Founder Feature: Colin Harrang of Book Club Card | San Francisco Brand Photos
Name: Colin Harrang
Title: Founder
Business: Book Club Card
HQ : San Francisco
One of the coolest things about my job is hearing someone tell me about a big idea… and getting a front row seat to watch (and: capture!) them bring it all to life. My experience working with Colin was just that…
Colin shared her unique idea, beautiful branding and the story of local makers crafting her products. Within just months, Book Club Card was out in the world and has only continued to grow, evolve and flourish from there! On top of it all, it’s closely tied to Colin’s passion for reading, and sharing, great books.
Read on to learn more about how she built Book Card Club, advice for entrepreneurs, small businesses she admires and her very own Little Free Library in San Francisco. Bonus: her top three recent reads.
First off, tell us all about your business and the product you currently offer.
My business celebrates the joy of sharing books by providing Book Club Cards. A Book Club Card is a library card that travels with your book as you share it with others. Once the card is full of names, it transforms into a postcard and is mailed back to the original card owner.
By registering your Book Club Cards’ unique ID number to your contact information online, we are able to return the card back to you (without sharing your mailing address with 9 strangers), allowing you to celebrate all the people you brought joy to by deciding to simply share a book.
The product and company supports reading, but it’s so much more than that! I want to put content into the world that highlights the importance of building community, supporting your neighbors, and fostering genuine conversation.
What inspired you to start BCC?
Honestly, I was on the hunt for a creative outlet. I work a corporate 8am-5pm+ job in front of a computer screen. My job provides a means for a fulfilling lifestyle, and I am very thankful for that, but I wasn’t feeling truly authentic to myself. I needed something else that I could pour into and flex my creative muscles for a change.
While traveling that year, I found a vintage library card at a local boutique. It immediately brought me joy to think of all the names that could fill the card and how far it could travel as I passed my books to friends and family. The flaw in a typical library card, I thought, was that I wouldn’t be able to see all the names of readers once the card is full. If only there was a way to have the card mailed back to me once completed. From that thought, Book Club Card was born!
Once I decided I was capable of launching a side project, pushing away my doubt and ego, my heart exploded with all the other ways this small idea could support others. I vowed to only use local San Francisco, small businesses as vendors and support my community in every way possible.
You have such a beautiful mission around not only reading, but also sharing more books! What’s a favorite story you’ve heard from customers about sharing books?
Once I launched this concept of “books are for sharing”, I had a couple people tell me their viewpoint of buying physical books shifted.
I have a few Kindle-exclusive readers that shifted to buying physical books just so they could give it to someone after they are done reading. That makes my heart melt, because now that person has guaranteed a physical and mental connection with someone else - something our world desperately needs more of.
I love the little library you’ve created, too! Fill us in on what creating that was like, and how others can find or create one!
Me too! I’ve seen a couple of them throughout the city, and I always stop to peruse what books people have decided to share. Once I dove into the world of Bookstagram (social media accounts dedicated to book lovers), I discovered how cool and big the Little Free Library is!
Anyone can buy a Little Free Library online, either totally assembled or in a kit if you want to get creative. Once you put the library up, you register its address online. There is an entire network of Library Stewards all over the globe, and the community is amazing!
It brings me so much joy to check out what new books my neighbors are sharing each day and see people stop to investigate on their afternoon walks!
How have photos and creative content supported your business launch and growth?
The predictable answer relates to the NEED of photos to showcase a product to potential customers. Obviously you need photos and creative content to bring a concept to life. Aside from that, every time I plan for the next set of creative content, my brain lights up with ideas and directions to take the business next!
Talking to Tory about what props I want to use or the voice I’m trying to convey in a still photo is empowering! It’s been the creative outlet I needed to feel fulfilled, and it reminds me that a 4x6 card is about so much more than just a 4x6 card.
What’s ahead in your business within the next year that you’re most excited about? Anything we should keep an eye out for?
I have a few more product ideas up my sleeve (!!), but what I’m most excited about is continuing to grow a community of book sharers! The business is still so young and while I have big expansion dreams, I want to make sure I stay committed to the small scale vision.
What’s one piece of advice for entrepreneurs or small businesses who are just getting started?
Just jump already! I was so hesitant about starting Book Club Card because there were a thousand critical voices in my head. I let myself think that the idea was too small and silly to ever gain traction, and that people wouldn’t get it and my ego would be drug through the mud. Once I decided to kick those small voices aside and just jump, everything clicked. Most importantly, I realized those small voices didn’t matter. What matters most is feeling a creative itch and doing everything in your power to follow and fulfill it.
Need to know: top three favorite books within the last year?
The Nightingale
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Crying in M Hart
Please read all three as soon as possible (and let’s chat about them!)
Favorite place to read a book in SF?
My bed! San Francisco is beautiful and has some of the most incredible views (check out the park bench at Ina Coolbrith Park), but there is something special about unwinding at the end of the day with a book while alone in bed. I love San Francisco, but I read to block out everything that has happened in MY life and submerge into someone else’s.
And finally, who are some founders or small businesses that you admire?
The Aesthetic Union - the incredibly talented letterpress studio that brought my cards to life. They are a team of artists that are dedicated to an amazing craft, however they are also incredible cheerleaders for beginners. The team was so patient with me when I walked in with 17 questions, walking me through what would and would not work, and welcomed my 5 design revisions with open arms. Check out their weekly Letterpress 101 workshop if you’re in SF!
I fell in love with Tina Roth Eisenberg in high school. She’s a Swiss designer based in New York City. What inspired me about Tina was that when she had an idea, she ran with it, and she ran with it hard! Tina is the founder of Friends Work Here, CreativeMornings, TeuxDeux and Tattly (please google all of them!). These businesses were sparked by an idea and were given dedicated love and effort to blossom. Her boldness to pursue even the smallest idea is an inspiration -- my favorite being the hideous temporary tattoos her daughter would come home from school with and her vow to make temporary tattoos cool (Hello, Tattly).
Every local brick and mortar San Francisco bookstore that is fighting hard to make it work in the times of covid, ordering books online and the insanity of SF rent. The business owners that are out there grinding it out every day to keep vintage bookstores alive have my whole heart!
Thanks, Colin! You can follow along with Colin’s Book Club Card over on Instagram and get your very own card at the Book Club Card shop.
