Used to roll my eyes at paid discussion guides, figured they were just a cash grab for lazy book clubs. Then my sister dragged me into hers and the guide they bought actually had stuff like "what would you have done in chapter 7" and "which character reminded you of someone in your own family." Took me a while to see it, but a good question can unlock a conversation people were too shy to start on their own. Bad ones are just filler though, and 12 generic questions for $18 sounds like someone typed them up in ten minutes. So I get the rant, but I also get why some groups pay if the questions are actually built around that specific book.