4 Ways To Make More Money With A Book Club

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Table of Contents

• How to Monetize a Book Club
• 1. Membership Fees
  • Pro
  • Con
• 2. Blog
  • Pro
  • Con
• 3. An Online Book Club Through Video?
  • Pro
  • Con
• 4. Podcast
  • Pro
  • Con
• What is a Book Club?
• Tips for Running Your Book Club
• Bonus Way to Monetize Your Book Club

Make money running a book club with…

I’ve got 4 ways for you to ways to monetize your book club. Many of these ways could be big money earners because they integrate the use of different technologies and platforms into your book club business. Some of these ways may even help you gain club members, which can help you make more money.

Different book clubs operate differently. And most times when people hear book club they think of people sitting around reading a book together. It can be that, but today it can also be so much more.

So use the table of contents to skip to the method that excites you the most.

After this post coming up is a post going over many ways you can make money as a writer. Not as an author but as a writer: on your journey to becoming an author and in the middle of developing your writing pieces. In that post, I will mention that writers can make money with a book club but I decided to make a post on it because this method was jam-packed with versatility and the potential to make a lot of money

One of the most common ways for book clubs to make money is by charging members membership fees.

Membership fees may not be the best monetization method for all book club models. But it is perfect if access to your book club requires exclusive access, an invitation, or permission. It’s also great if how you facilitate your club requires gathering.

If this monetization method sounds great for you, don’t just start dishing out membership fees. First, gain quality book club members and allow them to see the value that you and the book club provide them. This can be done by operating as a free anyone-can-join club and then switching to a members-must-pay-a-fee-to-get-all-this-goodness club. If you’d prefer to start out with membership fees then consider a way for interested people to see what goes on in your book club and see (at least some of) its values: a way for them to spectate and check it out first, like you do when you go to store and inspect and item for 5 – 10 minutes before you buy it. You can use member testimonials, or have once in a while fun free meetings, and whatever else you think of.

The biggest thing to worry about when considering membership fees is membership and payment management. If you’re a really great bookkeeper and don’t have a very large club then you’re good to go. But there are some online membership software and platforms to help you.

A membership software helps you manage your members and their payments. This is great if your club meets in person or both in-person and online. These types of software help you manage your payments.

A membership management platform is a platform that could be used to run your whole membership-based book club. Membership management platforms work great if your club is done online or through Zoom or Microsoft team and whatnot. You could operate your club and manage, its members, all at once.

There are just software tools you can use and just platforms you could use. There are some platforms that do both. Here are 3 to check out.

• Kajabi
• Hivebrite
• Zen Planner

A blog for a book club? Yes, a blog can be used to run a book club.

A blog is a website where you can write posts about things you love, or care about. A blog requires lots of management. But allows you to grow an audience, make money, practice writing, read more great books, and even build an author’s platform. This kind of work can contribute to a large and diverse author’s platform. Using a blog for a book club can look like many things.

You can pick a book and come up with a way that you can analyze, discuss the book and interact with readers. This can look like scheduling 10 blog posts per book. Posts 1-2 could talk about general likes and dislikes of the books. 3-6 could talk about character development. 7-8. Post 9 can talk about the story structure. And Post 10 could explore how the author did what they did. An extra post to address the questions, comments, observations, and interests of the readers, would be an additional way to interact and connect with the readers other than marketing, and comment replies.

As you review books one at a time offering your analysis and study of a certain book in some sort of subscribing special access kind of way could be another way to bring in extra income. This could be done through a newsletter or video conference.

Blogs can bring in a lot of money, but they do require a lot of work. And most times substantial amounts earned are not seen after months or a year or two of blogging. In short, it can take some time before you can pay the bills with a blog. But once you build a solid website that has good content, with consistent and growing traffic, your blog can make you loads of money while you sleep.

Literally. Once you publish a post it stays on the internet until you take it down. After you’ve published a post people can view it at all hours during any day. Which helps make you money all the time.

But remember a good quality site means high earnings.

Blogs make money with ads, affiliate marketing, products, services, sponsorships, collaborations, etc.

Here’s how you can start monetizing.

Ads: Some of the best, high-paying ad networks include Adthrive and MediaVine. But (especially for beginners) Google Adsense or Ezoic are great science they require no minimum amount of traffic to start. Of these my personal favorite is Ezoic.

Ezoic works with new websites and pays more than Google Adsense. In my experience, I’ve made more money, with Ezoic than I did when I started with Google AdSense. But some people experience even more success with Google AdSense, so see which one is best for you.

Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing works almost just as much as promotion does. Blogs work with companies and businesses to promote their product or services for compensation in return, by joining affiliate programs.

Some of the best affiliate marketing programs include CJ Affiliates, ClickBank, and Impact. These programs give you access to tons of companies, businesses, and services so that you can choose the best companies to promote. Offering the best product and services to your audience while making money. Though to get started I’d recommend ShareASale: you can start with small traffic and grow your traffic and income while using this program.

Products, Services, Events: These come from you. As your blog grows and you get a sense of what you can offer your audience and how you can best serve them, You’ll maybe want to offer some products, services, or host events. All of these methods work to increase your traffic and the relationship between you and your audience while helping you make more money. Since some of these products, services, or events may cost money for access.

There are many ways to make money with a blog, but as you start your blog, start with one or two ways and work your way up from there. As your blog grows, you will learn how to better serve your audience and you will get better at writing and you will make more money.

For other ways to monetize your blog, be sure to stay updated With blog news and things of the like. So that you can stay educated and on top of your game writing your stories

Traditional book clubs happen in person. However, after COVID-19, I think. Most people learned that almost any event or meeting can happen through online mediums. Hosting a book club online is not only profitable but convenient because you get to do it from your own home or wherever you feel comfortable. Make money from membership, admissions, book sales, and more. To get started, find a platform that works best for you. Many platforms are free or have fair-priced plans. Some of these platforms are completely free but may take a percentage of your profit.

This method most closely resembles a traditional book club: It functions as a book club but through another platform. Similar to a blog the only difference is how you present your discussions. If you have a group of friends that you read with. Your reading discussions and book club meetings can be used for content. Heck, you could sit by yourself and discuss a book using audience feedback and questions to keep the conversation going. You could even live stream. Depending on the platform you choose your content can look like many things.

You could also just use a simple video call application to run a more traditional book club and implement all these other monetization methods

An online book club allows you to make money through different platforms. You can use a free online platform like Youtube to have live or pre-recorded book club meetings and monetize your book club through that platform. There are tons of different video platforms out there, for you to find an opportunity perfect for you.

Some platforms to check out are

• Youtube
• Microsoft Teams
• Twitch
• Zoom
• Skype
• and etc.

A podcast can be a great way to accumulate many members and really especially interact with them. As it is getting more popular and lucrative having a good niche where you can stand out is a great way to start towards success. Podcasters make money almost the same way bloggers do.

With a podcast you could also analyze, discuss and interact with your listeners one book at a time: dedicating a season of a podcast to one book. Breaking up each podcast based on what aspect. elements, or part of the book you are put to.

I think the podcast is definitely the cooler version because it’s like a show with an audibly enjoyable intro and outro. You can take calls and have guests. A Podcast also allows you to have creative readings of some of the parts in the book.

Podcasters can make money the way a traditional book club does. But alongside subscription-based video conferences, its monetization methods are more like a blog: Offering services, with exclusive content, collaborations, products, and more…

Ads and Affiliate Marketing work just similarly to blogs but can get more complicated.

The only difference between the two is where and how you get your ads, affiliate links, and sponsorships.

Ads: While podcasts in the most basic sense get paid to feature ads during their podcast, they must join podcast networks or otherwise find companies and brands to work with on their own. Ad markets are also another way for a podcast to find ads. Popular podcasts get ads from whichever network they are hosted by and usually have to remain loyal to one network. These ad networks can also take a percentage of your earnings.

If you are just starting Anchor by Spotify it accepts podcasters with 0 subscribers. Other podcasting networks include:

• Midroll
• Wondery
• Gimlet Media
• Earwolf

Some ad marketplaces for podcasts include:

• Podcorn
• Gumball
• Acast

Most podcasts have websites where they put their show notes and other resources that listeners can easily access. Because of this podcasters have the potential to make twice as much because their content and ads and affiliate links are available in more than one place. But if a podcast does have a website that website can be monetized with Ezoic and with Shareasale too.

I am not a professional podcaster, so do check to see how this information benefits you.

To put it simply a book club refers to a group of people that talk about books.

Book clubs analyze books in many ways and for many reasons: Analyzing books chapter by chapter focusing on different aspects and story elements, character development, writing style, how and why the book works, etc. The most popular reasons are to learn about whatever the book is talking about and gain from it. Also, to relate books to real life, practicing and again learning from all the things a book may feature.

Whenever you run a book club, in order to maintain and attain members you must offer some sort of value. Helping your members see the book in a way that they wouldn’t have, reading the book on their own. Add value, insight, and worth to your analysis. Make your exploration of the book thorough. Don’t just read the book and then ask your members what they think. Go deeper and read between the lines.

As you lead the group prepare thorough and insightful content to help your readers better understand the book. And as they finish the book they would have gained new knowledge and things to use in their lives. Coming up with a lesson plan, plan action, or road map for how you journey through the book can also help. Remember the 5 W’s and how ( I spoke about in an earlier post) to help you analyze the book. And have fun.

Have you been a part of a book club? If so did you learn or get anything out of it?

Use Social Media

Use it alongside any of these methods to

• Market you club
• Attract members
• And earn more $$$$

Okay, so when thinking about making money with a book club think about why people sign up for book clubs and attend meetings. Some of the main reasons include,e to gain knowledge, to know & buy better books, share their love for books and literature with others. Social media allows you to do this in various ways. Just in very short and minified ways. Social media may not allow those long, deep, focused, and live discussions or have read aloud but there is a comment section where people love to share their opinions.

Using social media allows you to really niche down into the kinds of books you cover, and what you talk about. You could give snippets of some conversations, share some insight on books, talk about a book and start a conversation to be continued in your actual book club. Through social media, you can gain a large audience/following/members that you can turn into live members for your video book club or in-person book club. It also allows you to connect with your members in a space that they already use.

Social media also pays successful (influential and consistent) creators/influences to create content. So if your followers and book club members are very engaged, you can now have a social media side hustle that pours back into your book club.