Feb
Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover
I’d like to welcome a diehard mystery reader to our blog today. Her efforts toward the genre are more than a little noteable. Please welcome, Nikki Bonanni. Nikki is an Exercise Physiologist and a part time faculty member at Ithaca College in upstate New York. In her spare time she writes mysteries and plays ice hockey! 
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I have never been one to be interested in joining a book club. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m an avid reader, I just don’t want anyone else to tell me what to read. I’m also a bit stubborn and typically like to stay within the mystery genre, with occasional thrillers and suspense novels. So the thought of a book club was never really on my mind.
That is until I found myself recommending new authors I’d met at mystery conferences. I enjoyed trying out new series and telling others about them. One of them, in turn, suggested I start a book club.
Hmmm… If I did one, I could make it a mystery book club. And if it was my book club, I’d get to pick the books, right?
And so The Killer Coffee Club was born. I stopped in at my local Barnes & Noble to let them know we’d be meeting in their cafe once a month. The Community Relations Manager, who is now a friend as well as a book club member, offered to attend the first meeting. I chose, Still Life, by Louise Penny as our first book.
I spread the word about the book club through my friends and personal training clients, who in turn told others. I also thought it would be fun to have a website and searched for a free, easy to set-up option.
When I attended Bouchercon in October, I approached some authors and mentioned I’d like to add their books to our calendar. Some agreed to actually visit, and those that couldn’t were open to trying Skype (what a terrific option for long distance–we place the laptop on a shelf and the author joins our circle).
I’m also a bit of a gadget person, and so I decided to try short video clips from the authors for my website so that readers could get a small taste of their books. These were easy to do with an ipod, and for a small annual fee I could add videos to my website.
The list of interested authors grew, and I wanted to do everything I could to make their trip worth it. The easiest of course was to ask B & N if we could do a public signing prior to our meeting. The bookstore also started ordering signs for the window and the aisle announcing our meetings! The signs, alone, have gotten us new members.
We have about twenty people on the email list and average 8-10 per meeting so far, but many who can’t attend still read the book selection and let me know their thoughts. I even added a blog page to the website because members were enjoying the books so much they wanted another outlet to chat!
Just recently we’ve established a connection with another bookstore that offers authors an additional venue for getting the word out about their books. When I browsed their website, I found that they also have a mystery book club! So now, when an author comes to visit, we have the potential for four different locations in addition to checking out any theme related groups.
The entire experience of setting up The Killer Coffee Club has been wonderful. The meetings are fun and we even had a Murder Mystery Dinner one evening. What a hoot!!
In addition to the camaraderie of getting together with others who share the same interest, there are many other benefits that have come with this project. It keeps me in better touch with my own writing, it’s introduced me to new friends, and it’s allowed me to share great new books and authors with others.
~Nikki
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:41 am
Nikki,
What a great idea. And what a boost to the mystery writing community. I love the visual of the author in the laptop sitting on the shelf…very sci fi!
I was in abook club but we turned into a breakfast club instead. I think we read/discussed the same book twice. Then it was just what are you reading. I too didn’t really like the type of book the others did so it was hard to get the required reading done.
The Killer Coffee Club is a great name!
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:01 am
I hadn’t joined a book club, but one of the great librarians at my branch picked 2 mysteries, so I attended those meetings and liked them. The second book was one that I hadn’t wanted to read because I resist books/movies that are ’shoved down my throat’ as being “the best book/movie ever!” or “you must read/see this” (yes, it’s my juvenile response to authority). It was The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and I read it the day before the meeting. When I smiled on page 2 and laughed out loud on page 3, I knew I’d been a twit, and admitted the book was as wonderful as people had said (at least I can admit I was wrong).
However, when I joined a different mystery book club, it was not a fun experience, as the woman who started it was determined to make sure we all knew it was “her” group and that she would be completely in charge. She selected books that were out of print (and self published, at that), books that were 20 years old, and final books in series, simply because she already had them on her shelves or wanted to buy them to complete her collection. Three other women and I decided (after the leader had yelled at 2 of us for resisting) that we’d start a more democratic and fun group, where we’ll take turns selecting books from at least 2 choices by each reader. We’re meeting this Sat. to iron out details about potential author visits, etc, with the library and we start our discussions with Veil of Lies, by Jeri Westerson in March. I can’t wait!
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:35 am
As always, Nikki, I’m in awe. You’ve taken such care with this club and made it something really special. Can’t wait to visit the KILLER COFFEE CLUB next month!
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Lynn, the breakfast meetings sound fun too — we (of course) have coffee….that was one of the draws of B&N! We also thought everyone would be more likely to come rather that having to hold it at people’s homes.
Kate –she yelled at you?! Wow — that does not sound like a fun group! So far I have chosen all the books but everyone has enjoyed it because they like learning about the new authors that I’ve come across at conferences. We generally chat about the future ‘plans’ at meetings so everyone knows what’s coming and can voice their opinions. I’m so glad you have a new group!
Elizabeth, We are so excited–we meet tomorrow night and will be talking about your visit! It just keeps getting more fun!
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:12 pm
There’s a big difference between a group of people reading the same book, and a book club. You’ve defined that quite nicely! Rather than pulling titles out of a hat, you’re adding to the reader’s experience with interviews and insight. I’m not a joiner, but if I were in your neighborhood, I’d be ordering up a Cafe Americano and pulling up a chair. Well done!
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:13 pm
As a retired librarian, I have join many book clubs over the years. I’m now one of Nikki’s clients and our sessions were filled with mystery discussions as I huff and puff on the machines at our health club. We have gone to two conferences together, Malice and Bouchercon. They were so fun and informative. I got to see Nikki interact with other authors and I’m positived she will someday be on the podium with them. Meanwhile, as a member of the KCC, I’m making new friends and reading even more. Looking forward to meeting Elizabeth soon-
February 23rd, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Thanks Joe! You are also welcome to email any comments if you read the book and I bring them to the meeting. I try to write up a summary and post it to the website and/or email it to the group after the meeting….I’m working on incorporating it into a monthly newsletter called “Clued In”.
Thanks Marilyn–I’m looking forward to our next mystery adventure!
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Some people are just naturals at one thing or another – having met Nikki recently (at Bouchercon) she is one of those rare people to whom the light attaches and everybody just gravitates to. Something tells me “Killer Coffee Club” will be more than a book club before too long, I see anthologies, t-shirts and coffee mugs, maybe even a mystery series of its own in the future. Keep up the good work Nikki – I’m looking forward to my appearance tomorrow on Wednesday, Feb 24th via Skype. (Honored to be one of your “rare” thriller authors.)
Graham Brown, author Black Rain,
http://www.authorgrahambrown.com
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:58 pm
Sounds like a good group to be involved with. I tried the book club route before, but I didn’t like someone choosing what book I can and cannot read at the time that I wanted to read them.
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Thank you so much Graham; we are looking forward to it too! I’ve heard from a number of members who loved Black Rain and are excited for Black Sun to come out.
Dru, it definitely is hard sometimes to fit it all in. We have some members that read the book but can’t make the meeting, and others who only make it periodically, which is fine. I just email a few days prior to each meeting to get an idea of who’s coming and so far we’ve been lucky enough to have a good core group.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Hi Nikki,
Like the rest, I’m in awe of all you do for the mystery genre. And deeply grateful to have benefited by it. thanks for choosing Still Life as your debut novel in the Club. Excellent. See you at malice.
February 25th, 2010 at 1:13 am
Hi Louise!
Still Life was such a huge hit for the Killer Coffee club, and many members immediately read the rest of the series to date. At the end of each meeting we typically end up talking about previous authors and who’s read the next books, and quite often we end up in Three Pines! Looking forward to Malice!