Hello!

I just joined last night and already have sent two books out.  A third book is being held for the recipient's confirmation.  I know it's just the beginning and I'm probably overly worried, but... I'm out four bucks already, with another two going out as soon as that third person confirms...and it seems like no one has the books I'm looking for.  So...just please reassure me that I'm not going to get screwed.  :)  I think this is a neat idea, but I tend to like obscure books (maybe that's why I got immediate hits?) and don't want this to be something where I'm constantly mailing off books but never getting any in return.  How do you all feel about this so far?  Has this been a good experience for you?

Thanks,

P-momma

Welcome Chris,

PBS is really awesome and you will love it. You really need to post more books than you have listed, look at Goodwill, Thrift stores and yard sales for good deals.

I have gotten books here that I thought would be impossible to ever find, sometimes it takes a while. That whats makes this site so good is all the differnet types of books. I have posted books that I was sure no one would want and they were gone immediately. The books on your WL are really not that unusual.

I was just looking through my bookshelves trying to find books I don't want to keep anymore. :) It's hard.  I love my books.  I'm not concerned with people taking my books (like I said, that's already happening).  I'm concerned with someone having books I would like to read.  I suppose I just need to be patient.  BUT, thank you for your kind response.

Chris, I also am a lover of obscure books.  The WL really does work, it just takes a little while.  And, yes, I'm sure you're getting hits because you're filling wishes of other obscure-book lovers!  Just remember, once you have credits built up, if you want to take a break from sending you can always put your WL books on "auto request" and your bookshelf on hold, then just hang out and wait for those WL books to come your way!

Welcome!

I felt the same way at first Chris. I spend $20 in postage in the first 3 days. I have now received a good number of great books and have found that every day I think of more books I wanted. It will even out, just takes time. Just make sure to have a couple of credits on hand in case some of you WL books come up.

Chris,

It will happen when you least expect it.  One of your WL book will get posted and you'll be on your way!

In the meantime, have you considered ordering similar books that are already available?  For example, one of you WL books "Shattered Dream" has a similar book available "Behind Closed Doors" , with a Jan. 2007 publication date.   With 1.5 million books posted on PBS already and more being added daily, you can't go wrong finding books to read here. 

Stay with it and you'll be pleasantly surprised one fine day.

Thanks to you all.  Melanie's response was what I was hoping to hear. 

I actually have a copy of Behind Closed Doors.  I highly recommend it.  :)  And, thanks for the insight into holds, Kristen. 

Chris, don't worry!  This club really works.  You really do get books, even very obscure or very sought-after ones.  It can take a while to get some traction on your Wish List if all the books you want are wanted by others too. 

When I joined I posted and sent and it took me a good while to choose a book for myself.  I was psyched to be sending books I was done with to people who really wanted them (I used to sell them to the local Used Bookstore for almost nothing, and who knew if anyone would ever buy them from there), but I wondered if I would ever order a book.  Then after a while I moved up on some of my Wish Lists, and ran across interesting books browsing, and then the floodgates seemed to open and I just get book after book after book.  I repost most of them when I am done and they are usually Wish Listed and out the door again pretty quick.  I have been really surprised by the books I have been able to get from PBS (I read mostly nonfiction and at first glance the site seems fiction-heavy but that is not so!), and the great condition that most of them are in.  I say find some books you want, Wish List 'em and forget about 'em if there's a long Wish List.  You'll be amazed how fast Wish Lists can move--you will get them sooner than you think, looking at the number of ppl in line ahead of you.

Unless you are hoping to find ancient manuscripts in the original Sanskrit (just kidding), you will probably find that your biggest problem will be keeping enough credits in your account to get all the Wish List books that get offered to you.   But it can take time, if the books you want are rarely posted or very sought-after. 

The typical evolution of a PBS member:

First stage: "I can't find any books to order--the ones I want aren't available"

Suggested action: send the books out that you feel comfortable sending budget-wise, and put your bookshelf on hold when you have reached your "postage limit".  Subscribe to the Daily Digest and Daily Wish List, to learn about books you may not have heard of.  Spend some time rating books in the database, adding them to your Books I've Read list, and checking your Book Recommendations for suggestions based on your ratings.  Read the Hidden Gems Forum to learn about authors other members enjoy.  Check out the Genre Discussion Forum that suits your tastes, to learn about books in your genre(s) of interest.  Order books that are available, add unavailable books to your Wish List. (put them on auto-request so your account will order them automatically while you are on Hold).  By the time you have found books you want, the books you sent will have arrived and you will have a nice stash of credits to spend.

Second stage: "I've spent all my credits and I see another book I want arggggh"

Suggested action: Use printed postage to send your next book--you'll get an Instant Credit when you mark your book mailed (no waiting for the book to be received).  If you don't have requests, look hard at your bookshelf and give yourself a good talking-to: will you REALLY re-read this book, or this one?  If not, post them. Someone else probably wants them.  Or make a deal in the Book Bazaar--send out 2 books for 1 credit, or 3 books for 2, or whatever.  If desperate, buy credits in the Kiosk or ask a Buddy to lend you a credit. 

Third stage: "OMG three wish list books offered to me this week!"

Suggestion action: Read as fast as you can.  More will be coming.  Read Wish Listed books first, repost them when you're done and send them out when they're requested.

Fourth Stage: "My TBR  (To Be Read) Pile is going to topple over and kill someone"

Suggested action: Cordon off pile with fluorescent police tape and erect soft barriers around it to protect animals and small children from falling books, put your Wish List on hold (remove auto-request) for a breather, and read for a while to get caught up.

Welcome to PBS, Chris.  It really is amazing how well this place works for getting books.   :)

Liese, your PBS stages should go into the help center, they are so true!  My TBR piles have toppled over many times (fortunately with no one standing next to them.) 

Chris, I have gotten some pretty obscure books here, one just this week, a hardcover in perfect condition.  So, stick around, hopefully you'll come to love it here as much as I do.

LOL! Diane, I was thinking the same thing too! Liese, send those in! :D

I understand Chris.  My first trip to the post office was to mail about 15 books, and the whole time I'm thinking I hope I get this back.  Now, as I've progressed thru the stages (thank you Liese), I just hold my breath as my dog walks past my "to be read" pile.  It's gonna break his hip if he wags his tail wrong on his way by and topples them.

Welcome to PBS.  Stick with it...it's fun.

You might want to double-check your Jane Kirkpatrick books on your bookshelf.  I am pretty sure it is "What Once We Loved" not "What One We Knew."

DH just carried another box of books upstairs to my TBR ROOM, to heck with piles, no way, they fall over!!! hahahahaha

Welcome, Chris! We all promise, you will get books back! I have stopped thinking of which books to I want to part with and thinking instead, which books that I loved will someone else be quick to take! hahaha

No more keeping books for me. A book on my shelf that I've read is just a credit wasting time! I could be sending it out to someone else to read and getting myself a new book to read!!! There are too many new, great, 'unread by me' books listed on PBS for me to keep one I've already read!!!

Raising hand as another person whose TBR is reaching the point of being a danger to others!  ;->

I'm just glad hubby has no idea how many books I have stashed in my closet that are part of my TBR pile!  I just need to start reading faster...these are the days I miss commuting to Dallas on the train, at least 1 1/2 hours of uninterrupted reading time. 

I just need a better "filing" system!  maybe clean off a bookshelf and put them there?  but then he'd see....oh well

Chris:  I checked your wishlist and several of the books you are the only wisher.  The only one with a long list is "Shattered Dreams."  The rest have lists no longer than 7 people.  I am sure some of them will show up soon for you.  Also sending you a brief Pm---might not want the reply to that one in public. 

I have been on here since Sept. of '05, have sent out 2200 books and received about 700---some very obscure in both directions.  Think positively!!

Leise; your fourth stage had me ROTFLMBO!!! 

Aw, c'mon Winston, we want to hear what secrets you're telling Chris!  We promise not to yell at you if it's something politically incorrect, hehe!

Welcome to PBS - I've received several WL'd books lately from new members, so know that while it may seem a little skewed at first, you are making someone's day and I'll bet that by browsing in the middle of the night you WILL find a new author or book and there you'll go!  :)

Your observation is correct  - the obscure books go quickly.  With membership increasing, though, I'm thinking that will increase the number of obscure books available.  Not everyone is into the latest mystery bestseller! Also, be sure and check out people's booklists if they've made them public. Sometimes you can find good ones that way.  And be sure to sign up for the Daily Digest, so you can get easy notice of books posted that you might like.

To be honest, it took me awhile to get into PBS.  It was a kind of love/hate thing at first - I have a great library system and tons of bookstores everywhere.  One night  I couldn't sleep because I was stressed.  I started browsing here and found some books in the middle of the night and since there is that satisfaction that we women have in shopping, plus the satisfaction of a new author, plus the satisfaction of mail on its way - well, I was hooked from that day on! 

And their minions will be sharks and possums.

For me it's been great--and the orders kind of seem to come in droves--some times i'll feel like i'm mailing all the time--then months may pass with no orders.  Of course, I'll read just about everything, so I tend to find books I want easily(maybe too easily).  I'd hang in there at least for a while and see what comes up, I've had books I wishlisted that I was sure I'd never get come up within days, and others that I thought would be easy to come by never show up. 

Thanks for all of the great, confidence boosting messages.  I'm sitting here with three more books to mail and my hubby is going, "Um.  You're going to get some books, right?" LOL 

Winston, I got a PM, but it wasn't from you.  Send away.  :)

This site is better than any UBS out there! Where else can you swap book for book? Where else can you meet so many wonderful people that love books like you do? Where else is open all night every night? LOL I love this site. I started out the same way. I had 14 or so requests the first day I signed up. I mailed them and I spent my "first 3 credits". Then my first book I ordered got sent to the wrong person. I thought WTH? But the sender pm'd me and told me that the person that recieved it would send it on and she did. Then my credits from the 14 books I sent out started coming in and I have been having an absolute ball since then.

I spend more time on PBS than I do reading. LOL

As for obscure and out of print books. It happens. People join and have some books that they think no one will want but usually there is someone looking for it. My first book when I joined was a MMPB that was published in the 70's. Out of Print and first of all, I couldn't remember the title but I found that thru Abe Books. So I put it on my WL and I also put it in my siggy that I was looking for that book. I joined in February. I think someone pm'd me in July and said they had it and were having trouble posting it to the system because the ISBN was pulling up another book. We solved the problem. She just posted the book to my WL. If I hadn't had the request in my siggy, then she wouldn't have seen it and possibly never posted the book to the system.

Hang in there. You'll see exactly what draws all the members here every day very soon!

Welcome to PBS!

Welcome Chris~I see what you mean by obscure titles.....I checked out both your bookshelf and WL.  I have 8 shelves of books to read.  You will find that books come in waves.  I normally get several WL books in one week...then none for awhile...but I get several hits, so I am sending out books. 

You might consider being a boxer. It will get your shelf out there and for $8 a year, it's a bargin!