ArmchairBEA 2015

by Donna Huber

credit: Amber

It again time for the book blogger to come together for the great book event known as ArmchairBEA. While many people in the book publishing industry are making their final preparations for Book Expo of America, bloggers are preparing to participate from the comfort of their own chairs and couches.

I have been participating in ArmchairBEA since I started blogging. And while it is a busy week with writing posts, visiting other blogs, reading the special coverage at ArmchairBEA.com, joing Twitter parties, and, of course, entering GIVEAWAYS! it is also a great time to remember why we love book blogging - the community. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with some bloggers that I have lost contact with through the year as well as meeting new bloggers.

It is free and easy to participate, just follow these steps.

1. Go to ArmchairBEA.com and register
The event runs Wednesday, May 27 through Monday, June 1. I think with a weekend in the middle of it will make it easier for those who work to participate and I hope there will be a Twitter party or two planned during that time. They have chosen a theme for the week: DIVERSITY. I think you will find that there is a lot of diversity among book bloggers. I have met bloggers through the event from every walk of life and many different countries. Some blog only about Classics or translated literature, others focus more on specific genres or target audience (i.e. kid lit). It is fun to see all the different ways people blog about books.

2. Start working on your posts (it is a HUGE time saver to schedule your posts in advance)
Seriously, with all the parties and blogs to visit, you don't want to be writing your posts during the event. This year's event is a bit shorter, but it will still be exhausting and you want plenty of time to visit the other blogs (that is really the point of the event). You don't have to write on each topic each day, but for each topic you do write on you are entered into a drawing to win prizes from the supporters (remember to submit your link to the linky every day). The topics are already posted (follow the link to get post ideas for each topic) so you can get started now.

Wednesday: Introductions & Library Love
Thursday: Visual Expressions & Social Media
Friday: Character Chatter & Blogging Q&A
Saturday: Giveaways & Book to Movie Adaptations 
Sunday: 2015 Wrap-up
Monday: Survey

I highly recommend doing the introduction post and they have already posted a list of questions to do your own self interview.

If you don't have time to work on your posts in advance, then consider writing short posts. Really, people will probably thank you for writing a paragraph or two on the day's topic. There's usually about 500 participants which is a lot of blog reading.

3. Have Fun!
The event is all about having fun and interacting the community. Try to visit a few blogs each day and leave a comment. Try to make at least on Twitter Party, but be warned they can be CRAZY with a bunch of people talking at once.

Don't stress and do what you can do. Don't worry about the right or wrong way to participate.

I hope I will see you next week!