User-Started Book Clubs

[Quark]

We have several good bookclubs on LitNet--the DH Lawrence, Poe, Poetry Bookclub, and Chekhov discussion are just a few--but it takes hard work to keep these going. Starting one is even harder. Part of the problem is that the threads don't get much visibility. If your bookclub discusses an author on the author list, then your thread gets filed away under the author's forum. I like that we have an author list, and that it's easy to find threads devoted to a particular work or writer. But, at the same time, many LitNetters just scan the "General Literature" or "Poetry" sections, and probably wouldn't notice a good thread placed in an author's forum.

Maybe we could attach a subforum to the "General Literature" or "Forum Bookclub" forums that could hold the user-started bookclubs. Or something like that. I don't know if I have the best solution to this problem, but it seems like something should be done to draw more attention to book discussions. Conversations on individual texts are great because they focuses the discussion and encourages posters to interact. To start a thread on particular work now, though, is to make yourself less noticeable than my unpopular blog. A subforum would at least group these discussion together and put them out in the open. The threads could still be found in the author forums. The subforum would just be an added link.


http://parrotts.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/mouse-in-maze.jpg
Navigating the author's forums is not always so easy

I don't know whether it would be better to have posters opt-in to such a subforum or whether the mods should link them to the subforum automatically. Either way would work. I just want to get them out of the forum's black hole that is the author's forum.

If the idea is a workable one, I can come back with a list of threads that could be put in there right away. I know of at least five threads right now that would certainly benefit. One would be the Chekhov discussion that I've been hosting for months: http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17728&page=71. I've been a little wary to start a new story because I don't know if I can enough posters to keep the conversation going. Whenever I stroll out in the "General Literature" and "Poetry" forums I hear a lot of interest in discussing individual works, but rarely does that interest translate into actual participation. Some of that "interest" may just be idle talk, but I think a great deal of it is genuine interest. Yet the threads that discuss an author or work are so distant from the high traffic areas of the site that I think posters assume their posts won't get noticed if they go so far off the beaten path. LitNet really has a four-chambered heart. Most everyone circulates in the "General Chat," "General Literature," "Poetry," and "Forum Book Club" sections of the site, and if you're located in some extremity you don't see many posters.

A subforum off one these popular forums might help.

[Admin]

I hear you, but there isn't a good solution.

The reason we segregate all those authors is so that their threads can show up on the main site, which gets far far more traffic than the forums, with the overall goal of ideally drawing more of those people into the forums.

Changing that is absolutely not going to happen, it is too valuable of a feature.

But I'll try to think of something.

[OrphanPip]

A stickied thread that indexes book clubs shouldn't take too much effort. It does require someone to go through the trouble of keeping moderately up to date on all the book clubs.

[Quark]

I hear you, but there isn't a good solution.

Yeah, I don't know what could be done. I just wanted to see if anyone else thinks this a problem.


The reason we segregate all those authors is so that their threads can show up on the main site, which gets far far more traffic than the forums, with the overall goal of ideally drawing more of those people into the forums.

When you say "the main site," are you refering to http://www.online-literature.com: the page that lists the ten most current threads with the usual button header? If that's what you're saying, then, no, no one would want to change that page. It does pull people into the forums. I was just suggesting (maybe stupidly) that there could be a place on the site to find links to book club discussions taking place on LitNet. The threads could stay in the authors forums, and the main site could stay the same. There would just be a subforum with links to those discussions that might not be very visible otherwise.


But I'll try to think of something.

Thanks.


A stickied thread that indexes book clubs shouldn't take too much effort. It does require someone to go through the trouble of keeping moderately up to date on all the book clubs.

That's another idea. A stickied thread would be pretty unobtrusive, and it would collect the book clubs in one place. At one point, I thought about just starting a thread in the "General Literature" or "General Chat" forums, but I thought it would just get stricken down.

[Dark Muse]

I hear you, but there isn't a good solution.

The reason we segregate all those authors is so that their threads can show up on the main site, which gets far far more traffic than the forums, with the overall goal of ideally drawing more of those people into the forums.

Changing that is absolutely not going to happen, it is too valuable of a feature.

But I'll try to think of something.

I do not think that the sub-forums for the authors should be changed but I do like the idea of having a place designitated for members who want to start "unoffical" group reads

[Virgil]

Not sure what the best way to handle it, but I think having a sticky of book clubs is a great idea and something a literature network should have. Thanks for bring it up Quark.