As you get into collecting stamps, certain aspects of the hobby are going to appeal to you more than others. This is called specializing. Some collectors specialize in a planned and calculated manner; the rest of us just sort of wander into it. Regardless of how you get there, you are confronted with the need for more knowledge about this special area. You can obtain this additional knowledge by buying books, by using the services of the several philatelic libraries, and by joining a specialty society. As you progress in your special area or areas, you will eventually avail yourself of what books there are. The only way to get additional information is by joining a group.

What is in it for you to join a group? The first and most important benefit for most members of specialized groups is the newsletter or journal published by the society. These publications are often the only source of information for many areas of collecting. These societies also often publish books of limited printings on special areas within the specialty in addition to their newsletter. If you are not a member of the group, these publications are often unavailable to you mainly because you will have little way of finding out about them. As with everything else in life, you get out of something what you put in. The more you participate, even if only in a social sense, the more you will get out of the group. If you go to the group's meetings, you will have the opportunity to converse with other collectors having interests similar to your own. If you are a friendly person, you will also have the opportunity to meet people with whom you can become friends. I know of many collectors who have met people through their specialty groups and have, over the years become friends even to the extent of traveling around the globe to visit each other. Because of some of the groups to which I belong, I correspond with lots of people on all kinds of topics. It also gives me the opportunity to trade for stuff that most dealers don't have.

If you really get into the group, you can participate in writing for the publications or in gathering data for others who will do the writing. But the most important thing you can get out of a group is a greater love for your specialty brought on by the greater knowledge that you acquire.

Specialty societies can be very narrow in their scope, such as dealing only with US precancels, or they can be very general, such as a society for worldwide collectors. There are groups for the collecting of just one country or for the collecting of airmail stamps from everywhere. For a listing of many of the specialty groups, go to the American Philatelic Society (APS) home page for a listing of their affiliates. You do not have to be a member to search their home page, and you don't have to join the APS to join most of their affiliates. Many of the groups have dues of between ten and twenty-five dollars per year. Generally, the more expensive the group, the fancier their publications. There are exceptions to this. I belong to one group that costs three dollars a year and has the nerve to subsidize my lunch when I attend their meetings. I belong to another that costs fifteen dollars a year and puts out a bimonthly newsletters that runs to several hundred pages per year. In addition, they are able to put out two, small books per year that are free to the members. Other groups cost more and have pretensions to scholarship. What I like to do is join at least one new group every year. If I like it and it is useful to me, I stay in and eventually try to participate. If the group is not useful or I don't like the people, I quit and move on. Try one, they can be a lot of fun; but you will never find out unless you get around to joining. Don't expect instant results. Give each group time to grow on you.