Introducing the New Inner Circle BMAC Membership

From our reader survey, we know that many of you would love some additional features, like being able to access a single-page printable of every recommended title each time we publish a new book list.

While that hasn’t been feasible in the past, we’ve come up with a plan! Today, we’re launching a new level of Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC) membership with tons of new perks.

As a thank you to all of our existing readers, if you join by October 18th, you get a lifetime discount! The current BFF membership level is also still available with the same perks it has always had.

New Inner Circle Membership Level Perks

In addition to all the perks our BFFs receive, like book lists for our reading challenges and a book giveaway each month, Inner Circle Members will receive five new perks!

We’re SO EXCITED to be able to offer these new perks and finally have printable versions of more book lists available! We’ve added additional details on each of the new benefits below.

Single-page printable book list for all new and newly updated book lists as of 9/27/24

• Each time we feature a book list in our Friday newsletter, Inner Circle members will receive a link to the printable. The first new printable is for our newly updated Best Book Club Books for 2024 list. You’ll have access to it as soon as you join!

Early Access to the New 2025 Challenge Book Lists

• For the new 2025 reading challenge, Inner Circle members will have access to the monthly book list one week early (2nd Friday instead of 3rd Friday). This excludes the January list, which all readers will get on 11/22/24 when the new challenge is launched.
  

Book Chats with Angela & Melissa

• Join us live as we chat about our recent reads and take you behind the scenes of Book Girls’ Guide. If you’re able to join live, you can ask questions in the chat box for a Q&A session, or you can watch the recording later.
• The first book chat will take place in October 2024!
  

Exclusive Bingo Card Reading Challenge

• In February 2025, we’ll send out a Bingo Card to all Inner Circle members, along with a brand new book list for one of the Bingo prompts. This list will only be available to Inner Circle members in 2025 (but we’ll make it public in 2026).
• Throughout the year, there will be four more exclusive lists correlated to the Bingo challenge. Other spots on the Bingo card will be able to be completed without the bonus lists.
• The challenge is flexible – you can opt to complete one line of the Bingo card, an X pattern, or go for the blackout. At the end of the year, if you submit your card with at least one completed line of Bingo, you’ll be entered in a drawing for a free book!
  

Bonus Entry into the Monthly Book Giveaway

• Current BMAC BFF Members are entered into a monthly drawing for a chance to win a free book of their choice. Inner Circle members will receive a second entry each month.

Inner Circle Membership Cost

Adding these new perks comes with new expenses for us, but we also value keeping things as affordable as possible. The normal rate for Inner Circle membership will be $10/month or $100/year paid annually, which was the most commonly suggested price in our recent reader survey. That price will be in effect starting on 10/18/2024.

However, if you join the Inner Circle now, you can lock in a permanently discounted rate of $8/month or $80/year if paid annually as long as you remain a member. This offer ends on 10/17/2024.

Even if we raise the rate higher than $10 in the future, you’ll still be locked in at $8/month as a huge thank you for being a founding member of the Inner Circle club.

How to Join the Inner Circle

If you’re not a BFF member, you can join the Inner Circle here. Note that there is a toggle switch at the top if you prefer to pay annually.

Existing BFF’s can upgrade their membership by logging into their account and following these instructions. Please let us know if you need any help or have questions! We have discovered existing annual members aren’t receiving a pro-rated rate, but we can help if you email us at [email protected].

Why the Inner Circle is Important

When we started Book Girls’ Guide in November of 2019, the intention was for it to be a fun side project between friends and an excuse for us to spread our love of reading. As we approach our fifth anniversary next month, we’re in awe of the incredible group of readers we’ve been able to gather.

From the first 100 people who jumped in when we barely knew what we were doing to our 30,000th email subscriber this year, we couldn’t have done it without your encouragement and support. In fact, if a reader hadn’t suggested setting up a Buy Me a Coffee site as we went into our 3rd year of doing an incredible amount of unpaid work, we might not have made it to our 5th anniversary.

Much of our income from ads varies throughout the year and is dependent on algorithms outside of our control. Our Buy Me A Coffee members provide stability and have allowed us to welcome Melissa’s niece, Daneel, to the Book Girls’ Guide family to provide much-needed part-time support behind the scenes.

Like so many of you, she’s a teacher who loves reading. She recently had her first baby (On Melissa’s birthday!!!), and being able to stay home with him and work for us during his naps has been a dream come true for everyone involved!

While we all live in different states, Angela and Daneel were both able to travel to Melissa’s house in Tulsa earlier this month to work together on the 2025 Reading Challenge.

With Daneel’s help, we now have a complete database of every book we’ve recommended on a list or are considering for the future. As of 9/25/24, the database includes 3,489 different books! Additionally, Daneel will be making the new single-page printable book lists for our new Inner Circle members each week – yay!

However, being responsible for paying someone else is a big step, especially when most of our income is unpredictable and at the mercy of the Google and Pinterest algorithms, which can change without warning.

Our Buy Me Coffee members have enabled us to cover Daneel’s work, and the new membership level will help ensure we can continue bringing you the best book recommendations and reading challenges for many years to come.

We’re so excited about this new win-win Inner Circle membership level with lots of fun perks for you and extra stability for us! We can’t wait to see you in the first live book chat!

If you’re interested in learning more, we also have information on our original Buy Me a Coffee BFF Membership option, and more details on why our members are vital. As always, please email us at [email protected] with any questions!

PS: While we are so, so grateful to everyone who is a BFF member, who is becoming an Inner Circle member, or who has ever financially contributed in any way, we also want to be clear that anyone reading and participating for free is also hugely appreciated!

It’s not necessary to pay. We want reading to be a stress reliever for each and every one of you. This means we want you to have access to the reading challenges and book recommendations without worrying about being in a season of life when the budget is extra tight. You are contributing enough just by being a part of the Book Girls community!

THANK YOU ALL FOR HELPING US CREATE A PEACEFUL & POSITIVE CORNER OF THE INTERNET FOR BOOK LOVERS!