App and website updates

Tutorial One: Welcome to Bookclubs!

Updated: Dec 17, 2022

Blog

Author

Olivia Markowski

Click here to watch our Welcome to Bookclubs video tutorial! 

 

 

To create an account on the website, click the “Sign In” option at the top right of the screen, or choose “Create a Club.”

If you’ve been invited to join Bookclubs via email, click the unique invitation link in the message, which will take you to a page where you can create an account by entering your email address and password. 



 

Once you create your Bookclubs account, you will be prompted to Create A Book Club

Enter your name and the name of the club you want to create here. 



 

Once you have entered these details and clicked “Create,” you will be presented with your unique invitation link. You can copy and paste this to share via email and social media, and you can also invite members to join your club by entering their email addresses (Bookclubs will send an email with your invitation). If you want to skip this step for now, you can always invite your friends to your club later!

Send your invitations — or skip this step for now — and you’ll be directed to your newly created club’s page. 

If you already have an account or have created a club, simply sign in to Bookclubs and toggle back and forth between “My Profile” and “My Clubs'' from the navigation bar. If you’re a member of multiple clubs, this is where you can navigate between your different club pages. This is an example of the “My Clubs” you’ll see from your profile after you’ve signed in!

Click on the name of any club to open that club’s page (or select them from the “My Clubs” dropdown in navigation). Here is where you’ll find a variety of features that help you manage your book club online!

Let's start with your club’s profile menu to the left!

To update your club’s profile photo, click on the camera icon under the avatar image and select an image from your device to upload.

The number of active members in your club is displayed just beneath your club’s name.

Click the “About Our Club” tab and you will see “Short Description” and “About Us.” This is where you can add any details about your club you would like to include in your profile. Get started by clicking the underlined text!

Under the “Currently Reading” tab is where your club’s selected book will be displayed. You can add “Currently Reading” books one by one by using the “Add a Book” option in the top right and searching for a book. Keep in mind that the currently reading book will automatically populates when an upcoming meeting with a book attached is scheduled.

In “Meetings” you can create meetings for your club, and your members can RSVP to club meetings here as well. In order to create a meeting, click on “Create a Meeting” in the top right corner, then enter in all of the information for the meeting including time, date, location and virtual meeting links. You can also search for a book and add the book to the meeting.

Once you input all the details, click “Create a Meeting.” You can choose to send an email notification to your club members, and your upcoming meeting will also be displayed on this page! You can make updates to a meeting anytime by navigating to the Meetings page and selecting “Edit” in the top right corner.

In the “Members” tab, you can see all of the active members within your book club. Depending on their privacy settings, this is where you can also view their profiles and find their contact information. 

Use “Messages” to create message threads! You can post messages, photos and videos, and other members can send replies to the message thread. Members can update their notifications settings to receive alerts when message threads and replies are posted via email and phone.

Use “Books We Want to Read” and “Books We’ve Read” to keep track of your book club’s growing reading list! In “Books We Want to Read,” members can recommend books they would like the club to read next. Members can search for books and add them in this list by clicking the “Recommend a Book” option in the top right corner. In “Books We’ve Read,” you can keep track of all of the books your club has finished reading and when you read them. You can also search for books and add them to the list if your club was meeting prior to using Bookclubs! Members can also add ratings and reviews of the books for your other members to see.

Use the “Polls” feature to create polls for your club members to vote on for book selections, meeting dates and times, and more! Select “Create a Poll” in the top right corner of your screen and ask your club members to vote on book selections and meeting dates and times, and even add Yes/No questions and open-ended questions! Each of your members' votes will show up here once a poll is posted as well (although you can choose to keep responses anonymous if you choose). 

Use the “Photo Album”  feature to upload photos and create albums with your club. And “Documents” is the perfect place to share different files for your club members to reference. Your club can upload recipes, discussion questions, minutes, tutorials and more!

At the bottom of your club profile menu, you'll find your club’s unique invitation link, and an area where you can enter in emails of those you would like to invite. You can either copy and paste the link to invite others to your club via email or social media, or you can input the emails of your future club members here to send them an invitation (don’t forget to separate multiple emails with a comma).

And finally, if you’re a club admin, you’ll see options to “Edit club name” or “Delete this club”  on the left hand side under the unique invitation link. Deleting your club will remove the club history and all of your past data, so do this only if you’re absolutely sure!

My Profile

Next up: let’s set up YOUR profile!

Once you’re logged in, access your profile by selecting “My Profile” from the top left of the navigation, or from the dropdown menu under your name at the top right of the navigation bar. 

Similar to “My Clubs,” you’ll see a profile menu to the left. From here, you can add or change your profile photo, edit your profile and adjust your privacy settings for each club you’re in, adjust your email settings, and change your password. 

 

Under “Overview,” you’ll see all of your clubs displayed, and you can click on any of them to navigate to that club page. You can also add Favorite Books, Books I’ve Read, and Books I Want to Read!

Add your favorite books here!

Keep track of your past reading with Books I’ve Read, where you can also add reviews and ratings. Use the Books I Want to Read section to keep track of all of the books you want to read in the future, or books you want to add to the lists of books for your club(s)!

 

 

Create your profile, start and join a book club, track your reading, and more.

COMMENTS

Stacey Pierce

Nov 29, 2023 - 4 months

The photo links appear to be broken.

Nicaise BiNi

Sep 23, 2023 - 1 year

Amazing grace

Michele Harris-Dixon

Feb 28, 2021 - 3 years

Wonderful tutorial. Some members in my club can use this! Thanks