A Proposal for the

Chapter-a-Day Library Online Book Clubs

“Like a piece of chocolate on my pillow every morning.” – a reader describing her book club

1002 S. Orange Ave., Sarasota, FL 34236 941-373-0700 (USA) Email: [email protected]

Chapter-a-Day Dear Librarian:

Many people “think” they're too busy to read. Every day, they’re bombarded with information and activities, leaving them little time to enjoy a book. I started Chapter-a-Day for the busiest people in the world, my employees, stay-at-home moms. All they had time to read were children's books. So I started including parts of books in their email each morning.

SUZANNE BEECHER Chapter-a-Day

In just a few days, they were thanking me for getting them back into reading. They were leaving their TV's off at night and discussing books with their husbands. One employee admitted that she was sneaking over to her computer late at night to see if I had sent the next day’s email early. We now have over 3,000 libraries, businesses, county governments, public schools and web sites offering Chapter-a-Day book clubs to their members. I work with over 80 book publishers and people as far away as Moscow and China are reading with us. The secret of Chapter-a-Day is making it easy for people to get involved in books. Once that happens, they can't stop. After they experience the feelings that come from reading, they want to continue. If people wait until they get a chance to go to the library, or have a free weekend, or go on vacation, reading will never become part of their lives. Start an OnLine Book Club at your library and see what a powerful tool it can be in your community. Reach out to thousands of people who don't have time for reading. Together we can change the world, five minutes a day, one reader at a time. Call me at 941-373-0700 or email me at [email protected].

Suzanne Beecher [email protected]

Chapteraday.com • 1002 S. Orange Ave., Sarasota, FL 34236 • 941-373-0700

Your patrons sign up for your OnLine Book Clubs at your library or at a web page that we custom design for you. They choose what type of books they want to read: fiction, non-fiction, business, romance, teen, horror/sci-fi, mystery, or inspirational. They can also choose audio books. The following day, they start receiving one of your OnLine Book Clubs. The emails have your library ’s name at the top and they include information about your library. Your patrons see the book club as another service of your library. Chapter-a-Day works in the background, so you get all the credit. Each day's email includes a portion of the book that takes about five-minutes to read. Over the course of a week, your patrons read two or three chapters from a book. They can finish the book by reserving it at your library. Every Monday, we start new books.

Monday

Tuesday

Your Public Library

Your Public Library

Thursday

Friday

Your Public Library

Your Public Library

Wednesda Your Public Library

A New Book Starts Every Monday

email book club

Here’s how your email book club work

“This service really gets one ‘hooked.’ Like a kid in the candy store, one taste of this, one taste of that and I’m hooked for life. It’s something to look forward to when others clutter up this form of communication.” Jim Pletz Chicago Public Library, Director Adult Services

LibraryNet Best Practices Recently, the Windsor Public Library won a LibraryNet 2001 Best Practices award for the Email Book Clubs. Brian Worrall, Manager of Communications and Media at the library comments, “Being in the limelight like this, we’re very glad that Chapter-a-Day has never let us down. Chapter-a-Day’s customer service is friendly, prompt and problem-free.” Brian Worrall Windsor Public Library Windsor, Ontario, Canada

“Move Over Oprah” “Publishers should take note, too: [Chaptera-Day is] a win-win situation for them also, extending the life of a book beyond the bookstore’s short shelf life, giving them a chance to promote new titles, and making readers of nonreaders.” Francine Fialkoff Editor, Library Journal

experts agree

“Like a kid in a candy store.”

“Thank you for making the book club available to us. It's always a highlight of my weekday mornings. The catch is - how will I ever get all those books read that have caught my interest. I am 81! —Faye “I look forward to reading a new chapter each day in fact I’m addicted to it!” —Jane “I have so many friends who tell me they don’t have time to read anymore, but with something like this, you get hooked on a book and HAVE to read it!” —April “After dinner I sneak downstairs to the computer, log on and hungrily go for this day's read. It is often just the break I need to go back upstairs revived and fresh to deal with the family in a better frame of mind.” —Deborah “I thought that your book club would be a great thing, but it’s torture! I can’t stand having to wait another day to find out what comes next! If I had this Alice Hoffman book in my hands, I’d make it a sick day and stay in bed reading all day!”—Katherine “You Know what I like about the book club is that I can read for a long time; and my mom Knows why I'm in my room all Saturday-Sunday.” —A Teen Reader

“Wow! This book has really captured my attention. I just read your latest email and I’m sitting here with a lump in my throat. Thanks for sharing.” —Diane

readers get hooked

“You are SO right I’m completely hooked. I’ll have to make a trip to my local library this very evening.” —Bonnie

“My sister hooked me up to your service and I love it! Reading is my favorite thing to do. And reading at work is even better!!!” —Lisa “I love this book! I have talked with so many people about it and have forwarded the excerpts to many as well.” —Barbara “Good idea. I got your message from my daughter from Kodak. I have forwarded it to some friends of mine in Alaska.” —Dave “I just signed up. What a great idea. My daughter told me about this and I think it is great. Thank you so much.” —Sally “I forward your chapters to a small group of friends each day. One friend was so motivated by the book last week that she started to write poetry again. She submitted her poems to ‘Themestream’. We' all so proud of her spunk and determination. Sincerely.” —Marilyn

“I’m finding that I can’t wait to get the next email to see how things are turning out. I’m resolved that I’m going to have to get this book.” —Gail

readers tell their friends

“I’ve already signed up my daughter and Mom so we can share some of the same books together. Good luck, this is such a wonderful idea and I want to share it with other friends. —Margo

• Over eighty major publishers work with us • Librarian Advisory Board assists in book choices • Eight week advance notice given to libraries

We prepare the daily emails: • Your library's name and logo are at the top. It's your club. • A short introduction to that day's read • A five minute read or listen from the chapter • Library news and events, with links to your website • General information and additional links • Emails delivered Monday through Friday

We manage the subscription list • We provide a sign up page that you add to your website • Signups are automatically added to your list • Patrons can subscribe or unsubscribe at any time • Your OnLine Book Club list is separate from other libraries • No limit on number of people who can sign up

We offer ten OnLine Book Clubs Original Book Club: a mixture of fiction and nonfiction Audio Book Club: books on tape delivered in your email Business Book Club: latest business books Teen Book Club: books for young adults Good News Book Club: books that inspire Fiction Book Club: the best of fiction Romance Book Club: romance is in the air Mystery Book Club: start looking for clues Horror/Sci-Fi: Book Club: things that go bump in the night PrePub Book Club: read book before they’re published

We provide promotional assistance We have an entire web site full of resources and ideas: www.chapteraday.com/marketing • OnLine Book Club logo with your library's name • Artwork for bookmarks, table top displays and signs • Sample press releases and public service announcements • Ideas for community promotions • Examples of how libraries are promoting their Book Clubs • Monthly newsletter with upcoming books and ideas

we do the work for you

We contact the publishers and authors

Original Book Club The Original Book Club offers a variety of books from fiction to nonfiction, selfhelp to inspirational, and just about any book that we think will catch your interest and imagination. If you’re in a reading rut, this is the club for you. Every week, you’ll discover a new book.

Fiction Book Club This club features a variety of fiction books. One week you might read a Tom Clancy book and the next week a novel by a first-time author. You'll be amazed at what you'll discover in this book club.

Teen Book Club Our Teen Book Club features mysteries, comedies, true-life adventures and even some science fiction. Every day a new five minute read along with an introduction from a teen reader. Reading was never so easy.

Mystery Book Club Don't miss a single clue. If you enjoy a good mystery, be sure to sign up for this book club. Each week we'll feature a new and mysterious book.

Audio Book Club Enjoy a daily dose of spoken word with audio books from fiction, nonfiction, selfhelp, business books and more. All delivered to your email address. The Audio Book Club is delivered every other week. Just sit back and listen—no reading necessary.

PrePub Book Club Be an "insider" in the publishing industry. Our PrePub Club is your "stage pass" to start reading books before they're published. Every other week you'll receive an Advanced Reading Copy in your email from a book that's not yet published. This is a special invitation, just for our book club readers.

Romance Book Club Romance is in the mail–email that is. We’ll feature your favorite authors and introduce you to new ones.

Horror/SF Book Club Not quite awake in the morning? We've teamed up with the Horror Writer's Association to bring you ghosts, ghouls, and things that go bump in the night. This book club features a horror selection one week and a science fiction selection the next. Come on, sign up now. What are you afraid of?

Business Book Club Our Business Book Club delivers the latest ideas in sales, marketing, management, customer service, and e-commerce. Start every day with new ideas that you can put to work in your job and your business.

Good News Book Club Our Good News Book Club features wholesome books that will make you laugh, cry and really think about what is important in your life. These are books that you can share with your whole family.

The OnLine Book Club is a service that you provide your library patrons and other people in your community. Over 3,000 libraries offer their patrons Chapter-a-Day Book Clubs. Monday through Friday, they receive an email from your library with a portion of a chapter from a popular book. The daily Your patrons are just a click away emails take about five minutes to read. After from enjoying a book every day with receiving 2 or 3 complete chapters from a their morning cup of coffee. Enjoy! book, they start receiving a new book.

What's included in the daily emails? The daily emails have five parts. The first is your library's name and logo. The second part is a brief lead-in to the book excerpt, written by our staff. The third part is chapter selection which takes about five minutes to read. The fourth part is news and events from your library, including links to your web page. The last part has general information encouraging people to forward the daily emails to their friends, information on address changes, and links to other resources.

How does this benefit your library? First and foremost it encourages people to read. Patrons are introduced to different types of books. But more important, the OnLine Book Club allows you to reach people in your community, who don't visit your library and people who don't read. In addition, you're able to stay in touch with patrons on a daily basis. You can promote upcoming programs and speakers. You can introduce new books and new library staff. If you add a new page or service on your web site, you can include a link to your site.

What does your library have to do? The OnLine Book Club has your name on it. It's your club. You get the credit; we do most of the work. We get permission from the publishers and authors. We scan the books and prepare the daily emails. We maintain the email list for your library and send out the daily emails. All we ask is a commitment from you to promote your OnLine Book Club in your library and in your community.

questions and answers

What is the OnLine Book Club?