So I joined the site on Friday and posted my first ten books, and a few more.  I am quite fond of my books and think they're awesome, but I love sharing and don't tend to read things more than once.  Anyway, it's now Tuesday and I've had over twenty requests for books!  Is this to be expected?  How many requests does a user usually get?  On the bright side, I've become quite an excellent wrapper (well, I think so) and I went up to my attic yesterday to retrive a box of my old books to list.  And there's still another box up there that I'll bring down in the next few days or so.

So... any thoughts?  And I suppose you should look at my bookshelf, as it seems that I have a quite excellent selection of books...

I find requests come in groups.  When I started posting books I was swarmed for about a week.  Since then, however, it's been slow goings, though every now and then a request may pop up.  Part of it has to do with the ability to see books posted per day under the search button, and the "under the hood" link at the bottom of the page.  Some of the books you posted may have been wish-listed and those are almost (ALMOST) guaranteed requests.  There's probably a link to view new members as well, and people might browse shelves that way.  For the most part I'd say you should feel fortunate, but don't expect it to necessarily stay so consistent.  There are bound to be dry spells from time to time.  Congratulations on your success and Welcome to the Swap!!! 

I had the same thing when i first joined it will slow down. I find it comes in spurts none one week, 4-6 the next week. Like last week I had 1 to mail out this week it was 5 books plus 4 dvds(dvdswapper too : ) )

The same thing happened to me...it's settled down to be slower and steadier.  They seem to come in clumps of requests...I had to send out 8 this week=end.  I have a huge TBR pile now.  I don't know if I'll live long enough to read them all...but I keep ordering more since I want to round out the series I'm interested in.  I'm so pleased that other people have had access to books that the book stores ( both new and used) don't ever seem to get.  I've even learned about authors I'd never heard of before and I read a lot! ;D  So it will settle down for you in a little while. Hang n there!

EDIT - just a note to encourage you to consider wrapping your books in some form of plastic before using the PBS wrapper.  I've had 3 books come in ruined because they got saoking wet en route.  You can use  cheap food wrap, plastic grocery bags or dry cleaner bags cut to size.   It really helps.  And I've even had a couple of books that avoided serious damage by the USPS system by the plastic...wrapper was torn up but the plastic was intact.  People like me in rural areas  who have mailboxes away from their houses and their mail delivery person doesn't shut up the mailboxes tend to get wet  mail.  Just a thought.

Ruth

Sorry I just requested one of your books, you had me curious after your post. ; 0 )

Carolyn--

Welcome to PBS!  Yes, I think a number of folks have found that there is an initial "rush" of requests when you first join (depending on what you post), as the books you have that are on wishlists get snapped up.  I think I sent out over 50 books the first month I joined; I was a bit overwhelmed :-)

Cheers,
Catt

WOW!  That is awesome.  My start was much slower.  I think many of my books were ones that had lots of copies already out there.

Well congratulations...it's sounds like you are off to a very good start!  It will probably slow down eventually.

I agree with Ruth about wrapping in plastic too.  Some of us midwest states have had a little too much rain lately!

I think I mailed out 50 books in the first 2 wks.  You probably had a lot of WL books and books that weren't posted in the system.  Plus I think people love to check out the shelf of a newbie so if they see make a post and you're new-they check out your shelf and order.  It should quiet down unless you have tons of books that are rare and WL still to be posted. 

Wow, you have a great, very eclectic bookshelf.  No wonder the orders!  Welcome to the club!

It varies as people with different "libraries" join and post their books. 

When I joined last year, I was -very- popular as I had a substantial sci-fi/fantasy collection.  I'd take bags of books with me to work, print wrappers, and wrap.  Then go to the PO when I got off work in the morning.  The guys at work were curious what I was doing, but none of them were big readers.

Nowadays, orders are slow.  Except for books on the WL cycle, it is a book a few times a month off my base bookshelf.

When I first joined I had a ton of requests. I still haven't posted all the books I plan to swap, since the rush was getting kind of overwhelming, in terms of money spent on postage :) Lately I've been getting a couple of requests a week - sometimes books I've just posted, and sometimes books that have been on my shelf since I joined.

Since your bookshelf was "fresh" it's not surprising to hear you were bombarded with requests! LOL It will slow down!

Thanks for all the replies, guys!  See, the thing is that right now I've sent out over twenty books and it hasn't been a week, even... and I'm currently at zero credits.  And that is kinda ridiculous, I feel.  I want more books!  Arrghhh

Those 20 books should start arriving soon. If you had a few smaller ones that went first class you'll be getting credits for those this week. Even if they were all sent media mail, some should start arriving by early next week.

If you want to get instant credits as soon as you mark the books mailed, consider using printable postage. I do it because I've decided that it's worth the extra 43 cents to avoid going to the Post Office, but if I really wanted credits fast, that would be another good reason.

Before you know it you'll have more credits than you know what to do with. I hit the book bazaar for 3 for 1 deals and now I have 300 unread books.  Crazy. 

I also sold some credits to help cover postage.

<<I'm currently at zero credits.  And that is kinda ridiculous, I feel.  I want more books!  Arrghhh>>

Well, now you have one more credit, courtesy of the "credit fairy" -- enjoy! :-)

And ... might I take this opportunity to reccommend PBS postage and/or PBS Delivery Confirmation?  With PBS postage, you get your credit as soon as you mark the book mailed; with PBS DC, you get your credit as soon as the post office scans the barcode, so you can start building up credits (and spending them) that much sooner :-)

Cheers,

Catt

I think new posters are listed somewhere( but I can't remember where) so they get a lot of requests for the first little bit, then it should start slowing down. It seems to come in spurts too, some times of the year are busier then others.  In summer things slow down a lot  but in winter it goes full force!

When I started, I had over 50 wishlisted books. And, many orders for non-wishlisted books were coming in as well. I spent over $100 on postage during my first week. It's slowed down considerably, but I still send out some every week. Just today, I took 5 to the post office. When I got home, I had another one requested.

It's taken me forever to actually spend all of those credits. (I'm not complaining.) At one point, I had over 70 credits. I have considerably less than that now, but I do have hundreds of new books. I'm a big book bazaar believer.

I had the same thing happen when I first joined.  Most of my posted books are history/non-fiction, which seem to move quickly.  It's been slower since the initial rush, but I find when I post a new group of books, I tend to get orderes, even for some that have been sitting on the shelf.  I just started doing this a few months ago, and I'm totally addicted.  I love the book bazaar- I've gotten so many awesome books that I would never have considered.