Hi all!

Really I have two questions for you. I was just wondering if what you put on your bookshelf reflects your taste in books? I have a lot of books on my shelf that I have not read, but my husband or mother have read. Do you think this makes a difference in how many swap requests you get?

I've been here for a little while and I'm finding that I get more requests on other swap sites than I do here. I like Paperbackswap but I'm finding it hard to get rid of books on this site. I was just wondering if it has to do with what's on my shelf or how I call attention to my bookshelf. (I"m not looking for idea's, I've done them all, just wondering really.) Thanks!

Every 3-4 months, I run a deal in the book bazaar just to clear off my bookshelf.  Something crazy like as many books as you want for 2 credits.  I'd rather get the books moving than try to get one for one.  Anything I can't get moving, I take to the UBS if there are more than 20-30 copies in the system.  I figure if there are that many floating around, why bother.

I also think the more you post in the forums relates to how many people check out your shelf.  If you don't post, people don't know you exist other than the FIFO option and that only works when people are looking for a specific book.  If I didn't check out other posters shelves I would have never found the 30 or so new authors I've found over the past year.

Thanks Linda. I hear you, but I've tried the deals in the book bazaar and haven't gotten one bite from it. I don't know, maybe my deal was not good enough. I'll have to try your way and see what happens.  I try to stay in the posts because I know that helps. (My computer has been up and down for the last couple of weeks so that's been kinda hard.) LOL!

Most likely the books on your shelf are ones that have a lot of copies already in the system and/or are ones that have already been read by a lot people.  These tend not to move much.    Your best bet to get takers is to post a deal in Book Bazaar and call attention to what you have the most of (i.e., children's book, mysteries, etc). 

As for your first question, 99.9% of what is on my shelf is what I have read/like.  I don't think it matters if it's something you personally have read or not that affects the number of requests; that's dependent the book that someone is looking for.  I will look at certain member's shelves whom I know have similar reading tastes or post to certain genre forums since there is a chance that someone will have what I would like or am looking for. 

you have a lot of books that there are probably multiple copies in the system and you'll have to work your way up in the FIFO line.

I did see that you have a bunch of kids book, perhaps offer a kids bundle pack in the bazaar.  I didn't count how many you had but let's say you have 6.  Offer all fo them for 2 or 3 credits and put in the subject line - kid's book bundle (or something like that) and then list the books that you are including in the bundle.

if you have several by one author or in the same series, do a bundle for that.  that can help  move common titles in the system faster.

I don't know what sort of deal you did before but thought I'd share those ideas with you

I only have a few on my shelf right now that I have actually read. I got a huge box of books from someone on freecycle. I think she gave me about 150 books. So, no. It doesn't quite reflect my tastes yet.

Paperback swap has a lot of members (that # on the right is just the people who are on line now which is a small fraction). THere's over 2.5mil books on here. Most likely the ones you have posted are just very common.  You can put some on your reminder list and see how many are available. 

No one can tell if you've read the books or not so that doesn't really make a difference as far as shelf orders.  I do think that posting in the forums regularly helps.  I had better luck just putting a 2 for 1 deal in my signature line and posting than I did when I ran a 3 for 1 in the book bazaar. 

Also have you considerred being a Boxer?  It's $8/yr and helps fund PBS.  I've gotten rid of some very common to PBS books that way by exchanging them for another book. 

Mine would say I either don't read or don't post books.  BOTH would be terribly wrong.   I gave all my books away a few months ago and now only post WL books.    

This will change as I read through my large TBR pile and start posting those. When I had a large variety of books on my shelf I got a few request a week.

My bookshelf reflects a good deal of what I have read.  However, when my grandmother passed away no one wanted her books...they were all romance novels.  I took them and posted them here.  Not my taste, but someone will want them. 

I do have an "office" where I can keep my books for PBS so they are not in my way so I don't care how long they sit there.  But, periodically I will go through them and donate to the library.

I think that these boards do help in getting book requests.  You can find people that have similar interests/dislikes as you and chances are they might be interested in the same kinds of books...or not.

Funny, in the Hidden Gem section of these discussion boards is a thread that asks something like "What great book on your bookshelf has been overlooked?  Last night I posted that I had 3 outstanding looks that were overlooked.  Just this morning someone has requested one of these books.  Who knew?  I am thrilled to see the book go to someone.  I enjoyed reading it so much and I hope the new owner does too!

Usually it does, because most of what I usually have is chick lit. But, I have rescued some books because I couldn't bear to see those credits go to the dumpster!

My wishlist reflects my tastes much more than my bookshelf does. My bookshelf has some books I picked up at book sales solely for the purpose of posting, and a few that my mother was planning on throwing away, and a lot of books that I enjoyed when I was a kid but am not interested in reading now. Also, I'm a lot more likely to post a book if I didn't like it; I want to keep the ones I really liked. I don't think that makes a difference in how many requests I get, though.

I second Mary L's suggestion of joining the Box-o-Books service. I  joined last week and got rid of several books that I didn't think were ever going to move!!

I'm still not sure of the box-o-books yet. I'm still a little confussed on how it works.

I have only been here a short time but from what I have seen, every type of book is posted on here and desired.  However, there are also a lot of books that are available. 

For example, there are 61 copies of The Da Vinci Code in paperback available on the site.  That's pretty good if you want to order that book.  You should get it right away. 

On the other hand, if you already have a copy of The Da Vinci Code and you decide to post it, your copy becomes number 62 in line.  So it may be awhile before that book gets sent out. 

Just be patient.  You never know what someone will want.  I have posted some really weird stuff, old textbooks from college and had people snap them up right away. 

A couple of hints.  You can put a book on your reminder list, even if it's also your bookshelf.  There you can see how many copies of the book are in the system.  That will give you an idea of how likely it might be that your will have it ordered soon. 

Also, do a search of the system's wish list.  This is especially helpful if you search by author or series.  I found this helpful in getting several books ordered right away to build up my credits.  That has gotten me active in swapping, while allowing me to post a few books at a time out of my many, many books I already own. 

I don't think the kind of books someone has on his or her bookshelf is a true representation of their tastes; my bookshelf has a few books that were given to me by my brother and that I've never read.  I think the reason your books are not moving as fast as you'd like is that many seem to be titles and authors that are in abundance on PBS.  For example, I've had James Patterson's Beach Road on my bookshelf since the day I joined PBS in February; he's such a popular author that loads of people have already read that book and are not likely to request it, so I don't expect it to move anytime soon. I would say that since you have more requests from the other site that maybe you can list your more popular titles there while posting the more esoteric ones here on PBS. Perhaps other PBSers who trade on other sites can offer more insight into the intricacies of swapping the same books on multiple sites. 

To answer your first question... the books on my shelf don't necessarily reflect my taste... I have a (bad) habit of buying books off of ebay and often the ones I bid on come in lots.. and out of, say, 15 books that come in the lot, I may only want 4 or 5...so the rest go on PBS.  I have mainly romance books on my shelf and I do like romances but I read alot of other books as well :)

For your second concern.... I would recommend joining box of books.. It is basically a creditless trade- a BoB member will look at your shelf, choose a number of books and you will get a notification.  You can then check out that person's shelf and choose and equal (or sometimes unequal) number of books you want, then you agree on a swap.  Very simple actually.  I really enjoy it and when I first joined I had the same concern that you did- that my books wouldn't move off my shelf.  Once I joined BoB I had to end up changing my habit of heading to the PO whenever I had a request to only going once a week because it was getting to be too much for me.

My bookshelf could have anything on it... except my keepers. So if you really want to know my taste in books, look at the ones that AREN'T on my bookshelf!

I stock my bookshelf with books I no longer want, my husband no longer wants, my kids no longer want... but also I sometimes by book lots on eBay. I pull those I really wanted--and the rest (assuming they are postable) usually end up on my shelf. Those books are absolutely no reflection of what I read.

I am going now to look at YOUR shelf--again.

It's probably not a good sign, but when I started my account I posted a ton of random books (ones I didn't want to keep, obviously).  Most of those have been requested, and the ones left are almost all science fiction and fantasy...which does reflect my keeper shelf. 

Still, with genre-specific books like I have, there aren't many copies, and I don't think I've gone a week without getting a request yet.

. When I first joined, I posted the books I had lying around the house that I had read and no longer wanted. They're all long gone, and now I post books that I've bought to add to my shelf. I look for good deals on new or like new books or unusual books, at thrift stores or used book sales. In general, most of the books on my shelf have little or nothing to do with what I prefer to read. Even though I post a special at the book  bazaar about once a month, most of my orders are FIFO. 

My shelf "somewhat" reflects my taste in reading, but not totally accurately. I do get some books from my FOL sale that I don't read but post to my shelf, mostly cozy mysteries and stuff I figure will go fairly quickly. (I read 'some' cozies but not a lot.) But aside from that, every book I read that I don't want to keep I post here--however, a lot of those are wishlisted so they never even show up on my bookshelf.

I don't worry about calling attention to my shelf. When I'm done with a book, I post it and mail it (if WL'd) or put it in my "PBS Shelf" box if not, and then forget about it until it gets requested. My shelf isn't so big that I worry about it overrunning my apartment, and I post enough wishlisted books that I'm not worried about credits either. I personally almost never order directly from a person's bookshelf...actually, my WL does most of my ordering for me and it's only a couple times a month I'm ordering something in the system (usually some series I'm reading where I need the next one in line) and then I generally use FIFO as I think it's the fairest way to trade.

Cheryl 

Thanks everyone! I'm still thinking about the BoB and hopefully when I'm finally brave enought to join I'll get ride of a lot more of my books! Thanks again!

You also might want to consider joining some swaps on the games forum (if you haven't already).  As people get to know each other in the swaps and see who has interests similar to theirs, they are more likely to browse each others' shelves.  From what I can see of your siggie, you probably like paranormals and fantasies - there are a lot of people in the swaps with similar tastes!  Come join us!