How many books do you prefer to do a box swap?   And maybe, why...

I like to keep them smaller. I know some people prefer to do larger BOB deals. But for one thing I never find more than 4 or 5 on someone's shelf that I want if I even find that many.  If we have similar reading tastes than most of the time I've already read or own most of what they have. Plus if a box goes lost or you get a bad swapper-then there aren't so many books at risk.  If you do a 20 book deal with someone and they flake our the box goes lost than you are 20 books.  I prefer to keep it 3-6.  I don't mind doing 1 or 2 book BOB deals either.  I never do BOB deals unless I want books that they have.  Some people do them even if they don't really want to read anything the other person has. I don't see the point. I have enough books here already. The last thing I need is a bunch that I have no desire to ever read. 

I will probably not renew my BOB membership when it expires in March.  Not because I'm not happy with BOB.  I just have so many books here.  I might have to move in the next year or two and it won't be military move where they do all your packing and pay for the move.  So I need to send out many, many more books than I take into the house. I'd rather run a deal at some point and hoard credits for a bit.

I boxed pretty much like Mary does.  I let mine expire & didn't renew because I was turning down nearly every offer near the end.  I got a lot of my series books that way though.  Collected almost all of Sabrina Jeffries books - which I finally read four of & got rid of the lot without finishing:P  A lot of Karen Hawkins, Kresley Cole, Stephanie Laurens, Susan Johnson, etc.  Basically stuff I lost interest in or didn't keep, but it was great for glomming.

I'll do as many as needed to make an even trade, but after 2 years of boxing, I've got my hunt list down to about 200 books and very few boxers have more than 5 or 6 that are on my list. I don't do request books that aren't on my list to match the other person's requests. If they've requested several of my Silhouettes but have nothing I want, I'll decline but offer a multi-book-per-credit deal.

The biggest swap I've ever done was 66 books, mostly Zebra bodice rippers going to the other boxer in exchange for several Diana Palmer and regency titles. Took us about 5-6 weeks to nail it down because the PBS boxing system leaves books available on each user's shelf until the swap is accepted. This means that 2 or more boxers can request the same book from you and whichever swap you accept first gets it. It disappears off all other lists. Also, users can request it through the FIFO system and that will remove it from swap lists also. UGH!

My BoB subscription is due to expire on Tuesday and I'm not renewing it. I may re-up at a later date, but I find I don't need it as much as I used to. Most of my 1300 listed books have been in the FIFO system since summer 2007 and I'm getting a lot more orders for credits now that they're floating to the top of the system.

Colleen