Start A Book Club - Business Ideas

Updated: September 15th, 2022
Start A Book Club

Please note that the data provided in this article are estimates and may vary depending on various factors, and should not be considered as perfect or definitive.

A book club consists of several people who read and talk about the books based on the topic or an agreed reading list.

Setting up your book club can be a great way to enjoy books and meet new people.

More importantly, a book club is a well-paying side hustle idea. Therefore, figure out who you invite to your book club and define the purpose.

Do you want to learn something new, or do you just want to bond with other book lovers? Having a defined purpose helps you reach like-minded people to keep the book club close-knit.

Starting a book club requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.

If you're interested in how to sell book club, or selling book club online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.

Key Stats

market size
$112B
revenue (monthly)
$8.5K
starting costs
$18K
gross margin
95%
avg product price
$10
time to build
120 days
growth
SEO
business model
Advertising
time investment
Side project

Startup Costs

Min Startup Costs Max Startup Costs

Employee & Freelancer Expenses

$151

$252

Website Costs

$223

$7,015

Business Formation Fees

$600

$4,700

Vehicle Expenses

$0

$10,000

Retail Business Expenses

$1,250

$6,650

Advertising & Marketing Costs

$75

$3,986

Software Expenses

$162

$2,720

Office Space Expenses

$0

$100

Specific Industry Expenses

$0

$500

Total Startup Costs

$2,461

$35,923

Successful Businesses

Business URL Rank

BiblioCommons

bibliocommons.com

7,848

Online Book Club

onlinebookclub.org

68,700

Book Outlet

bookoutlet.com

87,684

Modern Mrs Darcy

modernmrsdarcy.com

142,481

Madison Public Library

madisonpubliclibrary.org

165,562

Scholastic

scholastic.com.au

214,061

Double Day Book Club

doubledaybookclub.com

243,618

Text Book Centre

textbookcentre.com

351,663

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

imaginationlibrary.com

380,438

World Book

worldbook.com

462,327

Home

mysapl.org

512,997

Pros & Cons

Pros Description

Little startup costs required

The cost to start a book club costs significantly less money than most businesses, ranging anywhere from 62 to 35,923.

Rewarding work

Starting a book club can be really rewarding work. After all, you are solving an immediate issue for your customer and you're working on something you truly care about.

High customer retention rates

Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.

Pick & choose the clients you work with

Book Clubes have the ability to choose the clients they work with. You have the freedom to work with only a few loyal clients or with hundreds of clients!

Control of workload

With starting a book club, you have the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you.

Gain exposure and experience

This career allows you to gain experience working for multiple different businesses - which will benefit your resume and also keep things interesting for you!

Cons Description

Motivation of employees

If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.

Longer Sales Process

A book club can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers.

Work can be inconsistent

As a book club, the amount of work assigned to you and schedule tends to be more inconsistent, which may make your income less stable. It's important to set boundaries and budget accordingly based on the amount of work you plan to have.

Lack of benefits

With a book club, you are typically self-employed and responsible for finding your own insurance, which can be quite costly and time-consuming.

Taxes

As a book club, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.

No safety net

Typically, as a book club, you do not receive a consistent pay-check and instead earn money based on your transactions each month. During the slow periods, you typically take away less since the job is based on commission. It's important to budget accordingly for the slow times.

Marketing Ideas

  • 1

    Affiliate Program

    Affiliate marketing is a great way to bring in a new revenue stream, especially when you don't sell products or services.

    Simply put, an affiliate program is an agreement where a business pays another business or influencer ("the affiliate") a commission for sending traffic and/or sales their way.

    The affiliate typically gets a unique link where clicks and conversions can be tracked.

    Learn more about affiliate program ➜

  • 2

    Direct Sales

    Direct sales strategy implies a direct contact between a seller and a consumer without the involvement of any third party. Direct selling is popular in sectors where sellers communicate with their clientele personally. The sales technique occurs at non-store locations which include at home, work, or online.

    For direct selling to succeed, hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process. It's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.

    Learn more about direct sales ➜

  • 3

    Word of mouth

    Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.

    Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.

    According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.

    Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.

    Learn more about word of mouth ➜