Official Review: Plan It! The Complete Resource Guide for...

[bookowlie]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Plan It! The Complete Resource Guide for Authors, Book Clubs & Literary Event Planners" by Sharon Lucas.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Plan It!: The Complete Resource Guide for Authors, Book Clubs and Literary Event Planners by Sharon Lucas is a guide about organizing book discussion groups and other literary events. Much of the information comes from the author’s own experiences managing a book club as well as book festivals and author events. In the mid-1990’s, the successes of Oprah’s Book Club and author Terry McMillan inspired Ms. Lucas to start her own book club, where the members would discuss books written by African-American authors.

There are sections about how to start and maintain a successful book club, and how to organize reading festivals, author visits, and other literary events. Specific instructions are given about ways to manage a book group, including how to be a good leader and sources for discussion questions. In addition, there are tips for dealing with members who continually interrupt, don’t regularly attend meetings, or don’t pay the required dues.

This book is a timely read for me. I belong to a book club that seemed promising at first, but has experienced many of the issues mentioned in the book – weak leadership, meetings where there is more unrelated chatter than a cohesive discussion of the story, and too many instances of side conversations and interrupting. I wish I could anonymously send this book to the organizer as there is a treasure trove of advice included that could improve the way the meetings are run. There are also interesting tips about enhancing the meetings; for example, the members could take turns hosting the meetings and food could be served that’s related to the setting or themes in the story.

The book is written in a straightforward style with a user-friendly format. Readers can go directly to individual chapters in the Table of Contents by clicking on the titles. In addition, there are sample questionnaires and checklists, and bullets are used to highlight specific instructions.

I think the author would benefit from the services of a good editor. There are numerous grammatical errors throughout the book, including missing words, incorrect punctuation, and missing end quotation marks. Also, the bullets used to highlight certain points are sometimes indented haphazardly. These errors give a somewhat unprofessional feel to what is otherwise a well-written book.

There is a definite focus on supporting African-American authors, books, and readers. The author’s love of reading and desire to showcase this category of authors shines through in the pages. I do think the book would attract a wider audience if there wasn’t such an obvious lean toward a specific group of readers and authors. That being said, the information can be used for any type of book group or author event.

I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. It’s a useful reference guide with clear instructions and advice. I would recommend it to book clubs (particularly group leaders), authors, and event planners.

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Plan It! The Complete Resource Guide for Authors, Book Clubs & Literary Event Planners
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[gali]

Sounds like a good Guide for those who want to start and maintain a successful book club. Too bad about the lack of editing.

Thank you for the well-written review!

[bookowlie]

Thanks Gali! The section on organizing a literary event is particularly useful, since it contained advice that could be applied to other types of events.

[Rachaelamb1]

Sounds like a good book. Maybe you should start your own book club now Or maybe you can find a way to casually bring up this book to the leader of your book club.

[bookowlie]

Sounds like a good book. Maybe you should start your own book club now Or maybe you can find a way to casually bring up this book to the leader of your book club.

The meetings are just so disorganized and many members have complained among themselves. It's a shame because most of the people are very nice.

[Kdonegan91]

Sounds like a very informative book for existing book club leaders or someone wanting to start a club. Too bad it editing issues though.

[bookowlie]

Sounds like a very informative book for existing book club leaders or someone wanting to start a club. Too bad it editing issues though.

It's definitely a helpful book for book club organizers and people who want to run a successful author event or book festival. There are great ideas about how to raise funds for this type of event and to use the funds wisely.

[DATo]

This book is a timely read for me. I belong to a book club that seemed promising at first, but has experienced many of the issues mentioned in the book – weak leadership, meetings where there is more unrelated chatter than a cohesive discussion of the story, and too many instances of side conversations and interrupting.

This is precisely why I never accept offers to join bookclubs. In addition to this the club members must read books which are chosen by consensus rather than books they might choose to read themselves.

Very nice review Owlie!

[bookowlie]

This book is a timely read for me. I belong to a book club that seemed promising at first, but has experienced many of the issues mentioned in the book – weak leadership, meetings where there is more unrelated chatter than a cohesive discussion of the story, and too many instances of side conversations and interrupting.

This is precisely why I never accept offers to join bookclubs. In addition to this the club members must read books which are chosen by consensus rather than books they might choose to read themselves.

Very nice review Owlie!

Thanks DATo! I have had different experiences with the way the monthly picks are chosen in the book clubs I've belonged to over the years - some positive, some negative. In two of the groups, the books were not chosen by consensus. Instead, the organizer would choose the book - one organizer only chose books that she had read first and deemed worthy of discussion. Many of the selections were books that I would not have read on my own, but turned out to be very good. The second organizer also chose all of the books, but she would often state at the meeting that she didn't have a chance to read the book. As you can imagine, this annoyed me to no end. The leader of the third group picks books by consensus and it has become a free-for-all. She is a weak organizer and the result has been a mishmash of books that are sometimes not good at all.

[Casper Reaves]

We have a book club at work. I am looking to apply the suggestions in this book to improve the discussions.

[kimmyschemy06]

Sounds like a great book, informative and helpful. Too bad, though, about the errors. Great job on the review.

[bookowlie]

Thanks Kimmyschemy for the nice feedback. Despite the issues I mentioned, the book is a great resource for anyone who manages or belongs to a book club.

[kandscreeley]

This would be an interesting resource for the target audience. There aren't many in my circle of friends who enjoy reading the way that I do, so I don't really have a book club other than these forums. Thanks for the review.

[bookowlie]

This would be an interesting resource for the target audience. There aren't many in my circle of friends who enjoy reading the way that I do, so I don't really have a book club other than these forums. Thanks for the review.

Thanks Kandscreeley for taking the time to read my review and leave a comment. The book would definitely be helpful to someone who is looking to start a book group and improve on an existing one.