Arielle Messer, the founder, started Literary Cocktailers Book Club five years ago as a way to make new friends, have meaningful, intellectual discussions and explore NYC. After about one year, the book club had about 20 committed members that came monthly. However, it turns out that there were hundreds more people that were interested in finding groups that were organized, reliable and most importantly, had the type of people they could imagine themselves becoming friends with. Four years later, Arielle had over a thousand people on the waiting list for her book club on meetup.com with many of them messaging her about how they can join, when the wait list will open and if new groups would be created. 

It dawned on Arielle that the basic human need of non-digital communities with face-to-face interactions was unmet in our busy, urban society.  Book club is the perfect remedy to this problem because people establish relationships with people when they have something to talk about, something in common. If you think about the last time you made a good friend, it was probably in a situation where you saw each other consistently and were doing things together. Books give people something to talk about and monthly meetings provide that consistency that is needed to create real roots for a friendship.

Arielle launched the business itself last year with the ultimate goal of providing all of the structure needed to build a community that is easy for people to partake in regularly. That is where the subscription service comes in. Members vote for and then receive the monthly book in the mail and have multiple options of meetings on different dates to attend for that book.  Additionally, all members are vetted and all meetings are reliably organized and structured. This ensures that:

1. Most people will like the book (democratic process of book selection)
2. Its easy and convenient to get the book
3. Most people will be able to find a meeting they can attend every month
4. People don't have to worry about there being weird or rude people at the meeting
5. People don't have to worry about planning or organizing the meetings themselves

Our core mission is to build a community that facilitates real life interactions and development of actual friendships.

What comes with membership

• The monthly subscription box which contains the book, a book mark and a letter to the reader
• Access to well structured and organized monthly book club meetings. Questions are customized to be relevant and interesting to the group (ie not english class questions about symbolism from the back of the book)
• Access to other events hosted by LCBC (short story meetings, book swaps, etc)
• Ability to purchase significantly reduced new paperbacks

Where we are now

LCBC currently has over 40 paying members and hosts 3 to 4 meetings every month. 

The target market is college graduates living in cities between the ages of 21 to 40. 

We are seeking funding primarily for growth purposes. It costs a lot to get the word out there!

Thanks for taking the time to read this and supporting LCBC! All purchases and donations are appreciated, no matter how little :-)