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Random House has launched a social networking site for book groups. Groups can post their profiles on ReadersPlace (http://www.readersplace.co.uk" target="_blank" title="www.readersplace.co.uk">www.readersplace.co.uk">www.readersplace.co.uk) and swap ideas and opinions on their favourite books with other clubs across the country and internationally.
The site will also host live webchats with authors and hold regular competitions for reading groups to win a visit from a local writer. Reading guides for more than 200 titles are available on the site. Discounts will be offered on books bought from the publisher online.
ReadersPlace has been developed by way of a pilot project with West Midlands Library Authorities. Debbie Hicks, director of research at the Reading Agency, which is developing the region's reading group programme, said the site had added "huge value" to its library reading group offer. She said: "It's proving really popular with reading groups, offering readers a brilliant opportunity to connect directly with writers to talk about their work."
The site will host its first live author chat on 27th May, with novelist Sara Stockbridge discussing her historical novel Hammer. In June, Tim Clare, author of the comic memoir We Can't All be Astronauts, will follow suit. Meanwhile, Sulaiman Addonia will be visiting a local reading group in London next month to discuss his début novel The Consequences of Love.
ReadersPlace follows on from AuthorsPlace, the site that enables Random House authors to set up and update their own web pages, launched last year.