News

Glassboard for Book Clubs

Wallace Yovetich

Staff Writer

Wallace Yovetich grew up in a home where reading was preferred to TV, playing outside was actually fun, and she was thrilled when her older brothers weren’t home so she could have a turn on the Atari. Now-a-days she watches a bit more TV, and considers sitting on the porch swing (with her laptop) “playing outside”. She still thinks reading is preferable to most things, though she’d really like to find out where her mom put that old Atari (Frogger addicts die hard). She runs a series of Read-a-Longs throughout the year (as well as posting fun bookish tidbits throughout the week) on her blog, Unputdownables. After teaching for seven years, Wallace is now an aspiring writer. Blog: Unputdownables Twitter: @WallaceYovetich

View All posts by Wallace Yovetich

Readers, may I introduce you to Glassboard? Glassboard, these are readers.

Years ago a few friends of mine from San Francisco and I were talking about wishing we lived in the same city so the three of us could start a book club. We decided we would try to read a book together and talk about it on a book site that had a public forum which we could customize for our club.

We never read the book.

Fast forward to this past May, when Book Riot staff and contributors used Glassboard to keep in touch while at BEA. I fell in love and have since created groups with friends. Basically, these are private boards (on your phone through the Glassboard app) that serve as a platform to have a conversation with a group of people without clogging your e-mail or having your text alert beep at you every two seconds. You can name the group, invite only whom you want to be part of it, and then start your ongoing conversation. It can be set up to notify you when a new message comes in, or you can set it to not let you know (and just check your board when you want to).

It’s the perfect way to read with friends who aren’t geographically close enough to have a book club with. People can enter their thoughts and comments as they move along with the reading, and Glassboard keeps the threads organized so you can see separate conversations about different points.

To start:

  • Head to the app store and download Glassboard.
  • Once you have your account, find “Create a Board” in the left hand column.
  • Name the board (you can even add a picture if you want), and then invite your friends.

It’s as easy as that! Have fun starting new book book clubs!