Book club questions
What a club is, how to run one, and what it costs.
Joining and reading
- Do I need an account to read a club?
- No. A public club's rooms, its discussions and the full text of every thread are readable by anyone, and by search engines. Signing in adds two things: the files people have attached to posts, and the ability to see a club's full member list rather than the first two dozen.
- How do I join a club?
- An open club takes one click — the Join button on its card or on the club's own page, and you are in. A private club has an Ask to join button instead, which sends a request to whoever runs it.
- Does joining a club cost anything?
- No. Creating a club, joining one, and taking part in its discussions are free and always have been.
- Can I leave a club?
- Yes, from the menu on the club's page. You can rejoin an open club whenever you like; a private one would need a fresh invitation.
Running a club
- How do I start a club?
- Start a club from the Clubs page or the header menu. You name it, describe it, choose whether it is open or private, and it exists — then the invite panel opens straight away so you can bring people in.
- How do I invite people?
- Every club has a link, and for an open club that link is the invitation: copy it and send it anywhere. Inside the invite panel you can also search Chaptra by name, invite someone directly, and see who you are already waiting on so nobody is asked twice.
- Who can moderate a club?
- The person who created it, plus anyone they make an admin or a moderator. Admins and moderators can invite people, handle join requests, manage the club's rooms and remove members; only an admin or the creator can change or remove another organiser. Every club page names who runs it.
- What are rooms?
- Rooms are the sections a club's discussions are filed under — one for the book you are on, one for everything else, as many as suits you. Organisers can add, rename and delete them. A room can only be deleted once it is empty, so no discussion disappears with it.
Private and paid clubs
- What is a private club?
- A club whose discussions and member list are visible only to its members. It does not appear in the public directory, it is not indexed by search engines, and people join by invitation or by asking.
- What are paid clubs?
- Paid clubs are part of Chaptra Prime, which costs $5 per month or $60 once. Both plans include them — Prime is Prime however you paid for it.
- Can I charge my own members a subscription?
- Not yet. Taking payments from your own members, and paying that out to you, is not something Chaptra does today. Prime covers what you get from us, not what you could charge for.
- I paid for Prime yearly. What happened to my plan?
- Everyone who was on the old $60-a-year plan is now a lifetime member at no extra cost. It is the same $60 you had already paid, except it never renews and never expires.
Still deciding? Have a look at the clubs — you can read any public one without an account.