About three months ago, I took the plunge and started my own group on Goodreads. I wanted a place to talk about the older novels I read, and it seemed that there weren't a lot of groups that even talked about public domain novels at all, much less regularly. I'm in a Christian fiction group that I love dearly, and wanted the same feel when talking about some other loves, the forgotten novels of the late 1800s and early 1900s.
I'd put it off for awhile, not sure how many other people would be interested. But I ended up emailing some friends to see if anyone was interested, and with a group of five people who were, I decided to go ahead and start it.
Above is one of the pictures I took for the design. There are many beautiful pictures available online, but I did not have time to research the copyright status of each one, so I decided to take my own. It was fun and simple to play around with books! I couldn't quite get the angle I wanted just with books, but adding the teacup gave it a special little zing, and I added it happily.
So, three months in, I am having lots of fun. My friends were very helpful giving tips and helping get some good books on the bookshelf. There are now over 25 members, and so far it hasn't been more than a couple of days between activity.
It does require some time investment, naturally. I set up several pages and spent a number of hours putting suggestive posts in, to give an idea of what each section was for. It's so rewarding, though, to see people beginning to invest their personality, instead of just following mine!
All said, I'm really glad I started the group, and so pleased with the people who have supported it and posted and brought it a step closer to being a thriving literary group like I hoped to find. Thanks so much, guys! Every single post, every book added to a shelf, warms my heart! :)