Small Biz Spotlight: Silent Book Club Melbourne
About Silent Book Club
Silent Book Club Melbourne is a local chapter of the global Silent Book Club movement, which started in San Francisco in 2012. Often referred to as ‘introvert happy hour’, it’s a book club created by and for introverts. Unlike traditional book clubs, there’s no assigned reading, no enforced conversation and no competitive book banter. There are over 300 global Silent Book Club chapters led by local chapter leads.
About Skye Bennett
Skye is a project manager by profession. Community builder, facilitator, and mentor by passion with a keen interest in social entrepreneurship. Silent Book Club Melbourne is a labour of love she started in 2021.
What motivated you to start The Silent Book Club Melbourne?
I love books. I love talking about books. But, sometimes in a traditional book club, I find the obligatory talking about a set book a bit too enforced and at times competitive. As an introvert it can require too much preparation on my part!
Silent Book Club is a global movement, which I had read about. I started Googling to see if there was a chapter in Melbourne, but I couldn’t find anything. I thought this was kind of strange because Melbourne seems to be such a creative place.
But there wasn’t one, so I thought, “You know what? I’m going to try to set one up myself and see what happens.” I thought even if only a couple of people came, that would be great.
Since The Silent Book Club is a global movement, how does branding work?
It’s a bit like franchising. I got in touch with the two founders and they provided me with some logos. A lot of chapters just kind of do their own thing, but for me, I really liked the look and feel of the existing branding, so I decided to use that.
What was it like when you first started?
The book club first started online. I wasn’t expecting anyone to show up. But they did, and actually, there were people from all over the world. I had imagined just people in Melbourne coming along, but I was happy for anyone to join.
After a while I had a nice consistent audience. But then I started to sense people were not connecting as well as they could have been due to screen fatigue. So, I decided to try to do it in person to facilitate better connection.
I ran the first in-person sessions at the State Library. I was actually a bit nervous for the first one, because I really wasn’t sure if anyone would turn up. There were a few times where it was just me and one other person. That was lovely, because we got to read and chat and they always felt there was value in that.
Eventually we outgrew the library, because as the turn out got bigger, I realised that even though it is a “silent” book club, for many people it was all about the conversation. So then we moved outside the State Library, and at that time I had about 40 to 50 people coming. All of us just sat outside on the grass and chatted and did the silent reading.
It was then I thought, “Wow, there is actually something in this.”
I think that is so amazing. Do you have experience in business and marketing, or were you just winging it?
(Skye B laughs) Look, it was really organic. I didn’t strategise this at all. I do have experience in marketing, but this was very experimental. Like I said before, I honestly didn’t even know if anyone would come at first. But even still, I could tell that things were working and people who knew no one in the city were making real friendships - swapping phone numbers and things like that.
Do you remember the first person who came to your events?
There are a few people, actually, who came to the early days of the in-person events. The conversations I shared during those first few sessions still stay with me. I love when I see them still coming back today.
There’s this whole conversation right now around physical vs digital books. Does everyone bring an actual physical book to the book club, or are there digital alternatives?
It’s definitely a mix. One thing I like about The Silent Book Club is that there’s a little bit of structure, so people know what to expect, but there’s no rules. Many people do bring books, but a lot of people bring Kindles, magazines, audiobooks, and even podcasts. All are welcome.
I’ve even noticed from time to time that some people come and they don’t even read. They just like to come and sit down and be present with a group of people. But that’s what I really like. People can do whatever they want.
Aside from the events you run each month, how much work is there in the background?
There is quite a bit of admin on the backend. I do this all myself. I run the socials, manage the online event listings, and organising venues can take a bit of time.
But at the moment, most of my time is spent working on partnerships. It’s really important to me that this event remains free and accessible for everyone who attends. Until now I’ve been self-funding, but I feel like it’s gotten to a scale where there is an opportunity now for some partnerships. This can be support with the venue, or even drinks, and stuff like that, too.
Did you have previous experience with partnerships?
I have a background in the arts, so contacting organisations for sponsorships is something I was quite accustomed to. I knew how to pitch it, in terms of highlighting the value they receive, and really emphasizing the give and take of the partnership.
What advice do you have for a baby entrepreneur looking to get into partnerships?
Definitely use the connections you already have. Leverage your networks. If you don’t necessarily have any yet, try to build them by going to different events or joining online communities. Once you’ve built up the trust and rapport, then you can start introducing what you need. In my experience, always lead with the benefit you can provide. Make sure it’s always reciprocal. It’s not actually about the ask, it’s about what you can offer someone as well.
And actually, I’ve been working on something really exciting.
Ooh, am I allowed to know what it is?
Silent Reading Party | Sunday 28 May | Kere Kere Green | 4:30 - 7.00pm
I’ve been working for a while now on hosting a Silent Reading Party. It’s open to the entire Silent Book Club Melbourne community along with anyone interested in learning about the Silent Book Club movement. It has been generously supported by a wonderful venue in Fitzroy Gardens, KereKere Green. Their mission is to be a welcoming gathering place that builds connectedness in the local community, which is very much what Silent Book Club Melbourne is about. So it’s a beautiful synergy.
Well, from one Skye to another, thank you so much for your time. I’ll see you at the party!
If you want to check out The Silent Book Club Melbourne, click here.