Decide what type of online book club you want to start.Before doing anything else, think about what type of book club you would like. Do you want to focus on a certain genre, a certain author, or a particular group of books. Or, would you rather leave the choice of books wide open for more variety?
Establish guidelines, rules and a schedule.Prior to building your site and recruiting members, create some basic guidelines, rules and a simple schedule. You may want to adjust these later as your group evolves, but it's beneficial to have some policies in place. Visit a few other online book clubs to get an idea of the kind of rules you might want to implement, including membership requirements, how books will be chosen, when they will be discussed, how any spoilers will be posted and a schedule for reading.
Select a forum hosting service.You can build your own website from scratch if you have the knowledge and time, but a much quicker and easier way is to sign up to host your own forum. There are a number of sites that offer free forums, but they do come with limitations and usually some ads. Other sites offer low-priced forum hosting with more options than free hosting. Choose your host carefully, since it can be difficult and frustrating to change services after your board is established, and you may lose members during a switchover. InvisionFree is a popular choice for free forum hosting, and iPowerweb is a top choice for paid forum hosting. Check the Additional Resources section for links to these two providers.
Build your site.Following the instructions provided by your hosting service, build and customize your forum. Consider including areas for discussion of the current book you are reading, discussion of other books, and for general off-topic discussion to give your members a chance to get to know each other better.
Build membership.Once your site is up and running, you are ready to begin recruiting members. Start by scanning your email address list for possible members, then expand your search by posting about your new group in book-related forums and on free classified ad sites like Craigslist. In addition to recruiting online, post flyers in libraries, bookstores and other places where you might find interested members.
Choose your first book.Using the guidelines you created in Step 2, choose your first book, remind members of the guidelines, and begin reading and enjoying your new online book club.