There are books that I've put on wish list that don't come out until later this year or early next year.  On several of these, I was number 1, but now it's saying I'm number 2 how is this possible?

Usually means that someone had it on their WL ahead of you, but had their shelf on hold.  When they come off hold, they go back to their original position and you move back a place.

From the Help Center

This happens when another member who was "ahead of you" in line previously (and who got an offer of the book already) gets back into line, for one of several reasons:

• The member's Wish List book never arrived, and was declared lost in the mail

• The member's Wish List transaction was canceled by the sender

• The member had had her account on hold, and has now returned from vacation and unHeld her account. She will go back into line at her previous position when she does this: if she was "ahead of you" before, you will move back a space.

Please be assured that we would NEVER put another member ahead on the Wish List without good cause--in order to go ahead of others on the Wish List, a member MUST have Wish Listed that item earlier (on an earlier date) than they did.

Since these are book that haven't come out yet-my guess is that someone beat you to it but then had their account on hold in those lines and had actually wished it before you.

That's my opinion as well. I was #1 for a long time, and finally got the book offered. Unfortunately, it evidently was a new person who immediately lost interest and the book timed out. Then, I was #2. :-(

I've noticed that a quite a few people will keep their not-yet-released books on Hold on their Wish List. eta: That will make it look like you are higher up on the Wish List lines because they won't show up in the count. You can think you are #1 when in fact you could be #15. The individual Hold on the Wish List has changed the picture of things quite a bit.

The Wish List functions off of the Wished For date so there really isn't a way for anyone to get ahead of you unless they added it to their Wish List before you.

What Melanie said.  When books are wishlisted so far in advance, some members put them on hold until closer to the release date...while on hold, they do not appear on the waitlist (although FIFO keeps track of their spot).