All this month, TBCN will be giving away TEN books a day! (Including three copies of my upcoming novel With Every Letter).
To help celebrate, today I'm interviewing Nora St. Laurent. Nora and her husband, Fred, founded and run The Book Club Network.
Nora, What inspired you to start
TBCN?
The Book Club Network was born out of a desire to share
Christian Fiction authors with other book clubs, share book club ideas with
other leaders, and to encourage the authors who are writing such amazing books.
We have giveaway opportunities each month. All of
our contests (except this month's Birthday Bash) are from the 19th – 21st of the month.
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| Nora St. Laurent |
I run two face to face book clubs - one at the Christian bookstore I work at and the other at the church I attend. I told my husband as a book club leader I wanted to promote great
books and share them with other groups. Not everyone has the advantage of working
at a bookstore and seeing what new books hit the shelves each week. Another
struggle I had was if I had an author speaking at my book club, I wanted to
share with other book clubs in the area. How could I do that? Where were
book clubs meeting?
Our answer to these questions was The Book Club Network - TBCN. Connecting authors to book clubs and readers to
their books; it’s also a network of book clubs as they post what they’ve read and
how the meeting turned out.
We have a
member map where you can find a book club near you. Message them and see if
they are accepting new members.
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| The Bibliovores (Sarah's book club) having a Skype chat with author Carla Stewart |
Have there been any
surprises for you at TBCN? What benefits have you seen by bringing readers and
authors together?
I’ve been encouraged and fascinated by our growth. I can see
there were other people out there like me wanting to connect with other book
club members.
I’ve watched the authors have a blast interacting with readers and vice versa. The beauty of this
discussion is it’s there forever for all to read no matter when you join TBCN. The authors have done a great job coming up with discussion questions that give readers a peek into their book.
Members have
told me they love the author interaction from the 19th-21st
of each month as much as having a chance to win books.
My hope is that book club leaders and members participate in
the discussions and make a connection with the author and the book. I
want TBCN to be a tool in picking out books. Maybe invite the
author to speak to their book club on the phone.
How can readers join in
the anniversary celebration?
It’s easy to sign up to be a member of TBCN. We ask a few questions for you to answer and
for other information that helps us keep spammers and other information seekers
out of the network. It’s also FREE. You have opportunities to win lots of
books. For our BIRTHDAY BASH we are giving away ten books a day and announcing
winners once a week. You’ll have all week to enter the daily featured contests.
Do you have any other
comments for my readers?
If you are an avid reader, this is the place for you to learn
about the latest in Christian fiction and interact with authors.
Are you a book club leader? This is the place for you to
find your next book club pick. We’d also love for you to set up your book club
page at our site to share your latest featured
book. Post pictures of your club, field trips you’ve taken, and the authors
you’ve met. Learn from other book clubs that have
already set up their pages.
Want to start a book club but felt it was overwhelming? You
can learn from other book club leaders.
Do you like to win books? This is the place for you. You’ll have
a chance to get to know authors and their books and read genres you
normally wouldn’t. We’ve been giving away about a hundred books a month and for our
birthday bash, ten books every day, starting August 1.
Winners are picked weekly and announced each week.
THANK YOU! You’ve been a grand host to have me here and let me
talk about The Book Club Network and our Birthday Bash!! I hope to see you
there at TBCN www.bookfun.org
Nora St. Laurent is the CEO of The Book Club Network Incorporated. Nora and her husband run The Book Club Network www.bookfun.org She runs two book clubs near Atlanta , Ga.
Today's giveaway features Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller's "To Love and Cherish"!
ReplyDeleteTHANKS SO MUCH for having me here today Sarah!! We are very excited about celebrating our Second Birthday Party in a big way, thanks to Wynn Wynn Media, Bethany House Publishers, and Revell for making our birthday party possible!
ReplyDeleteEveryone will have a chance to enter our contests everyday. FIRST you’ll have to join The Book Club Network – it’s free. Then you’ll answer one of the questions that the authors have come up with to be entered into the drawing. Winners will be picked once a week and announced once a week.
We have so many great books being given away. You'll have a chance to enter drawings for different Christian Fiction books every day. The winners will be picked once a week and announced once a week.
We are also THRILLED to announce that we'll be publishing our FIRST BOOK FUN MAGAZINE SEPT 1st. It's a digital Magazine about Book Clubs, Book Clubs, Events, Food, reviews and so so much more!!
Our BIRTHDAY BASH is in FULL SWING @www.bookfun.org SEE YOU THERE!!
Nora St.Laurent
The Book Club Network CEO