Why Reese’s Book Club is betting big on ‘micro-communities’

Fast Company · 2 hrs ago · 14 views

On an August weeknight, a group of no more than 100 people—primarily women—occupied a small, AstroTurf-covered slice of Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s west side. Reclining on beach chairs and scrawling book recommendations on a floor-length mirror with purple markers, the group debated the merits of audiobooks versus hardbacks, writing to curated playlists and, of course, which book-to-screen adaptations reign supreme. This is Storyfest, an event series from Reese Witherspoon’s book club (an offshoot of her media company, Hello Sunshine) in partnership with Apple Books and Apple TV. Combining author Q&A’s, book-themed activations, and screenings of recent adaptations, the free events tap into the growing cultural and economic influence of readers both online and offline. “People can consume content anywhere. What is increasingly scarce is a reason to come together to consume that content,” Hello Sunshine chief revenue officer Jessica Jones Studholme tells Fast Company. “We are not trying to be an events company by any stretch, but we’re using these live experiences to make our storytelling ecosystem feel more participatory.”  And making the events free isn’t a marketing strategy. “It is very intentionally rooted in audience growth, and that is an engine that ultimately turns Hello Sunshine’s storytelling authority into a real-world relationship with consumers,” Studholme says.  [Photo: Shot by Sof] “They want places where they can come together” The latest edition of Storyfest was all about Lucky, a thriller novel and Reese’s Book Club pick written by Marissa Stapley—which was recently adapted into an Apple TV series by the same name. After a Q&A with Stapley, moderated by the host of the book club’s podcast, Danielle Robay, the show’s finale was streamed on a movie theater-size screen. Similar to other streamers’ activations, like Netflix’s recent Outer Banks fan event or Prime Video’s Obsessed Fest, Storyfest marks an expansion into the experience economy by Witherspoon’s media company—albeit on a more intimate scale. That’s by design, says Kristin Perla, executive vice president of Reese’s Book Club. “We’ve been seeing micro-communities be a trend,” she says. “They want places where they can come together, where their conversation flows easily, so that they can turn to the person to the left or right and have a connection.”  Though the book club has a collective audience of around 6 million, this doesn’t necessarily mean “huge marquee events,” according to Perla, but rather custom gatherings built according to their shared interests. “They really want to live and breathe books, and they want to do it together,” she says. Queens-based friends Nereida and Jada say they’d never attended an event like Storyfest before. After spotting an ad on TikTok, the two avid readers decided it was worth checking out. “When you show up and see so many different people with so many different stories, different backgrounds . . . it’s interesting to see how big of a reading community actually exists here in the city,” Jada tells Fast Company. “Especially when you see women, it was like, ‘Okay girls, yes, we run the world.’” Both Jada and Nereida hadn’t read Lucky or seen the show, but they still wanted to check out the event for the free e-book offering, to be around other book lovers, and also to unplug. “On the subway, there’s barely anyone reading. Everyone’s on their phones,” Nereida says. “Coming here has made me not feel so lonely.” Other attendees like paralegal Shlesma and tech company employee Jeviah came solo but quickly connected. “We were, like, yapping in the line. And then we just kept yapping,” Jeviah says. Shlesma had attended a Storyfest before, but for Jeviah, it was a way to break up her daily routine of traveling between work and home. She also “Bricked” her phone for the occasion to prevent any doomscrolling. Similarly, Shlesma, who reads in public parks every week, says she has noticed a return to analog heralded by a growing culture around reading. “I see so many more people [reading] this summer than last summer,” Shlesma says. “Everybody’s different ages, even younger people like Gen Z.” [Photo: Shot by Sof] They quickly got to talking about adaptations and the sheer wealth of page-to-screen stories dominating streaming platforms this year—from Heated Rivalry to Off Campus. From page to screen In many ways, Storyfest embodies how book lovers’ fervor incentivizes production companies and streaming services to invest in adaptations. Stapley’s New York Times best-seller Lucky was selected as a Reese’s Book Club pick in December 2021 and reportedly sold hundreds of thousands of additional copies because of it. Less than five years later, Hello Sunshine, with Witherspoon as an executive producer, adapted the novel, which follows a young female con artist on the lam after a bungled heist. Anya Taylor-Joy plays the titular character, with Annette Bening and Timothy Olyphant in supporting roles.  Lucky follows a growing list of Reese’s Book Club picks that have been adapted by Hello Sunshine. These include Laura Dave’s The Last Thing He Told Me, Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & The Six (which went on to earn nine Emmy nominations), and Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere (whose miniseries received five Emmy nods). Since its premiere on July 15, Lucky has remained among Apple TV’s top 10 most popular originals. “When you sell your [intellectual property], you’re trusting the people developing that IP are going to bring the most powerful pieces to life,” Studholme said. “Hello Sunshine has done that time and time again with all of our adaptations, to really build that trust with an author like Marissa [Stapley] or whoever’s next on our docket.” “Bigger and broader” Beyond Storyfest, the book club piloted its Story Walk event series this summer, also in partnership with Apple Books. In places like NYC’s Central Park or beachside in San Diego’s Torrey Pines neighborhood, club members joined guided group walks, listening to audiobook versions of a recent Reese’s Book Club selection while wearing matching shirts that declared “In my audiobook era.” “Our audience is so into transcending the medium,” Perla says. “I’ve seen how they’ll even go take one book and read it in multiple formats and still feel like they’re getting something different from it every single time.” Building on the momentum from Storyfest and Story Walks, Perla said Reese’s Book Club is “going bigger and broader into the community.” This includes a partnership with WhatsApp, casual events at independent bookstores, and larger activations. “Our goal is really to make everyone feel like they could be part of us,” Perla says. “We’re not supposed to be this exclusive club. It’s as many people who want to come and read along with us.”