How Reading Circles work
For readers and authorsUpdated 1 min read
A Circle is a group reading one book at the same pace, with a plan, a discussion, polls, challenges and meetings. Circles are public, unlisted or private; you join instantly, by request or by invitation link; the owner sets the rules; authors can start an official circle around their book.
The short answer
A Reading Circle is a group reading the same book at the same pace. It has a plan, a discussion, polls, challenges and meetings. Open Circles in the top bar to see the ones you can join and the ones you are in.
Joining
- Public circles are listed; anyone can find and read them. Unlisted circles are reachable by link. Private circles are for members.
- The owner chooses how people get in: Join (instant), Ask to join (you see Request sent while the owner answers), or an invitation link, sometimes with a question or two first.
- Leave any time from the circle's menu.
Reading together
The circle opens on the book and the plan. Reading now shows the group's place and yours. The tabs are Discussion, Plan, Polls, Challenges and Members; the people who run it also see Manage. Posts follow the circle's spoiler policy, which can hide posts about parts you have not reached. Meetings carry a time shown in your own timezone, and being in the discussion during the meeting counts as attendance.
Starting one
Start a circle from the Circles page (up to ten of your own). In Manage you set the details, the book and plan, access, moderation, polls and challenges. Moderation is a preset you read before you apply it, and you can restore the previous setup. See Running a Circle.
Authors
An author can start an official author circle around one of their books or series. It works like any circle with the author as owner, and shows the Official Author Circle mark once the author profile is verified. See Official author circles.
Learn more
Joining a Circle, Posting in a Circle and Circle meetings and schedules cover each part.
Where this lives
Related
- Joining a Reading Circle: A Reading Circle is a group reading together. Circles are public (listed), unlisted (reachable by link) or private (members only); joining is instant, by request (Request sent while the owner answers) or by invitation link, sometimes with a question or two to answer first.
- Running a Reading Circle: Start a Circle from the Circles page (up to ten of your own); the Manage tab has one section per job (Details, Book and plan, Schedules, Access, Members, Appearance, Moderation, Polls, Challenges, Live). Moderation is a preset you read before applying, with the previous configuration kept so you can restore it; invite links can expire, be limited or revoked.
- Posting in a Reading Circle: The Discussion tab is the conversation; a post has a type (general, chapter chat, checkpoint, theory, character, quote, prompt, announcement, endgame) and follows the Circle's spoiler policy, which can hide posts past your recorded progress. Report and remove work as everywhere.
- Official Author Circles: An author starts an author circle around one of their books or series from the Circles page or the Studio; it shows the Official Author Circle mark once the author profile is verified. It works like any Circle with the author as owner, plus drop-ins and, where a video provider is connected, live sessions. "Author participating" marks a Circle the author is in but does not run.
- The reading plan, checkpoints and meetings: A Circle's Plan tab holds the book, the checkpoints (by chapter, percent or date) and the group's progress; a checkpoint can carry a meeting time, shown in your own timezone, and being in the Discussion during the meeting window counts as attendance. Owners can make recurring schedules and author drop-ins.
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