I’m excited to share this practice with authors, editors, publishers, educators, librarians, book clubs, readers, students, and anyone who wants to encourage deeper engagement with a book. In this self-paced, online course, you will

*learn the value of book discussion guides to many different consumers of media

*understand research practices that support your knowledge and abilities to create discussion guides

*receive tools and a step-by-step plan

*have the option to share your guides with me/other students.

 

You will learn all of this in the following SECTIONS:

1.What is a book discussion guide?

2.Typical contents of a book discussion guide.

3.Discussion categories and how to create questions from your book.

4.How and why a book discussion guide will help you and your readers.

5.Downloads of worksheets, student progress journals, infographics, checklists, a resource list, a sample fiction book discussion guide, and a basic book discussion guide template.

You may or may not have a finished or published book at this point. It doesn’t matter because this formula for construction can be put into action at any stage of a book’s life. It can boost interest in a new book and lengthen the shelf life of an older title because of the way a good book discussion guide adds dimension and interest to a publication. Once you have the process in hand, anyone can go from “how do I extend the life and interest in this book?” to increasing sales and expanding engagement almost indefinitely. What do I mean by “expanding engagement?”

Click this link to access the course for $197.00

https://joyeheldwriterwellnessworkshop.thinkific.com/courses/create-a-discussion-guide-for-your-books

 

Expanding engagement with a book amounts to ways to keep a book “top of mind” for a reader. There is social media, of course, but a good book discussion guide has the potential to do so much more than posts or even paid online advertising. It works the same for any genre and any writing style because once a reader finishes the last page of your book, you want them to keep thinking about the content, wondering about you, the author, and having ways to delve deeper into the book’s meaning, purpose, construction, and more.

 

 

This course provides a step-by-step action plan about the why, how, when, and what of developing a knockout discussion guide to accompany your books. Even poetry! Every published work has a history, a construction period, and more that readers are eager to learn about. There are multiple printable worksheets, checklists, text lessons, videos, and progress journals throughout the course that will give you the tools to design, create, analyze, and share a discussion guide based on your book. Once you have the formula, it is repeatable for every book you publish.

Let’s get started! Click this link to access the course and start immediately. Only $197.00

https://joyeheldwriterwellnessworkshop.thinkific.com/courses/create-a-discussion-guide-for-your-books

 

All good things,

Joy

 

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Welcome, Susan, to Books By My Friends. What an intriguing personal story you have to share with us. Let’s begin!

JH: What’s the blurb for your book?

SC: HOLDING FAST: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss is Susan Cole’s story of leaving everything behind to follow her husband’s lifelong dream of sailing away. Susan’s journey took her from the glitzy world of Madison Avenue advertising to riding out Hurricane Mitch, the largest hurricane on record at the time, on a sailboat in Guatemala. She hadn’t wanted to go in the first place but ended up on a life-changing odyssey.

JH: What inspired you to write Holding Fast: A Memoir of Sailing, Love, and Loss?

SC: I wanted to share the terrifying, exhilarating experience of leaving everything behind to sail on a boat for three years with my husband and young daughter, and how it gave me a blueprint for life even after my husband was gone.

JH: What one thing do you love most about writing?

SC: I love entering another world and discovering the heart of my feelings about it.

JH: What’s next for you in the way of writing/publishing?

SC: I’m working on my next book, a memoir about my dad who died when I was young.

JH: How can readers contact you?

SC:

https://www.susan-cole.com/

 

SC: I love entering another world and discovering the heart of my feelings about it.

BIO:

Susan Cole has lived on or around sailboats for more than thirty years. In between sails, she earned a B.A. at Barnard College, an M.A. at Columbia University, and for many years, ran a successful market research firm in New York. Her essays have appeared in literary journals and sailing magazines. Cole was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and has lived in New York, Connecticut, Florida, and Mexico. She moved to New Orleans six years ago and loves it.

JH: Thanks, Susan, for sharing this inspiring and moving story with BBMF. Best wishes for continued success with your books. Please visit again when the next book is ready to share.

Please feel free to leave a comment below for Susan.

All good things,

Joy

This article may contain affiliate links. Purchasing from these links helps me provide more awesome content for you. Thank you for your support!

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What’s at the library for you? You’ll never know unless you visit. From books to framed art prints you can check out to temporarily decorate a room with, the library is a gold mine. You just have to ask.

The library is a great place, but not everyone knows what a treasure trove of wonder and wisdom resides there.

Honestly, go to the library and once you get past the humility of the massive collection of knowledge and ideas all in the same place, look around at everything available to everybody from the casual reader catching up on the daily news to the college professor checking on resources for a class he’s teaching next semester.

The point is that EVERYBODY belongs at the library. Everybody, that is, who respects the principle of freedom to access information. Lack of respect for the contents, the people, the equipment, the facilities, or the ideas will get you rightfully tossed out the front door by the gatekeeper known as the Librarian.

It’s a tough job monitoring knowledge, keeping it as safe as possible from abuse, staying on top of current information techniques, and exploding technology. But most librarians are fantastic people with a lot on their plates but always willing to help when asked a question. Granted, we’ve all run into the crusty book warden who is a bit ragged around the edges, but the librarian is a precious jewel and should be treated with appreciation. After all, she opens the doors every day and believes in the same thing writers and educators do: knowledge and ideas are only valuable when they are shared.

I have soooo many great librarian stories to share that one month isn’t enough. So here is a brief list of all the ways libraries and librarians have been a great help to my careers as teacher and writer.

#A librarian near my hometown helped me access a primary source that inspired my first romance novel. If it weren’t for this particular special collection and this wonderful woman who let me read “The Message to Garcia” by Elbert Hubbard (1899), my novel wouldn’t have the historical accuracies it does.

#When my children were young and learning to love reading and writing, a wonderful junior librarian named Brenda made a point to find out what interested them and ordered books year after year that kept them coming back until they moved away for college.

#My favorite aunt is a school librarian. She loved helping children find and enjoy books, including me. My love of reading and writing comes from Aunt Rosemary.

#Doug at the college library where I taught for 18 years never failed to amaze me at how quickly and efficiently he responded to my requests for materials no matter where on Earth they were located.

#My FAVORITE librarian is my youngest daughter!

Libraries need and take donations of money and materials. In recent months, I’ve donated a collection of classic novels to the local children’s library and over 200 articles, books, and awards representing my 40 years as a freelance author. I’m not done publishing. I didn’t have any more room in the house to collect it all. Now, The Joy E. Gunter Held Collection resides in the West Virginia Archives and History Library in Charleston, WV.

Archives and History

 

I’ll save more library/librarian kudos for later. What’s your library story?

Hug a library and a librarian every day. They are the protectors of one of the most important freedoms: speech.

Check here for some interesting facts about National Library Lover’s Month.

https://nationaltoday.com/national-library-lovers-month/#:~:text=U.S.,lovers%20all%20around%20the%20world.

It’s not too late to celebrate National Library Lover’s Month 2023. Support a library and be nice to a librarian. The returns are valuable.

Be well, write well!

Joy