I found out yesterday that I have two copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince so I posted one.

Before posting, I searched for the book and the first one that came up had 14 members wishing. Cool, I thought.

I post the book I have by the ISBN and find that there are zero members wishing! I go back and see that the other one was a large print version of the book. Weird. Must be that people search for the book and wish for the first one that comes up, like I saw.

Do you think that (once my bookshelf becomes active again) that the members wishing will be alerted that my book is available? I mean, I just can't see 14 people wishing for a large print version of this Harry Potter book.

Also, if you know of someone, or you yourself, is wishing for this book incorrectly, let me know. I would hate for this one to get missed by the people wishing for the large print book that they most likely do not want.

It seems correct to me that there would be 14 members wishing for the same large print book- especially more popular books. There's thousands of members here and 14 is a pretty low ratio. Large print editions usually take more FIFO time. Sometimes the FIFO line moves slowly or doesn't move at all.  My mom can only read large print and I'm sure there are PBS members, their friends and family who prefer large print for various reasons. Of course, it is possible a member may have inadvertently selected the large print edition.

Why would it be strange for people to wish for the large print version? If you have vision issues, the large print version is much easier to read. I was 15 when I first got to the point where reading regular print is much more difficult, due to a degenerative eye condition. I actually find the assumption that people wouldn't be wishing for large print (I assume because you're under the impression that only old people read large print editions) to be a bit offensive.

The younger readers will often do better with large type.  Our library has the large type in the kid's section, and a regular type in the YA and adult sections. 

There is often much more demand for LP books in general.  They are harder to find and generally cost more.

I also am puzzled why you would be puzzled that 14 people want the Large Print edition of a book, especially one as popular as the Harry Potter series. That is a series enjoyed by young and old alike, and there are many, many PBS members...it stands to reason that at least some of them would have vision problems such that a large print version would be necessary for them to enjoy the book.

But to answer your question, yes, once the book is posted into the system, the members who have those "similar book" e-mails turned on will be notified that there is one in the system. However, I am guessing that a lot of people who only want Large Print books have those e-mails turned off, as they probably get dozens of notifications a day (if their entire WL is for large print editions) otherwise.

Cheryl

They probably need large print.

I wouldn't worry too much. Harry Potter is popular, yours will get selected eventually.

This is like hardcover vs. paperback. Some people actually prefer one over the other and will wait on a wish list for a hardcover even if the paperback is available.

Its not weird that people need large print. Some people need it. My grandparents both read larger print whenever they get the chance. Its just someones personal choice. Dont worry about it or question it.

Just a little side note - people are amazed at how drastically their vision chages about the age of 40.  I swear that the day I turned 40 my vision went downhill precipitously. It was scary.  I went from wearing single vision glasses to tri-focals (progressives now).  I can't find good glasses for using with the computer - squinting is the best I can do.  I specifically have asked 2 doctors for glasses to use with the computer - neither one did any good.  And reading regular print in books now is a lot of work - before it was a breeze.  Couple that with the fact that publishers are using smaller and smaller print to save $$ - I would love to get large print books.  And I never really had  problems worse than near-sightedness - now it's both near-sighted and far-sighted problems.  I just can't wait for large print books - and most titles aren't printed in large print.  So a good magnifying glass is sometimes needed.

Ruth

Might not just be adults who want large print, I know several poor sighted kids who get large print books because they are easier for them to read. One even has to maginify the page of a large printed book.  So I can see why that many people might want it.

I really don't understand how my original post came off as offensive and I apologize if it did. I also understand that people might wish for large print because they need it and not just those who are older. I also have a degenerative eye disease called Keratoconus, so I understand the need for large print books.

The reason why I was thinking that it could be possible that people were wishing for the large print book incorrectly is because when searching for the book itself, that was the first one that came up and that led me to believe that people might not have paid attention to the "large print" wording beside the title and just wished for the book they wanted.

Anyway, thanks for the answers.

I have a similar question that I've been wondering about:  It seems that different versions (ie: paperback, large print, mass copy, etc) of books aren't cross referenced on the site.  I've noticed that several books I have posted are listed as 'members wishing' but they are the wrong version.  I have a hardcover, they wished for a paperback, etc.

Is there a way to see who's wishing for something and suggest a different version?  I see that I can suggest a book to a friend, but how do I know who's wishing for specific books??

(I'm new; please forgive the ignorance.)

B

You can tag the WL version with the ISBN of the posted version. I usually put the posted one on my reminder list to see how many copies are posted. If mine's the only copy or there's very few posted then I tag the WL one w/the ISBN of mine.  If there's quite a few copies of mine in the system already I don't bother. Most likely those people already know there's another copy posted. Some collectors really want hardback because they are more durable and look better on a shelf. People who WL large print or audio when there are other copies posted really want audio or lrg print and are willing to wait for it.  Some people want a specific cover picture/style especially if they are collecting an author.  It's not hard to find all the copies that are in the system.  All you have to do is search All Books and it'll bring up which versions are posted and which aren't.

Also the system is set up so that you can receive emails when a different version of one of your WL books is posted. Now some people have that turned off-I do because I WL a lot of audios and got tired of all the emails.

I find when I post a book that's WL in a bunch of versions and not already posted in my version-it's ordered really quickly just from the Books Posted Today page.