Planning a Presentation for a Book Club

A Suitable Bride available on books2read.com/u/3L8l7D

It’s a wonderful compliment, as an author, to being invited to make a presentation to a book club. But what makes for a good, entertaining presentation?

I was invited to a book club last year to talk about my first published novel, A Suitable Heir.

A Suitable Heir available on https://books2read.com/u/bPLvyr

It was a great evening with a lovely group of ladies and I had a lot of fun but I wasn’t properly prepared and it made me wonder if I could have done better. My second invitation was from a member of one of the writing groups I attend and they had a specific agenda. Time to do some research to improve my book club presentation.

I consulted the internet and discovered “The Author Learning Centre” suggest that an author presentation to a Book Club must “entertain, enlighten, excite and engage.” They also advise having a pre-planned discussion outline which includes a quick introduction and what you want to talk about. You will need to practice the presentation and include marketing.
https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/b/ask-keith/posts/what-are-the-best-ways-to-present-a-book-at-a-reading-or-book-club

An article by Bookish raises a topic that must be seriously considered when accepting an invitation to present to a book club: Do you need to be a part of the book discussion? Book clubs by their nature allow members to openly say what they think of the book. Some readers will love a book and some won’t but having the author present during the review could either suppress the opinions of some members or be confrontational for the author. It becomes important to discuss with the co-ordinator what the book club wants. If it’s to have a robust, critical review of the book the author needs to be prepared for positive and negative evaluations. Alternatively, you can ask that the discussion of the book occurs before or after the author presentation. https://bookish.netgalley.com/book-club/11/2022/do-dont-author-visit-book-club-invite-how-to/

So, what do you talk about in a presentation? Here’s a list of areas to consider in your presentation plan:

For the novel:
• First say, ‘Thank you for the invitation’.
• Introduce yourself, your pen name (if appropriate) and the book title.
• Talk about what inspired you to write the novel. Where did the idea come from?
• Discuss the genre and setting.
• What are the themes of the book?
• Discuss the characters.
• What was the initial question and conflict?
• Research and world building.
• Specific questions from the audience.

About you as a writer:
• My writing history.
• My writing process.
• Why I write.
• My strengths and weaknesses as a writer.
• Plotting or “pantsing” (writing by the “seat of one’s pants”, such as making up the story as you go along)?
• The editing process.
• Publishing options.
• Where to next.

It would be a good idea to discuss with the book club co-ordinator what format is acceptable and then write and practice the presentation. Supply some marketing material (bookmarks and cards) and make sure you have copies of the book to sign and sell.

Further reading:

https://www.bookbrowse.com/bookclubs/advice/index.cfm/fuseaction/inviting_authors

https://www.authormagazine.org/archives/2014/5/1/secrets-to-better-author-presentations

Cheers

Elsie King©2025