I have several books on my bookshelf that I know others have on their wishlists.  Why don't they get a message that the books are available?  Most of these books have been posted since the first part of September.  I get messages from PBS that tell me that books that are on my wish list have been posted and also that books similar to what I had on my wishlist had been posted.  Doesn't that happen for everyone?  If it were a matter of matching up the ISBN's I could understand, but I get messaged about hardbacks that are available when I have put a paperback on my wish list and vice-versa.

I guess that I just don't understand how that happens.  If I knew of a way to see who was wishlisting the book, I would PM them to tell them that I have the book that they want, but I don't think that is in the rules.

Anyway, if someone can help answer my question, I would appreciate it.

Your copies must not be the versions that are Wishlisted.  The people may have gotten the e-mails that a similar-to-wish book has been posted, but they don't want any version but the one they have WLed. There are often people waiting for the Audio or Hardcover while there are over 200 copies of the paperback in the system.  You can check how many copies of your version are in the system by adding them to you Reminder List. 

Many members will post in the Book Bazaar Forum or add it to their siggy line when they have WL books in other versions on their shelf.

Actually, I have gone into the "Search Posted Books" while offline and in 3 out of 4 occassions (sp?), there is only one copy posted - off of my bookshelf.  I made an assumption - always a questionable move - that the wishing member had been notified of the books availability.   I guess that it is just frustrating knowing that there are members out there looking for the book(s) and they aren't getting them. 

But....

I am having so much fun with this site that I shouldn't ever complain.  I guess maybe I should just chalk it up to being a grumpy old man and let it go at that.

Thanks for your help.  I probably will go to the Book Bazaar and post there since I also have several unpostables that are good reads.

Keep in mind that some members do have the e-mails to notify them that similar books are posted turned off. It's an optional e-mail, and not everyone gets them. Some members only want a particular version of the book, and so they might have gotten the e-mail but are just not interested in that version. (I have a few on my WL for example that I've already read in paperback but am wanting in HC to add to my keeper shelf, so I ignore the e-mails about the paperback version when they get posted.)

I know some folks who only want paperback versions of books because they have arthritis and heavy HCs are too hard for them to hold. Others have poor vision so they need only the Large Print version and wouldn't want yours. I personally would ignore e-mails about hardcover versions of most light mystery/fantasy series that I plan on trading off, as I can't see the point in acquiring a HC book that is going to take me 3 hours to read. They also take up a lot of room on a shelf and will cost me more to re-send when I'm done--so unless a book is a new release without a paperback copy or is for my keeper shelf, I don't want HCs.

There are *all kinds* of reasons why people may not be ordering those books. And yes, I'm sure part of it is just that some people don't know they're there. I regularly click on the author's name for all my WL'd books, as I have found a few books in the system that I had WL'd that way. Usually they are ones that were listed "without an ISBN" because they were a foreign version (UK or Australia) that the ISBN wasn't in PBS's database, thus the 'similar books' e-mail doesn't get send as they aren't linked. The Book Bazaar is a good idea for making people aware of these books on your shelf.

Cheryl

You could try tagging the WL version w/the ISBN of your version.  But most likely if they've been posted on your shelf since Sept-the people on the WL don't want that version.  You could also advertise them in the book bazaar or your signature if you're a regular poster. 

I find most of the time when I post a dif ISBN of a WL book, that it gets ordered pretty quickly without any effort on my part.  Because a lot of people are pretty vigilante about checking the books posted today lists.  But the one time that didn't happen-I had a dif ISBN of a paperback that had 80+ people on WL.  The one I had was exactly the same-same page number, same cover picture, same binding but different ISBN.  My version had one posted already.  I tagged the WL version with "2 posted under ISBN#".  My copy was ordered very quickly and I checked back later to find that 2nd version also had a long WL line. 

I have the other versions WL email turned off.  I frequently put audio cds on my WL that are heavily posted in print.  I don't want them in print. I was getting 20+emails a day. I had dial up at the time and it was really annoying to have it take 10m to load up my emails and find all those reminders for books I don't want.