Armchair BEA: Networking in Real Life

Today is day three of Armchair BEA and it's all about networking in real life, which can mean a number of things for book bloggers but I'll be talking about my own experience.Most of my real life networking when it comes to blogging has been at author signings or with book bloggers from my area so I'll be talking about both of those things.

When I first started book blogging I didn't even think that there could be other book bloggers in my area. After a year of being on Twitter and talking with other bloggers I realized that there were quite a few bloggers in my area, a lot of them focusing on YA books just like I do. From then on we started planning to meet up at different times. My first experience meeting other bloggers in person was at on the of the Smart Chicks Kick It tour stops. We all met up for dinner before the event and then all went to the signing together afterwards. I'll admit that I was a little nervous about meeting the other bloggers. While I had talked to all of them online, it's not exactly the same thing when you find yourself face to face with them. But everything went off without a hitch and it didn't take long for us to start talking about books and losing track of time a little. 

A few months later, another meet-up was organized where even more bloggers came it was really great to meet up with the ones I already knew again and talk about books. Every time there is a signing in my area, which isn't all that often, I always ask the local bloggers I know if they are planning on attending and want to meet up at the event. That way it makes it so I don't feel all alone at the signing and gives me someone to talk to while waiting for things to start. Most recently, I met up with even more bloggers from my area on the release day of Insurgent so we could all go to the bookstore together to buy it and then go out to dinner. Every time I've met up with my local bloggers I've had a great time.

Meeting up with bloggers who live in the same area as you do is a great way to network. I know for me, I love talking books with people but my roommates, while they read a lot, don't always understand my clear obsession with books. So having people I can do that with is always great. If you know of any people in your area who are also book bloggers I would definitely recommend getting in touch with them and seeing if they are interested in meeting up with you. It's always been a great experience for me and I've loved getting to know all the wonderful bloggers in my area and talking books with them.