Celebrating and discussing the selected book can happen in a variety of ways. Here are some suggestions based on what other communities have done:
- Set up book discussions at library branches throughout the city with librarians serving as moderators. The Discussion Guide can function as an outline for these meetings.
- Set up Film Festivals in library or local theaters if the book has been adapted into a movie.
- Invite the author to give a lecture or participate in a “town meeting.”
- Set up a re-enactment of a key section of the book with a local theater troupe.
- Set up a “town meeting” with prominent local figures discussing the book.
- Work with local restaurants or coffee shops to host discussion groups in their locations.
The involvement of other sponsoring groups in the Community-Wide Reading Program may open unique promotion possibilities, but the following suggestions should work in nearly any town:
- #1 priority should be to work with all media contacts to garner as much print, digital and broadcast coverage as possible.
- Create e-cards for local schools, businesses, religious institutions and any other organization that wants to support the initiative.
- Provide local bookstores with promotional material for display
- Ask the local bookstores to feature the book in their newsletters and on their Web sites.
- Advertise the title selected and the programs in the local paper.
- Run ads on the local public radio station.
- Run excerpts from the audio-book edition on the local public radio station (with the publisher’s permission).
- If the author is involved in the events, set up interviews on local television and radio programs prior to public appearances.