Survey of Australian Book Clubs

Will you help us show the importance, reach and impact of book clubs?

Will you tell us about your book club/s in this online survey? It will take about five minutes to complete.

All information will be securely stored and held solely by Creative Clunes Inc., the non-profit organisation that governs Book Clubs Friday and Clunes Booktown.

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* 1. What is the name of your book club?

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* 2. How many members does your club have in total?

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* 3. How many of those members are active? (i.e. attend at least 75% of meetings)

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* 4. In what suburb/town/area is your book club primarily hosted? (Please provide the postcode)

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* 5. Is the book club:

Female only?

Male only?

Male and Female?

Non-Binary/Gender Diverse?

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* 6. Is there a specific criteria for membership?

Yes (please specify)

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* 7. How long has your book club operated?

Less than one year

1-2 years

2-5 years

5-10 years

10-20 years

20-30 years

30-40 years

40-50 years

50+ years. That's impressive. How many years exactly?

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* 8. Are any of the book club’s founders still members?

Yes (if yes, how many?)

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* 9. What is the age range of book club members? (You can tick more than one)

0–4

5–9

10–14

15–19

20–24

25–29

30–34

35–39

40–44

45–49

50–54

55–59

60–64

65–69

70–74

75–79

80–84

85+

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* 10. Are your book club meetings:

Face-to-face?

Online?

Connected by other means? (please specify)

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* 11. How often does your book club meet?

Weekly

Fortnightly

Once a month

Once every two months

Other (please specify)

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* 12. Is the book club run and managed by:

Mainly one person?

Several club members?

A book shop?

A library?

The Centre for Adult Education?

Another commercial organisation?

Other (please specify)

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* 13. Where does your book club meet?

At the same person’s home every time

Members take it in turns to host in their homes

At a library

In a café/restaurant

At a book shop

At a pub/hotel

We hire a room

Other (please specify)

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* 14. What time do you usually meet?

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* 15. How long is the average length of each book club meeting?

Less than 30 mins

30 mins – 1 hour

1 – 1.5 hours

1.5 – 2 hours

2 – 3 hours

3 – 4 hours

Other (please specify)

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* 16. How much of the meeting time is spent discussing books?

100%

90%

75%

50%

Less than half of the time?

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* 17. Does your book club focus on:

Fiction?

Non-Fiction?

Both?

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* 18. Are your book club books mainly... (you can tick more than one box)

Any/all genres

Literary Fiction only

Action/Adventure

Art/Design

Biographies/Autobiographies

Books made into movies

Children’s

Cooking

Crime Fiction

Erotic

Fantasy

Historical Fiction

Horror

Mythology/Folk Lore

Poetry

Queer Fiction

Romance

Science Fiction

True Crime

Westerns

Young Adult

Other? (please specify)

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* 19. How do you choose the books for discussion?

Vote (All members make suggestions, followed by an open discussion, and vote)

Rotate (Members take turns, each choosing a book for a given meeting)

Other (please specify)

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* 20. What's the most common way that your book club members acquire books?

Each member buys his or her copy of the book to be discussed

One member buys all the copies of all the books to be discussed over several months or a year

Members take turns to buy all copies of the book to be discussed

One member buys a book and then that copy of the book is shared with other members

The club orders books from an online book store

The club orders from a book club specialist supplier

Several copies of the same book are sourced from a (free) lending library

Other (please specify)

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* 21. If your book club purchases bulk books, does it receive a discount or support from a service created for book clubs?

Yes

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* 22. Are you associated with more than one book club?

Yes (please specify how many)

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* 23. Have you previously been in another book club?

Yes (how many, please specify)

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* 24. Does your book club invite authors to speak?

Yes

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* 25. If yes, are the author meetings:

Face-to-face?

Via an internet service like Zoom or Skype?

By telephone?

Held by other means? (please specify)

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* 26. If you would like to stay in contact with Book Clubs Friday, please provide your name and email address. If you prefer to receive text messages, please also include your mobile phone number.
Your contact details will remain confidential and held solely by Creative Clunes Inc., which governs Book Clubs Friday and the Clunes Booktown Festival.

Name

Mobile Phone Number

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* 27. Would you like to know what this survey uncovers and what happens during and after the inaugural national book clubs symposium, Book Clubs Friday, on 1 May 2020 in Clunes, Victoria?

Yes

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* 28. Bonus Question: What is the best thing about your book club?

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* 29. Bonus Question: What is the worst thing about your book club?

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* 30. Last chance! Do you have any other comments about book clubs that you would like to share?

Yes (please specify)