I am a new member and have already sent out 3,000 books - it seems.  But not many of the ones I want are available.  i.e. "389 out of 390."

I am spending a bundle but not really seeing reward.  Am I whining? Hope not, but it seems like the receivers are getting all the glory and the goods and I'm just  footing the bill. 

I am used to swaptree where it is one for one. Is there something I am missing?  How do you all feel about this inequality!? Drop me a line 

Hi Jill!  Welcome to PBS!

It can be a little frustrating when you first join because you're probably posting books that also have a lot of wishers so they're all schlurped right up, but in the meantime, everyone already has a jump on the wishlisted books you want, too.

Give it time.... You'll catch up.  And in the meantime, you'll probably find others that you'd like, too.  Before you know it'll have to buy a new bookshelf to house all your PBS finds (not that that's happened to me or anything.   ).  Skip around the site.... You'll find books you want in no time.

It takes a bit of patience, but when you start getting the offers it's like Christmas!  Woot!

(PS -- I saw you have the Outlander books on your wishlist..... LOVE THEM..... And I have dibs on Jamie.  Just sayin'.)

Again, welcome!  And have fun!

Actually quite often it's the super popular books with the long WL lines that you will get the quickest. Because they are so popular they tend to get posted often and move pretty quickly.  They are frequently the books that go from long WL line to heavily posted. 

PBS isn't the place to get books quickly. 

I would fill up my WL and stop posting books for now.  When you start getting books then post more.  That's what I do.  I only keep 10-15 credits on hand and only order WL books.  I hold off on posting more books until I need credits.

Hi Jill and Welcome!

I noticed that some of your WL books are hardcovers. You might want to expand your choices also to Paperbacks.

Check out the Games Forum located under the Community tab, Discussions Forums...Games. There is usually a Wish List Swap going on and you can get some of your WL books that way. If one is underway, contact the host/hostess of the Game to get on the list to be notified when the next game will start.

Check out the Book Bazaar for Deals...

Check the Genre Forums...some have WL books available under a first come first serve.

OBTW excellent choice on wishing the Outlander series

PBS isn't the place to get books quickly. 

Give it time.... You'll catch up.

Patience is key.  You've only been a member a week and you've already received four books.  If you're waiting for books you REALLY want, then some great suggestions have already been made.

Welcome to PBS!  Stick around, I think you'll like it here.

Welcome Jill!

I'd just like to add that once you've been here a while, you'll steadily move up on all those waiting lists and you'll suddenly start receiving them regularly. Some of the wait-times are pretty short on the more popular/newer titles, even with hundreds of wishers ahead of you. It seems like you'll be waiting forever now, but you'll soon be getting more books than you know what to do with. 

It's like that for almost everybody at first.

If you stick aroud, you move up the WL lines and start seeing those books come in.

I think it took me about 7 or 8 months before I really started seeing WL books being offered to me in any significant numbers.

And, in the meantime, there are tons of wonderful books that are available to order, I order older books all the time. Usually the backlists of authors that I discover new.

I see you live in Long Beach, do you know about Friends of the Library? The Long Beach main library branch has a store inside the branch (not sure of the hours) where donated books are sold. There are almost always newer books (as well as older ones) to choose from, all for $1 or $2 or $3.  Huntington Beach is also close by you, and they also have a large FOTL store inside the main branch. Last time I was there, I think I bought about 30 or so books.

I check those out if I happen to be passing by. I usually find books that I am on the Wish List for.

Thanks everyone for posting such great suggestions.  I will take them all into consideration!  You are a helpful bunch here!

Jill

PBS is great for trying authors you might not normally buy.  Also if you have set authors and are not sure who else to try, ask on the forums and someone will have an idea for you :)
There are also the unpostables that you can get for free with an order from someone's shelf.

WL do take awhile so look around and find ones that aren't wish listed.

I've had fun plugging some of my favorite authors into literature-map.com, and I've found some great authors/great books to order here.

I find it takes a long time for my wish-listed books (only one even has an estimate on it), but that I often see a review or recommendation for a book I am interested in and can get that from here.  I also check regularly for various title words, etc.  (For example, my husband is interested in books about the Golem of Prague, so I do a regular check for "Golem" in the title field.)  That way I find books I didn't even know about that I want.  At least three-quarters of the books I get are "spur-of-the-moment" choices.

there are tons of wonderful books that are available to order ( 4,921,896 at this actual moment LOL).

If you wait for your WL books it can seem "inequal" - but, in the meantime, as others have suggested, explore & order some books currently available.

Also, when you first joined and posted your books, and that others had wishlisted would have been very quickly requested. After this initial surge, you will find your book are requetse dmuch more slowly.

If you wdecide you want to hold off mailing any more books for a while, you can put your account on vacation hold. The books on your book shelf will continue  movong up the FIFO queue, but, you will not receive any requests.  You can also put your wishlist on auto-request . Even while on vacation hold you can still request books, visit the forums and explorte the site.

And, welcome!

I wondered about the vacation hold - thanks. It's nice that the books still move up but I won't be sending so many out. (And I actually am going away this saturday..)

Just FYI, if you put your account on vacation hold, then yes, the books continue to move up the FIFO queue - but, if you put books on your bookshelf on hold individually - when you unhold then they get kicked to the end of the queue.

When I have 'enough" credits (and enough is such a personal thing LOL), I put my account on vacation hold until I've used up "enough". I just prefer not to have too much money tied up in an account, though I am confident PBS is perfectly safe :-)

I mailed Defending Jacob (CD format) to a member so I know it is in the system.  This might be a good time to explore audio books.  In the meantime, I would use my local library to tide me over.  That way, you can still feed your desire to read while you wait for books.

Welcome to the club. 

No to worry - I have PLENTY of books on my shelf.