YouTube’s first Cozy Mystery Book Club!
YouTube livestream bookish discussions the last Tuesday of the month (every month) at 7:00 PM EST (channel: Books Are My Hart), Twitter chats, buddy reads, and lots more!
Welcome to the world of cozy mysteries! Cozies are a sub-genre of mysteries that feature an amateur detective (usually a woman) who attempts to solve a community based mystery. Add quirky characters, red herrings, a pun or two (or twelve!), maybe a food or library theme, and potentially a sleuthing cozy companion…and voila! A cozy mystery.
One of my favorite authors, Amanda Flower, wrote an excellent article on defining cozy mysteries. If you are looking for additional information on cozies, I highly recommend you read it.
Cozy mysteries have their own website. You can explore all of the sub-genres within sub-genres, themes, series, and more. It is a great resource to explore all things cozy.
Back in 2016, I had an idea. Then, the idea grew and the first Cozy Mystery Book Club livestream was held in 2017, making it the very first cozy mystery book club for YouTube. Today, The Cozy Mystery Book Club is going strong and sleuthers join the cozy fun all month long. That original idea has grown beyond anything I could have anticipated.
The last Tuesday of the month, every month, is our official discussion of our latest Cozy Mystery Book Club read. Myself and a guest host chat with fellow book club members live over on my YouTube channel, Books Are My Hart, at 7:00 PM EST. I try to share the YouTube link across platforms and remind interested readers when our monthly chat will occur. I always recommend that sleuthers find a way to save the information in whatever way is most beneficial to them whether that is adding the link to their bookmarks, saving the link to their desktop, adding the upcoming livestream to their YouTube watchlist, hitting the YouTube bell, and or adding it to their digital calendars.
Join the sleuthing fun across social media platforms; Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and email newsletters.
I try to share resources, updates, and all sorts of coziness on the book club’s Twitter (@cozymysteryclub). Be sure to follow for daily posts and all the cozy mystery goodness.
I created a unique hashtag for cultivating cozy conversations #CozyCornerChat. Our next live chat will be scheduled ASAP!
The goal is to bring cozy mystery readers together alongside authors to have all their burning cozy questions answered. By using the hashtag, authors can read and answer questions and cozy mystery readers can meet one another!
For The Library Lover’s Mystery Series buddy read, I created the hashtag #SherlockHamsters.
You can follow The Cozy Mystery Book Club on Instagram for all sorts of cozy inspired bookish pictures, memes, Instagram stories, and more.
If you would like the chance to be featured in a future email newsletter, please use the hashtag #thecozymysterybookclub, #cozymysteryclub, and or tag The Cozy Mystery Book Club account, @cozymysteryclub while sharing images on Instagram.
Here are some of the Instagram story challenges I created over the years.
Please feel free to share them in your own Instagram stories.
EVERY SLEUTHER WHO TAKES PART IN THE COZY MYSTERY BOOK CLUB BY POSTING A PHOTO OF THE MONTHLY READ, GETS A BOOKMARK! TO RECEIVE THE BOOKMARK, SIMPLY SEND ME (ANGELA) A LINK TO YOUR POST (VIA EMAIL OR DM) AS WELL AS WHERE YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR COZY SWAG SENT, THEN VOILA! TO CLARIFY, PHOTOS DO NOT HAVE TO BE SHARED ON A CERTAIN PLATFORM IN ORDER TO RECEIVE A BOOKMARK. SLEUTHERS CAN SHARE THE COZINESS ANYWHERE THEY LIKE; TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, PERSONAL BLOG, TIKTOK, GOODREADS, ETC. THE GOAL IS TO SPREAD THE COZINESS AND CONNECT WITH FELLOW COZY READERS. THE BOOKMARK IS MY GIFT TO YOU.
IF YOU ARE AN INTERNATIONAL SLEUTHER (LIVING OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES OR CANADA), I WILL SHARE THE PASSWORD TO A PRIVATE PAGE HERE ON MY WEBSITE. AT THE MOMENT, I AM ONLY MAILING PHYSICAL SWAG ITEMS TO THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA (THANKS MOSTLY TO THE FOREVER STAMPS). TO MAKE UP FOR THIS, I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING SUPER SPECIAL AND UNIQUE FOR INTERNATIONAL SLEUTHERS. THE WEBPAGE I CREATED IS AMAZING! I AM SO PROUD OF HOW IT CAME OUT. I CHANNELED THE SAME MENTALITY AND VIBES THAT CREATED THIS FREEBIE PAGE. READERS WILL HAVE ACCESS TO CONTENT THAT IS NOT GOING TO BE SHARED ANYWHERE ELSE; COLORING PAGES CREATED BY PROFESSIONAL GRAPHIC ARTISTS, MURDER, SHE WROTE ILLUSTRATIONS BY FREELANCE DESIGNERS, DOWNLOADABLE BOOKMARKS, STICKERS, AND SO MUCH MORE!
I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOUR COZY PHOTOS!
MONTHLY YouTube Livestream Discussions
The last Tuesday of the month is cozy mystery day. Throughout the day, I tweet all sorts of book-related materials (such as quotes, polls, and questions) leading up to our YouTube livestream discussion. Then, at 7:00 PM EST, it is time to go live on my YouTube channel, Books Are My Hart. Each month I will be joined by a book club member acting as a guest host. The guest host will help me facilitate the bookish discussion and chat about our latest read.
If the opportunity presents itself, we will also have bonus livestream discussions.
Bonus livestreams include subsequent buddy read conversations, Cozy Mystery Day, and Sherlock Holmes Day!
The Original Cozy Mystery Book Tag | For YouTube
During the livestream, book club members will be encouraged to participate in the comment section. After the video renders, I go back and convert each comment into a giveaway entry. I will pull a comment at random and that book club member will win our monthly giveaway. If you plan on joining the YouTube livestream, be sure to comment for your chance to win!
Previous giveaways include: Sealed Off by Barbara Ross & Murder at Icicle Lodge by J.D. Griffo, Statue of Limitations by Kate Collins, Pulp Friction by Julie Ann Lindsey, and Christmas Cow Bells by Mollie Cox Bryan, Murder Can Mess Up Your Masterpiece by Rose Pressey, Gone, Kitty, Gone by Eileen Watkins, Antiques Fire Sale by Barbara Allan, and Dial M for Main Coone by Alex Erickson.
I created a website for The Cozy Mystery Book Club and dedicated an entire page to our previous book club reads. I linked each book cover to GoodReads, so if you would like additional information, you can find it with ease.
I ALSO made a complete playlist of all the YouTube livestream discussions.
MeEt Purrlock Holmes & MoriarTEA
To add a little extra fun, I had an official mascot and logo designed for the book club. Members submitted and voted on their names. Our mascot is named Purrlock Holmes and our logo is named MoriarTEA.
December 1st to December 12th is #12DaysofCozies. Twelve days of complete coziness: daily giveaways, cozy Instagram challenges, nightly reading sprints from 5:00 to 8:00 PM EST, and lots more! Get ready to celebrate the holidays with your cozy companions.
The eMail Newsletter
Start your morning off with The Cozy Mystery Book Club’s email newsletter. This is the only time, throughout the year, Angela emails more than once a month. January to November, The Cozy Mystery Book Club emails the first week of the month, every month. December’s 12 Days of Cozies is the exception. Each email newsletter includes special extras that will not be offered anywhere else; such as adult coloring book pages, word searches, memes, procreate color palettes, Instagram story challenges, and Instagram story templates. Each newsletter features the daily schedule, giveaway news & reveals, shout outs, and much more! Plus, sleuthers are automatically entered to win en eBook when they open the newsletter. Twelve emails and twelve chances to win!
Cozy mystery readers can join their fellow sleuthers for nightly reading sprints. Every hour on the half hour mark, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM EST, starts a new round of reading. Reading sprints will last twenty-minutes. Readers can then check their accounts, tweet, stretch, refresh their tea, etc.
8:00 AM EST The Daily Twitter Giveaway
10:00 AM EST Christmas Cozy Mystery Recommendation
3:00 PM EST Cozy Mystery Recommendations Based on the Daily Color
5:00 to 8:00 PM EST Reading Sprints
8:00 to 9:00 PM EST Twitter Author Chats
Join the cozy conversation using the hashtag #12DaysofCozies. Keep the club up to date with your reading process, answer polls, enter the daily giveaway, and then join the reading sprints at night.
Website
Cozy mystery authors and content creators volunteered to write blog posts. Every day, the guest article will go live right here on thecozymysterybookclub.com. To make things easier, the blogs will be linked each day in the email newsletters.
Enjoy Some Fun Cozy Extras!
YOU CAN ALSO TREAT YOURSELF TO SOME COZY SWAG OVER ON THE ETSY STORE!
FOR AUTHORS
I created a document explaining all the ways authors can get involved with The Cozy Mystery Book Club.
