pick 1 · Psychological thriller
Night Calls
Joe Hart · 354 pages
“A mother, a vanished son, and a crime nobody in the room could stop talking about. Forty of us stayed twenty minutes after the sitting ended.”
full-house sitting · Sat 5 Sept
A readers’ collective · since autumn 2022
Your book, read by people who finish it.
Every month our selection committee picks two books, and then the whole house reads them. No groups, no shortcuts: the same books, cover to cover, all 305 of us. The long table opens two days a week, each book closes with a full-house sitting, and honest ratings end up where your book is sold. Selected authors pay nothing. Ever.
Free for authors · Honest by design · Funded by readers, not fees
This cycle
117 readers reading. Two books. Zero cost.
literary fictionmemoirpsychological thrillershort storiesromancehistoryhorrorpoetryself-published welcomesmall-press welcomeliterary fictionmemoirpsychological thrillershort storiesromancehistoryhorrorpoetryself-published welcomesmall-press welcome
305
members on the house roster
117
active in a typical cycle
88
books read & rated since 2022
$0
charged to authors, ever
( 01 ) · How it works
Four steps, one month, no invoices.
01
You submit
Send your book through the form below. Print, ebook, or audio, any genre, any publisher or none. A human reads the first pages of everything that comes in. Nothing is filtered by an algorithm or a budget.
02
The committee selects
Five readers, chaired by Dr Timothy Allen, argue it out and pick the coming month's two books on the 26th, and set its sittings the same day. Their job ends at choosing: the committee never reads on the house's behalf. If yours is chosen, you hear from us within 48 hours.
03
The whole house reads
No groups, no tracks, no splitting the list between us. When a book is picked, all of us read it: the same book, the same month, all 305 members at their own pace. While a book is on, the long table opens two days a week for quiet reading and small-table talk.
04
The sitting, then the ratings
Twice a month we close a book with a full-house sitting: 60 to 90 readers in the room, a video link open for everyone else. Afterwards, members leave honest ratings and reviews where your book is sold. A typical cycle lands 45 to 70 ratings within six weeks.
One honesty note: readers DNF books they’re not enjoying, and about one in five picks doesn’t get finished by everyone. You’ll get that feedback privately and kindly, because it’s worth more than a performed five stars.
( 02 ) · This cycle
Two books, chosen for September.
The committee chooses; the whole house reads. Both books, every member, no groups. Selections land on the 26th of each month, when the coming month’s two reads and their sittings are set. Each book closes with one full-house sitting.
september sittings sat 5 & 19 · october’s reads announced sat 26 sept
pick 2 · Investigative thriller
All the Girls
A.J. Scudiere · 350 pages
“One missing girl, four friends, four different versions of the same night. Our argument about the ending lasted until they turned the lights on.”
full-house sitting · Sat 19 Sept
Recently off the table
every pick keeps its rating history in the members’ archive
One of the Family
4.7
Mark Edwards · 74 ratings
Aug 2026
Please Remain Seated
4.5
Marcus Kliewer · 68 ratings
Jul 2026
The Second Chance Trailer Park
4.5
Katie Powner · 61 ratings
Jun 2026
Acceleration
4.3
Michael A. Messner · 55 ratings
May 2026
88 books read since autumn 2022 · 5,312 ratings left where books are sold · community average 4.4 / 5, ratings we didn’t round up.
( 03 ) · The committee
Five readers pick the books. This is the chair.
dr. allen · between readings, somewhere quiet
Chair · selection committee
Dr Timothy Allen
chair since January 2026 · reading with the house since 2023
Timothy Allen finished a doctorate in twentieth-century fiction at twenty-six and now lectures two days a week, which leaves five for the thing he actually spends his time on: reading. He joined the house in 2023 through the front door, one email, one book he loved, and took one of the two committee seats the house always reserves for members in their first year.
He was elected chair this January, at twenty-eight, after two years on the committee. He runs the monthly argument, keeps the longlist to five, and casts the deciding vote when the room splits. Selection is all the committee does: once a book is chosen, the whole house reads it, Timothy included. His rule is famous among the 305:
“If the book doesn't ask a question, it doesn't get a sitting.”
- PhD
- in twentieth-century fiction; he still lectures two days a week
- 50 pages
- of every candidate book, read personally, every month
- 1 vote
- his, when the committee's argument ends in a split
Four other readers serve alongside him on two-year rotations, chosen by the house each January. Two seats are always held for members in their first year. New eyes, he calls them. He was one of them himself.
( 05 ) · Voices
The people doing the reading have names.
“I left my first-ever Amazon review because of this group. Writing out why I loved One of the Family felt like saying thank you properly.”
Chidinma O.
reader since Jun 2023 · reviewed “One of the Family”
“Two picks a month is the right amount. Enough to finish, never enough to drown. And everyone in the house has read the same pages, which changes the arguments.”
Fatima S.
reader since Jan 2026
“It took me three sessions to realise nobody performs opinions here. People say “this didn't work for me” out loud. The arguments are better for it.”
Joshua E.
reader since Sep 2025 · reviewed “Please Remain Seated”
From the author’s side
“They read my debut properly: questions, debates, one disagreement I'm still thinking about. Three readers posted photos of the book next to their coffee cups. No paid promotion has ever come close to that.”
( 06 ) · Fuel the readers
Sittings run on coffee, tea, and something sweet.
Nobody is paid here. Not the committee, not the chair, not the founder. The only cost of reading a book properly is the refreshments on the table and the room that holds it: two open days a week and one full-house sitting per book. That comes from small reader contributions and the occasional author who insists on saying thank you. The books are open. So is the ledger.
The refreshments ledger
September 2026
- Contributions in (54 readers)
- $438.00
- Coffee & tea
- −$168.20
- Biscuits, fruit & something sweet
- −$102.00
- Room cover
- −$103.60
- Carried forward to October
- $64.20
54 contributions · average $8.11 · every dollar accounted for above.
( 07 ) · Join as a reader
Joining is a conversation, not a form.
Write to thelongtablebookclub@gmail.com with the last book you truly loved. That’s the whole application. We’re not screening for degrees, just for people who finish things. A human replies within a week, usually faster.
You get two books a month worth your time, a table of people who argue well, and snacks. Membership is free; contributions to the refreshments fund are welcome and never tracked against your name.
The deal, plainly
- 01
Read at least one pick every three months. Most of us read both, because the house talks about them all month
- 02
Come when you can: the long table opens two days a week, and each book closes with one full-house sitting
- 03
Leave an honest rating for every book you finish. That's the whole engine
Roughly 200 of our 305 readers joined the same way: one email, one book, one slightly overlong sentence about why they loved it. Write yours.
( 08 ) · Questions
Asked often, answered honestly.
Something we missed? Write to thelongtablebookclub@gmail.com, a person answers, usually within two days.
Nothing. No fee, no commission, no obligation of any kind. The community is funded by voluntary reader contributions and the occasional author donation, and the two are never connected: donating never changes who gets picked, and not donating never hurts a book's chances.
A committee of five, chaired by Dr Timothy Allen, reviews every submission plus member suggestions and argues until two books survive the month. But the committee's job ends at choosing. There are no groups here: once a book is picked, the whole house reads it, all 305 of us, both books, every month. Nobody gets to take one book while someone else takes the other.
Then you'll hear that privately, kindly, and with specifics: which chapters lost people, and where. We don't do paid praise and we don't perform enthusiasm. An honest 4.1 with thirty real reviews outsells a hollow 5.0 over time, and we'd rather build you the first one.
Over half our archive is self-published or small press. Print, ebook, and audiobook all work. Ebooks are the easiest for members; print makes the nicest photos.
The long table opens two days a week: quiet reading, small-table talk, and the arguments that spill out of both. Twice a month, each pick closes with one full-house sitting, in the room with a video link open for members who can't travel. Sittings are where ratings get decided, so we guard them carefully.
Reader contributions and occasional voluntary author donations cover refreshments and room costs only, about $374 a month across two open days and two sittings. The ledger is published every month in the section below. Nobody is paid; not the committee, not the chair, not the founder.