Marsha Toy Engstrom,
The Book Club Cheerleader™, has been shaking her pompoms since 5th
grade—which coincidentally is also when she began her writing career as editor
of the Center School Gazette. Unfortunately, she was fired after
referring to Garth Miller as a ‘jerk’ in the popular gossip column under her
byline. She has since learned a lot more about human relations—and libel laws.
A recovering Corporate Trainer/Human Resource-Type, Marsha holds a Bachelor’s
degree in Marketing, a Master’s of Arts in Management and Organizational
Development, and wrote her thesis on Group Dynamics—her specialty in back in
her former Fortune 500 life.
Marsha
is the founder and Grand Poobah of the neighborhood book club, Readers
in the Hood.
When she started the club many moons ago, she was starved for intellectual
(read ‘anything adult’) conversation as she spent her days raising a teenage
boy—who called her “Dude”—and coaching a teenaged cheer squad who majored in
giggling. Known for over-the-top fun, the ‘Hoodies’ brag, “If you’re
not willing to go overboard, don’t get on the frickin’ boat.” They love
celebrating books, authors—and themselves! Readers in the Hood recently joined
the Pulpwood Queens Book Club network so they can celebrate books with
like-minded book clubs!
The
Book Club Cheerleader™ uses her background in coaching, team building and group
dynamics to help put the ‘group’ back in book groups. Focusing on three
perspectives: The People, The Fun and The Books, she facilitates workshops and
coaches book clubs to get the most out of their experiences together.
Acknowledging that most reading groups who fail, do so based on faulty group
dynamics, her motto is, “They come for The Book, they stay for
The Fun, and they leave if you screw up The People
part.” She edits the Book Club Cheerleader website,
and is working on her first book, Celebrating Book Clubs: The Book Club
Cheerleader’s Guide to Building a Winning Book Club. Marsha also serves
as the Special Events Coordinator for her local Carnegie Library Foundation, is
one of the coordinators for her hometown’s One Book, One City program, and
recently spoke as a panelist for Book Expo America (BEA’s) Book Club Facilitator’s Speak Out. She is a member
of the Association of Book
Club Readers and Leaders, the Women's
National Book Association, and the National Book Critics Circle.
Marsha
lives in Northern California with her husband and two black cats, Butch Cassidy
and The Sundance Kid. When she is not coaching book clubs, celebrating authors,
or practicing her splits, she is curled up with a new book—or alternatively
catnapping--with Butch and Sunny.
Articles
by Book Club Cheerleader:
April 27, 2010: DailyDemocrat.com
"Woodland Reads Features Winspear"
February
16, 2010: BookBrowse.com, First Impressions Book Reviews
December 1, 2009: ReadingGroupGuides.com blog
“Readers in the Hood Give Back”
November 24, 2009: ReadingGroupGuides.com blog
“The Book Club Cheerleaders’ Top 10 Book Club Books of
2009”
August 12, 2009: ReadingGroupGuides.com blog
"Library Resources for Book Clubs”
Podcast from Book Club
Cheerleader:
June 9, 2009: Panelist for Book
Expo America (BEA) Book Club Facilitator’s Speak Out.
Left: Posing with Panel Moderator and President of The Book Report Network, Carol Fitzgerald; Right: BCC Speaking during Panel (looks like the question was serious, indeed..)
Quips, Quotes and
Questionable Publicity for
The Book Club Cheerleader:
June 9, 2010: Kepler’s Books Well-Read
Donkey Blog, “Guest Post by Helen Simonson: My
First Book Tour”
October 5, 2009: Suite 101.com article, “October is National Book Club Month”
October 5, 2009: Atlanta Literature
Examiner article, “October is National Book Club Month: Eat, Read and Discuss
Together”
June
10, 2009: Westport Public Library Book Blog, “Report from Book Expo”
May 26, 2009: Gayle Carline, columnist for the Placentia News-Times , and author of the newly-released thriller, Freezer Burn, interviews The Book Club Cheerleader:
Part 1: http://gaylecarline.blogspot.com/2009/05/give-me-b-give-me-o-o-k.html
Part
2: http://gaylecarline.blogspot.com/2009/05/its-all-fun-a
February 19, 2009: Writers Digest.com There are No Rules blog, “Should Your Book Really Be a Book? How About a Website First?”
More Q, Q & Q for Readers in the Hood:
December 1, 2009: ReadingGroupGuides.com blog “Readers in the Hood Give Back”
Sep 23, 2009: PulpwoodQueen.com blog, “Community involvement for the Pulpwood Queens of Woodland
CA, AKA: Readers in the Hood”
April 17, 2009: PulpwoodQueen.com blog, “The Pulpwood Queen Introduces The Book Club Cheerleader and her NEW Pulpwood Queen Chapter, Readers in the Hood”
Starting a Book Club"
Book Features & Book Club Recommendation
Policy
Want me to feature your book on Book Club Cheerleader.com or consider it for recommendation to the 30+ book clubs that I coach?
Here are a few notes:
- Sources: I accept
review copies from publishers, publicists, and authors. Self-published
books are fine, also.
- Formats: I accept
ARCs, early finished copies, backlist books. I do not accept e-books or
e-galleys at this time.
- Genres: I focus
on adult literary fiction, historical fiction, memoirs, narrative non-fiction, and how-to’s only if they are on
the specific topic of book clubs. I do not read action/adventure, chick
lit, erotica, fantasy (exception that proves the rule: anything by Carolyn
Turgeon), graphic novels, horror, mystery (exceptions that prove the rule:
anything by John Lescroart, Alan Jacobson, or Jacqueline Winspear), paranormal,
poetry, sci-fi, self-help, speculative fiction, or travel. I generally do not like anything political
or religious/spiritual (exception that proves the rule: The
Faith Club.) I am especially interested in California authors,
Southern writers (due to my family roots as well as general reading preference)
and the new voices of first time authors.
- Features: I can’t guarantee that I will a) finish reading a
book, b) like the book, or c) write a feature quickly. If I can’t finish
reading the book for whatever reason I won’t write about it, but I will
try to pass it on to another reader. Book Club Cheerleader is not a critical book
review site—it is a positive site that encourages the reading of good
books and discussing them with friends. Therefore, I will only recommend
or feature a book I enjoyed reading myself and believe that other book
clubbers would enjoy reading and discussing in their clubs. My features
are not traditional reviews, as I try to keep them closer to how I would
tell a fellow book lover about the book. My
features are in no way
influenced by the source of the book, whether I bought it myself or got it
from a publisher, publicist or directly from the author.
- Exposure: Off my
blog, I normally post my features and recommendation (though in many
cases abridged versions) to GoodReads
and Amazon. I will also post a link to my FaceBook
page, where I have over 1800 friends. I write a year-end Best Book Club
Books Roundup that features my Top 10 book club picks of the year, which
is often picked up by other book blogs, and I periodically write guest blogs for
other websites such as ReadingGroupGuides.com
and may mention book recommendations in aggregate.
- Partnership with
the Book World: I love hosting author interviews and having authors
do guest posts. Please see past posts in my “Author’s Angle”
column. I’m happy to participate in
book tours, but the book must be one that I’m interested in—please refer
to “Genres” above. I also find author speakers for 3 non-profit organizations
in Northern California for 5 events annually. Please let me know if you/your author is
interested in booking speaking engagements.
- Disposition: I
do not return or sell review copies but will include them as part of
giveaways or donate them to non-profits and libraries unless you
specifically request I do not.
- Compensation: I do not receive any compensation for any feature or recommendation that appears on my website or recommendation I make to my clubs. I am a member of Amazon Associates program, and I do get a small amount of money if you buy a book using my links. So far, I’ve earned enough to buy a bag of Meow Mix for Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid…
If
you have any other questions, please contact me at mtoyengstrom@hotmail.com. In the meantime, keep reading
and writing!
Cheers!
Marsha
Toy Engstrom
The
Book Club Cheerleader
(Note: A big THANKS! goes out to Anastasia from Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog, Michelle from GalleySmith and Trish from Hey Lady for
the inspiration and information that led to this policy.)
I can only tell them apart by their collars...
But one of them is catching up on his reading.
