What are books communities?

Communities for readers to discuss books, share recommendations, and participate in read-alongs. Discord servers run book clubs and reading challenges, while Telegram and Reddit communities host genre-specific discussions and book recommendation threads for all kinds of readers.

Where do most books communities live?

Independent Platforms is the most common platform in this report (44% of 27 listings).

Are most of these communities free?

96% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.

How big is a typical books community?

Among listings with public size data, the average is 1.5M members and the median is 66K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.

What do these communities usually include?

Forum is the most common (89%). Others that show up often include online/offline events and live chat.

How does Hive Index collect this data?

Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.

Where can I see the full list?

The full directory is on Hive Index's Books topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Books Communities Report: Stats, Platforms, Trends &...

Executive Summary

We analyzed 27 books communities listed on Hive Index to understand where people gather, what these groups offer, and which communities attract the most interest.

The big picture: books communities are broad and fragmented, with many small groups and a few very large outliers.

Source: Hive Index community database · Updated periodically

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Communities: 27
Platforms: 7
Avg members: 1.5M
Median members: 66K

Where Books Communities Are Hosted

Independent Platforms
12(44%)
Reddit
4(15%)
Discord
4(15%)
LinkedIn
2(7%)
Facebook
2(7%)
Quora
1(4%)
Telegram
1(4%)

Format mix

Forum / feed-based
19(70%)
Chat communities
5(19%)
Other platforms
3(11%)

Most listings are forum / feed-based (70%).

Independent Platforms leads, but Reddit and Discord also represent meaningful shares.

Audience Size & Access

Community size

Tiny
<20 members
0(0%)
Small
20-100 members
0(0%)
Medium
100-1,000 members
3(11%)
Large
1,000-10,000 members
3(11%)
Huge
10,000-100,000 members
8(30%)
Massive
100,000-1M members
5(19%)
Gigantic
1M+ members
3(11%)

5 communities have unknown member counts.

Free vs paid

The average is much higher than the median (1.5M vs 66K), which usually means a few large groups are pulling the average up.

How Books Differs From Other Categories

Books is more free-to-join, and larger, compared with typical Hive Index topics.

Metric	Books	Hive Index average
Free to join	96%	84%
Median members	66K	25K
Average members	1.5M	673K
Paid or apply-to-join	4%	16%
Live chat	19%	41%
Discord share	15%	17%

Feature Mix

Common features appear in at least 15% of listings.

Common Features

Forum
89%
Online/Offline Events
22%
Live Chat
19%

Niche Features

Newsletter
11%
Courses
7%
Member Perks
7%
Job Board
4%
Paid Community
4%

Forum appears on 89% of listings.

What Visitors Click

Outbound clicks / mo: 105

Platform supply vs. clicks

Platform	Communities	Share of communities	Outbound clicks	Share of clicks
Independent Platforms	12	44%	4	4%
Reddit	4	15%	9	9%
Discord	4	15%	73	70%
Facebook	2	7%	9	9%
Quora	1	4%	3	3%
Telegram	1	4%	7	7%

Share is calculated within this topic.

Discord gets 70% of clicks but only 15% of listings, so visitors click it more than you'd expect from supply alone.

Most-clicked formats

Chat communities
80(76%)
Forum / feed-based
25(24%)

Most-clicked features

Live Chat
80(76%)
Online/Offline Events
73(70%)
Forum
48(46%)
Courses
3(3%)
Member Perks
1(1%)

Most-clicked size ranges

Huge
62(59%)
Large
21(20%)
Massive
12(11%)
Gigantic
6(6%)
Medium
3(3%)

Top-clicked listings

Bookaholics
48(46%)
Political Assembly
20(19%)
E-BOOKS FORUM
7(7%)

Most clicks go to chat communities and forum / feed-based communities.

Trends

Founded year

2008

2013

2022

24 communities have no founding year on file.

Most listed groups were founded around 2008.

Methodology & FAQ

Methodology

This report uses communities in the Hive Index database tagged as Books. We exclude removed or suppressed listings. Member counts, traffic, features, reviews, and ratings may vary by source and are updated periodically.

•This is a smaller slice of Hive Index's database, so read trends as directional.

FAQ

: Communities for readers to discuss books, share recommendations, and participate in read-alongs. Discord servers run book clubs and reading challenges, while Telegram and Reddit communities host genre-specific discussions and book recommendation threads for all kinds of readers.
: Independent Platforms is the most common platform in this report (44% of 27 listings).
: 96% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.
: Among listings with public size data, the average is 1.5M members and the median is 66K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.
: Forum is the most common (89%). Others that show up often include online/offline events and live chat.
: Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.
: The full directory is on Hive Index's Books topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

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