Want to meet more people who love books as much as you do? Here are some easy ways to find bookish friends, discover your local reading community, and actually get involved.
Making friends as an adult is already hard. Making friends as an adult who also wants someone to talk about books with? Even harder. Hahaha.
But lately, I’ve been getting more involved in the bookish community around San Diego, and I’ve realized something: there are SO many readers out there.
There are book clubs, author signings, book fairs, bookstore events, library events, release parties, book crawls and entire communities of people who also want to spend their Saturday afternoon wandering around a bookstore.
You just have to find them.
And honestly, my biggest advice for making bookish friends is pretty simple: get out and do more bookish things.
You don’t need to walk into a bookstore and announce that you’re looking for a new best friend. Start putting yourself in places where other readers are already hanging out.
Here are some of the easiest ways I’ve found to start getting involved in your local book community and hopefully meet some bookish friends along the way.
Get a Library Card
First things first: get a library card!
Even if you already buy most of your books, your local library can be SUCH a good resource for finding other readers in your community.
And don’t just get the library card and forget about it.
Actually look at what your library offers.
Check their event calendar. Follow them on Instagram. Sign up for their newsletter. Look for book clubs, author talks, book sales, workshops and other events.
I’ve started paying way more attention to what’s happening at libraries around San Diego, and there is always something going on.
Libraries are basically already doing the hard part for you. They’re bringing people from your community together around things they’re interested in.
You just have to show up.
Find Your Local Independent Bookstores
One of the easiest ways to start finding your local book community is to find the independent bookstores around you.
Go visit them!
Browse the shelves. Talk to the booksellers. Look for event flyers. See if they have a book club.
And then — this is important — follow them online.
I follow so many bookstores now because that’s how I find out about most of the bookish things happening around me.
Bookstores will post about author signings, book clubs, release parties, midnight releases, pop-ups, book fairs, special shopping nights and other events.
You don’t have to magically know where the book community hangs out.
Let Instagram tell you. Hahaha.
And once you start following a few bookstores, you’ll probably start discovering even more bookish businesses and events in your area.
Go to Bookstore Events
Don’t just follow your local bookstores – actually go to their events!
Author signings are a great place to start because everyone there is already excited about the same author or book.
Conversation starter: handled.
The same goes for release parties, midnight releases, book discussions, themed events and other bookstore gatherings.
You already have something in common with everyone in the room.
And you don’t necessarily need to go with someone.
I know going to events alone can feel intimidating, but bookish events are actually pretty easy places to attend solo because there’s already something to do.
Browse the books. Get in line for the signing. Look at the merch. Grab a coffee. Talk about the book.
You don’t have to force yourself to walk around introducing yourself to everyone.
Just be there – and look open to a conversation. No hiding. No phone scrolling. You got this.
Join a Book Club for a Genre You Actually Like
Book clubs are probably one of the most obvious ways to meet bookish friends, but I think there’s one important part people overlook:
Join a book club that actually reads books you like.
Don’t join a random book club just because you want to make friends.
If you’re a romance reader, look for a romance book club.
If you love fantasy, find the fantasy readers.
Thrillers? Horror? Literary fiction? Manga?
Find your people.
You’re going to have WAY more to talk about when you’re already excited about the books everyone is reading.
And don’t be afraid to try a few different book clubs.
You don’t have to attend one meeting and decide that these are your book club people forever. Hahaha.
Try different groups until you find one that feels comfortable and reads books you’re genuinely interested in.
Go to Local Book Fairs
Book fairs don’t have to be massive events to be worth attending.
Honestly, smaller local book fairs can be even better for meeting people in your community.
You’ll usually find some combination of local authors, independent bookstores, small presses, bookish vendors and lots of other readers.
Walk around. Browse. Talk to the vendors. Ask people what they’re reading.
You don’t have to treat it like a networking event.
You’re literally just going somewhere filled with people who like books.
That’s the point.
And once you start following local bookstores, authors and bookish businesses online, you’ll probably start seeing these smaller book fairs pop up more often than you’d expect.
Look for Book Crawls in Your City
I LOVE the idea of a book crawl.
If you’ve never heard of one, it’s basically an excuse to spend the day visiting a bunch of bookstores.
What more could I want? Hahaha.
Look up things like:
“book crawl near me”
“book crawl + your city”
“independent bookstore crawl + your city”
I’ve found book crawls happening around San Diego, and they’re such a fun way to discover bookstores you might not have visited otherwise.
They’re also naturally social.
You’re visiting bookstores alongside a bunch of people who clearly love books enough to spend an entire day driving around looking at them.
Those are probably your people.
Go to Author Signings and Talks
Author events are another really easy way to start getting involved.
Look at bookstores, libraries, book festivals and even universities near you to see who’s coming to town.
You might be surprised by how many authors visit your area.
I’ve started paying much more attention to author events around San Diego, and once I started looking for them, I realized there were WAY more than I knew about.
And again, everyone attending already has something in common.
You’re all there for the same author.
Talk about the book you’re getting signed. We all love to talk about books. It doesn’t have to be complicated.
Follow Your Local Book Community Online
This might be one of my biggest tips.
Once you find your local book community, follow everyone.
Follow the bookstores.
Follow the libraries.
Follow the book clubs.
Follow local authors.
Follow book fairs.
Follow bookish vendors.
Follow local book creators.
Follow event organizers.
Because one account will lead you to another.
A bookstore reposts a local book club. The book club posts about a book fair. The book fair tags a bunch of local vendors. One of those vendors posts about an author signing happening next weekend.
Suddenly, your Instagram feed is basically a calendar of bookish things happening around you.
This is how I’ve found SO many events I probably never would have known about otherwise.
Search for Bookish Events in Your Area
Sometimes you also have to actively look.
Try searching Google, Instagram, Eventbrite and social media for things like:
- Book clubs in your city
- Book fairs in your city
- Book crawls in your city
- Author signings near you
- Bookstore events near you
- Library events near you
- Romance book clubs near you
- Fantasy book clubs near you
- Silent book clubs near you
You can get really specific.
For me, that means searching things like San Diego book fairs, San Diego book clubs, San Diego author signings and San Diego book crawls.
Once you start finding events, you’ll usually discover even more through the people and businesses involved with them.
Don’t Be Afraid to Go Alone
This one deserves its own section because I know this can be the hardest part.
If your goal is to make more bookish friends, there’s a good chance you don’t already have someone who wants to go to every book event with you.
Go anyway.
You don’t need to wait until someone agrees to go with you.
Go to the bookstore.
Go to the signing.
Go to the book fair.
Try the book club.
Being alone can actually make it easier to talk to people because you’re not spending the entire event talking to the person you came with.
And you don’t have to put pressure on yourself to make a friend every single time.
Sometimes you’re just going to have a fun afternoon looking at books.
That’s still a win.
Keep Showing Up
This might be the most important part.
You’re probably not going to attend one book club and immediately leave with six new best friends.
Friendships take time.
Go to one event.
Then go to another.
Visit the bookstore again.
Attend next month’s book club.
Go to the next author signing.
Eventually, you start recognizing people.
Wait… weren’t you at that bookstore event?
Didn’t I see you at that book fair?
Suddenly, you’re not walking into a room filled entirely with strangers anymore.
You’re becoming part of the community.
And I think that’s really the secret.
You don’t necessarily need to go looking for friends.
Start looking for community instead.
Final Thoughts: Go Do More Bookish Things
I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that if you want to make more bookish friends, you have to get out into your local book community.
Get the library card. Find your local bookstores and follow all of them online. Go to the author signing. Try the book club. Spend a Saturday at a local book fair. Sign up for the book crawl.
You don’t have to go into every event thinking, “I’m going to make a friend today.”
Just start showing up.
The more bookish events I go to, the more I realize how many readers are out there looking for the exact same thing: people to talk about books with.
And eventually, you start recognizing people. You find out about more events. You discover new bookstores. You meet people who read the same weirdly specific books you do. Hahaha.
You got this!
XOXO,
Julia
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About the Author: Hey there! I’m Julia, a travel writer, over-packer, list maker, and self-proclaimed Vacation Prepper. I share the tips and little details I learn along the way to help you feel prepared before your next adventure.
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