Book clubs
A book club app for small groups who read at different speeds
Most book clubs talk once a month, after the last page. The rest of the month the conversation stalls, because nobody wants to spoil anyone. Bookties gives your club a place to talk about the book while you are reading it.
The problem with book club group chats
Everyone in a club reads at their own speed. The member who finishes in three days has nobody to talk to for three weeks. The member who starts late scrolls past the group chat with their eyes half closed. By the meeting, half of the good reactions are forgotten.
Ordinary chat apps cannot help, because they do not know who is on which chapter.
What a book club app should do
- Show where each member is in the book, without asking.
- Let people comment on a specific chapter, not just on the book as a whole.
- Hide each comment from members who have not reached that chapter yet.
- Keep the notes for the meeting, so you can bring up the best ones.
- Stay out of the way: no feed, no ads, no algorithm.
That list is what Bookties does. It started as a way for two friends to read the same book, and it works for a small group without any new rules.
Running a month in Bookties
- Pick the book together and add it to Bookties.
- Share it with each member of the club.
- Everyone reads on their own schedule and moves their progress as they go.
- Notes go on the chapter they are about and unlock for each member who reaches it.
- At the meeting, open the book and go through the notes chapter by chapter.
Who it works for
Bookties is built for groups of friends, families, couples and small clubs of up to a dozen or so readers. It is not a public forum and strangers cannot find you: you share a book with people you already know.
Big online readalongs with hundreds of people are better served by a forum. Bookties is for the club that fits around a kitchen table.
Free, private and on your phone
Bookties is free, has no ads and does not track what you read. It runs in any browser and as an Android app, with an iPhone app on the way. You can export or delete your data at any time.
Questions
Is Bookties free for book clubs?
Yes. There is no paid tier for groups and no limit on books.
Does every member need an account?
Yes, each member signs in with Google, Apple or email. That is how Bookties knows which chapter each person is on.
Can we use it alongside our meetings?
That is the idea. Read and write notes during the month, then use them as the agenda when you meet in person or on a call.
Can strangers find our club?
No. There are no public groups. A book is shared only with the people you add.
Bring your book club in
Pick this month's book, share it with your club, and let the fast readers write freely.
Free, with no ads. Works in the browser and on Android.