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The Richard and Judy Book Club 2010

Richard and Judy are back!

Richard and Judy left our screens last July, leaving a big hole in the publishing industry. Their book group boosted sales for those lucky enough to be selected, with the average book selling 250, 000 copies.

It has recently been announced that Richard and Judy plan to revive their book club in 2010. They are going to place their famous stickers on a selection of books and run the book group online, through the Richard & Judy website.

UPDATE: 24th June 2010

Richard and Judy have announced that their book club will run in partnership with WHSmith. The couple will promote one book every fortnight via stickers in WHSmith stores. 6 books will be chosen later this year and then another 8 books will be promoted in the Spring/Summer of 2011. The books will also be discussed on their new website. I’m looking forward to seeing which books they choose!

UPDATE: 28th August 2010

The 2010 Richard and Judy book list will be launched on September 2nd.

UPDATE: The Richard and Judy books have bee revealed!! 

CLICK HERE to see my post about the eight Richard and Judy books which have been selected. 

 

New: TV Book Club

Channel 4 have also revealed that they plan to launch The TV Book Club in 2010. The TV Book Club will follow the old Richard and Judy format, but use a series of celebrity presenters including Jo Brand and Gok Wan.

Edited to add: The TV Book Club has now announced its book selection.

I will be keeping an eye on both book clubs and will be interested to see which is the most successful. I think it will be hard to maintain an interest in an online only book group, but I wonder how successful those stickers will be. How many of the people who bought Richard and Judy’s selection in the past actually watched the program?

Will you be following either of these book groups?

Which do you think will be the most successful?

45 replies on “The Richard and Judy Book Club 2010”

Ooh – I was reading about these the other day. I have to say that I never used to watch R+J, but I have been interested in their choices and the way that the public have taken their recommendations on board – you used not to be able to make a journey without seeing someone reading a stickered book. It will be interesting to see if these two clubs have the same popular success.

Verity, I watched Richard and Judy all the time, but I didn’t pick up the books becasue they were on the television. I read them becasue they were the only ones my friends read, so if I wanted the rare chance to talk about books with them then I needed to read them. It will be interesting to see if they still have the same affect on my non-reading friends.

Its great that they are back. R&J are part of our heritage. Lets see them getting stuck into some of the new authors in children’s books, like Sam Wilding, Keith Gray and John Fardell!!!

Paul, Thank you for commenting on my blog for the first time! I haven’t heard any plans for the return of their childrens book club yet – hopefully they’ll start that again too.

It was a successful format and a shame that the book industry lost this showcase, so it is nice it is being resurected. I hope it continues to give writers and publishers a boost with their next choices.

I have bought R&J books before but never watched the program. I will definitely look at both of the shortlists.

Whether I actually watch or look depends on ease of access to the website from work and the scheduling of the TV program.

I feel that from a marketing point of view the R&J stickered titles will be the more successful.

Sean, Thank you for commenting on my blog for the first time!

I think that the book club is going to be screened on more4 and then repeated on channel 4, presumably to cover several different time slots. I will ensure I watch a few episodes to get a feel for it, but whether I read the books will depend on whether they appeal to me and whether any of my friends decide to read them.

The TV program might do better because it will have the benefit of stickers and a show, but I guess the success will all be down to the books they choose.

Hi Jackie,

I have signed up for notifications from both groups.

Ultimately anything which brings a book to people’s attention is fine by me. I’m just glad there is a market for two shows/group let alone one.

I wonder if the lists will have any overlap?

Sean, I hope that the lists don’t overlap – it would be nice to spread the attention over as many books as possible.

I’ve signed up for the notifications too. I predict The Help will be on one of the lists and possibly Legends of a Suicide – it will be interesting to see what they pick.

Honestly, I don’t even know who these two are. Personally I will not be taking suggestions from them or watch the TV Book Club. I guess I’m a kind of a ‘reverted’ snob and I’d rather believe a blogger or a friend whose tastes I trust telling me that a book is great and I should definitely read it. 🙂

lilly, Sorry – I should have mentioned in the post that these are UK celebrities – the equivalent of Oprah. I don’t trust that the selections will be enjoyable (although lots are), but treat it like a giant book group, where everyone is able to talk about the books that have been selected.

Yeah, these two have absolutely no presence here in the US. Maybe our answer is Oprah? I only know about them through you and Simon. Do they pick good books? I know Oprah does a good job of selecting thought-provoking books, but I generally stay away just because it becomes so mainstream.

Sandy – that’s right – just like Oprah. It is like Oprah quiting to start an online book group and then her TV slot being filled by a mix of celebrities.

Richard and Judy do pick a great selection – I haven’t enjoyed them all, but there does tend to be something for everyone. I’ve just looked at Oprah’s list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah's_Book_Club and she has a fantastic selection. I’m planning to read most of them and I didn’t even realise Oprah had picked them.

I joined in with reading all the Richard and Judy books this year as you know, am not sure I will next year it depends on the book choices this year they all appealed to me in some way. I did watch it on my iPod after every group which I found interesting. The TV Book Club just sounds like a certain channel cashing in, mind you that channel do make cracking shows.

We don’t get these shows In India. Only TV Book Club I have watched is Oprah’s. Though I have read about Richard and Judy Book Club on some blogs I am not aware of their previous selections but this is a very good approach to boost readership among viewers and make them try some new genres and lesser known authors. Wish we had something like this here

Shona, They have picked things like Time Traveller’s Wife, Kite Runner, Ghostwritten and Labyrinth. I do like the way they bring reading to a more mainstream audience. I hope you get something similar there soon.

I was the same, read the R&J picks if I liked them. The interesting thing is unlike Oprah Richard and Judy didn’t pick the books. A woman called Amanda Ross did and she is involved with Channel 4 book club. So will interesting to see what books are picked.

Fiona, Thank you for commenting on my blog for the first time!

You make an interesting point. Amanda Ross is picking the books for the channel 4 show, so in theory the books will be similar to previous Richard and Judy selections.

We will be seeing Richard and Judy’s choices for the first time (assuming they are actually picking them themselves this time) I hope that they have a good taste in books!

I’m not in the UK, so hadn’t heard of Richard and Judy before. I hope the online version of their book club is as much a success – it’s wonderful for authors to get that kind of chance, I think.

A very funny thing – I didn’t have a clue who Gok Wan was a week ago, and now, within the space of a few days, I’ve read about him twice 🙂 I was reading about his new book, so interesting! (Can’t remember it off the top of my head but very provacative title.)

Belle, I’m surprised that you’ve heard of Gok Wan – i thought he was only in the UK too. He does a show called How to Look Good Naked about improving the way you see yourself. Perhaps you saw that book?

I wish we had them here in the states. We only have Oprah, who seems to have a singular penchant for the downtrodden and depressing. I also wish I could tune in to the BBC’s Books At Bedtime. Apparently, I’ll need to move overseas some day.

Bellezza, I love downtrodden depressing books, so Oprah has a great selection in my eyes! I can see that it isn’t very varied though. The good thing about R&J is that they have a good variety – romance, thriller + literary books.

Book at Bedtime is good, but I can never listen live and it is too fiddly to record, so I never get round to hearing it – such a shame as it has some great things on there.

hi jackie,you sound as if you m,ay like my book which has just been published and available on Amazon.It is called The Blackbird and the Rainbow and is about losing my son to heroin addiction ,how it devastated our family ,the bereavement and a celebrity obsession with Russell Brand before he became famous in the US.Although non fiction it read like a novel.You can check it out on Amazon and read the foirdt chapter to see if you may like it.Lots of love,Chrissie

I try to close my eyes and steer clear of MOST of the temptations I run into during my blogging round so no book clubs for me.

I have just created my very own 2010 reading challenge: the Global Reading Challenge (read books from six continents), and until I know how much it takes to host a challenge, I´d better say no to all these interesting time consumers 😀

Dorte, Running a challenge is really time consuming, but I hope that you are enjoying it. I’m terrible at saying no to these temptations. I look forward to finding out how many books from their lists I can be persuaded to read.

Whenever I frequent a Book Store I immediately forget what I actually went in for and end up spending ages perusing the long lines of Books. The Richard & Judy Book Club made everything easier for me & having read numerous of their recommendations, I quite happily sat & perused the website knowing that I would enjoy the majority of the books I ordered. Not one to just buy a book for its cover! I generally read the reviews from the sources I deem worthy before purchasing. The stickers on the front cover work for me as I hone in on these with glee! Having said all this, I don’t buy all that I see as some of the genre either does’nt interest me or is’nt to my taste but generally speaking Richard & Judy work for me & RJ Ellory’s sales have gone up I’m sure to name but one. I am thrilled that they are back…Yippee! I look forward to some cracking good reads this year.

Megan, I remember a time when I read almost nothing but R&J books. Since blogging my to-be-read pile exploded with fantastic books, but I still enjoy reading R&J selections because so many other people read them and I love discussing books with a lot of people. I hope they choose some more fantastic books this year.

Hi Farm Lane. Thanks for the news and the links!

But please pay more attention to spelling!
“Hole”, not “whole”
Also, “its” rather than “it’s”
[It’s is the contraction of “it is”, not the possessive]
All the best
Roger, Black Lotus

I wish to contact Richard & Judy regarding a new book I have just completed, to obtain their comments as to its suitability for publishing. Thank you, yours sincerely Denis Mills.

We live in Spain so hope our local Bookworld shop can get these titles for us as we would like to read all of them. Life in Spain gives us plenty of time to indulge our passion to read. Will let you know the results on aquisition and comments on books later!!!
Cheers!!!

Lynda and Harry, Thank you for commenting on my blog for the first time 🙂

It is great to hear that you have so much time for reading – I look forward to hearing your thoughts on all the books selected.

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