We had the good fortune of connecting with Laura Gluhanich and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Laura, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Silent Book Club started in San Francisco in 2012 with my cofounder Guinevere de la Mare and I reading after dinner together at our neighborhood bistro. We loved books, and reading with friends, but most of our previous attempts at book clubs had fizzled out. We were busy and didn’t have time or energy to read something assigned to us, but we loved chatting with other literary minded friends. Voila! Book club with no assigned reading, Silent Book Club.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Silent Book Club is unique in a number of ways, but in particular the choice to have no assigned reading has impacted the business. It means we can’t partner with publishers like traditional book clubs, promising a number of purchases by our readers. It’s forced us to be more creative with ways to generate revenue to support our operations.

One of the unexpected things we’ve seen as SBC has grown is that metro areas can support multiple chapter locations, from bookstores, to libraries, to individuals hosting across a city. We’re seeing lit-friendly pockets popping up with all types of events centered on reading.

Something that I encourage any organization to do is create baseline internal values and goals. It is so helpful when facing a crossroads or opportunity, to go back to your original guidelines and guardrails. It ensures decisions are made strategically and that you have a framework for discussing challenges or opportunities.

As I think about where we’ve been and the values we’ve put into place, I am very excited about 2025 and beyond. We’ve started investing in improving internal processes and backend technology, bringing on new partners and resources to take us further.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would invite my friend to come out during Underground Music Showcase, a fantastic multi-day music festival in the summer. Nothing better than seeing 20-50 bands and musicians from every genre over three days.

Outside of the festival, we’d stop by some favorite restaurants and bars: Duo, Hey Kiddo, My Boy Tony, Noble Riot and Safta. We’d pick some books up at Matter and The Spicy Librarian, and go crate diving at Wax Trax. Along the way we’d listen to 105.5 Colorado Sound. I am on their board but also love supporting local media.

I’d also get outside of the city for a hike, somewhere like Beaver Brook Watershed, Lower Maxwell Falls, or Eagle’s View.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Guinevere de la Mare is my cofounder, and this group would not exist without her. Besides co-creating the idea of Silent Book Club, she’s a design and organizational superstar. I am lucky to partner with her and to call her a friend!

Website: https://silentbook.club/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silentbookclub

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraglu/

Image Credits
Credits include Megan Hand (in the title) and the rest are Laura Gluhanich, Guinevere de la Mare. My headshot is Stephanie Tucker here in Denver.

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