Sarah has gotten a bad rap from the press. I think she is a fascinating woman! I belong to a book club through a book swap site and we have an author coming to speak at our next meeting. We have become friends over the years and share many books among each other. Sadly my to-read pile has gone from 25 to 400 and this doesn’t count the e-books!
I can’t wait to read Sarah’s book!
This book looks compelling and unique. Thanks for this interesting post.
I like the idea of online book clubs because my friends do not read the genre of books that I read and I am probably not going to switch in a big way to what they are reading (although it could happen). Reading and writing might be something that is done when we’re by ourselves, but it’s a nice thing to talk about a book or author with someone who has read the book. After reading this article, I am thinking more about online book clubs. Thank you!
Recently, one of my friends commented that she was looking for a book club that was more about discussing ideas and issues than personalities and politics. She had already tried several in her city. I will tell her about this club. She may find exactly what she’s been looking for not in person, but online. I’ll check it out myself as well. Thank you for getting the word out.
An online book club is a great idea. Some of us live in areas without book clubs or with clubs that do not reflect our interests. Our club here buys 12 different books and rotates them among members each month. They never discuss the books since not everyone has read them all until the end of the year. I am going to check this out and see if it will work for me.
I love the idea of an online book club. I was looking around recently for a book club but couldn’t find anything that suited me. I am going to check this out – thanks for spreading the word on things like this!
I’ve been watching the docu-series “Finding Sarah” on TV and am looking forward to reading her book.
Thanks for the chance to read Sarah’s story. I am a member of a small book club.
Finally stopping by after a busy week of vacation. Though I had my computer with me the entire week and a half, I did not end up having the time I thought I would. I was bummed that I missed commenting on some of the posts. In my mind, I had the date August 16 for the deadline for the earlier posts. That’s what I get for paying attention to my mind!
I have been a member of the Great Minds Think Aloud group on Facebook for a while now. I think it’s a great concept for a group and I like the idea of promoting indie authors.
I am a FeedBurner subscriber (in Google Reader and via email). I am a member of several book groups on GoodReads and I have my own group there called TuesBookTalk Read-a-Longs. I started TuesBookTalk as a book chat on Twitter. We meet every Tuesday night at 10:30pm EST and chat about a certain book for an hour. I created the group on GoodReads for people to share their thoughts on the book if they’re unable to make the chats on Twitter. It also enables me to hold polls for genre and book selections. While I love the online book groups, my dream is to one day organize a group to meet in person where I live.
Great blogoversary event, Stephanie. Thanks for the giveaway!