About Us
Frequently Asked Questions
What is your focus?
Most websites aren't designed specifically for book clubs. We created Wise Lapwing initially for our own book club group, focusing on the unique needs that book clubs have.
We focus on the group book club experience, making it easy to select a book and coordinate meeting dates that work for everyone. Our tools streamline the decision-making process so you can spend less time organizing and more time discussing great books!
Why "Wise Lapwing"?
Our domain name "Wise Lapwing" is inspired by the Northern Lapwing, a distinctive bird known for its intelligence and literary connections.
Did you know? Lapwings are the only birds that hold book club meetings in the wild! They gather in circles, making their distinctive "peewit" calls that sound suspiciously like literary criticism. When they disagree about plot twists, they perform elaborate aerial displays to settle the debate.
(Okay, we made that up. But wouldn't it be amazing if birds had book clubs too?)
What features do you offer?
Our platform includes several features designed specifically for book clubs:
- Book Management: Add, track, and organize books for your club
- Meeting Scheduling: Find the best meeting times that work for everyone
- Group Management: Invite members and manage your book club
- Smart Book Selection: Multiple ways to choose your next read - vote democratically, use our intelligent recommendation system, or let fate decide with our weighted random selection
- Book Recommendations: Discover new books from curated lists
How does your book selection system work?
We offer three powerful ways to select your next book club read:
- Manual Selection: Choose any book from your collection with complete control
- Smart Random Selection: Our intelligent system uses ratings and votes to give popular books a higher chance of selection while still keeping things exciting
- Top-Rated Selection: Automatically choose the highest-rated book using Bayesian statistical methods that balance popularity with quality
Our unique selection system ensures every book gets a fair chance while respecting your group's preferences. No more endless debates about what to read next!
Our top-rated selection uses Bayesian statistics to intelligently weigh both the number of votes and star ratings, ensuring that books with more data points have more influence on the selection process.
Do you use AI in your platform?
Yes! We leverage AI to enhance your book club experience in several ways:
- Discussion Questions: AI-generated discussion questions to spark meaningful conversations about your books
- Book Recommendations: Personalized book suggestions based on your club's reading history
- Instant Summaries: Generate concise, two-sentence summaries of any book with one click
- Book Information: Enhanced book details from multiple sources
We're constantly exploring new ways to use AI to make your book club experience even better!
Will it always be free?
For our first groups to join, they will always be free. We believe in supporting early adopters who help us grow and improve.
At some point in the future, we may introduce a nominal annual fee (around £5/$10 per year) for group administrators to help cover our costs. This would be a per-group fee, not per-member, keeping it very affordable.
Our goal is to keep Wise Lapwing accessible to all book lovers while ensuring we can maintain and improve the platform.
How can I provide feedback or request features?
We love hearing from our users! Your feedback helps us improve and add features that matter to you.
To suggest a new feature, report a bug, or provide general feedback, please email us at:
We strive to respond to all inquiries within 48 hours and greatly appreciate your input!
If you're interested in starting your own book club group, please visit our Request a Group page to get started.