How do I do that? It's newer books probably not added? Though I'm not sure how books are added...

First you need to do a search for the book to make sure that it is not already in the system...many new and upcoming books are already in the system...if you don't have the ISBN and you don't find it under Title or Author look on Amazon or on the Authors website to locate the ISBN.  If you need help feel free to PM me with the Title and Author and I'll see what I can do for you...I enjoy the search.

Yep, definitely try Amazon.  Get the ISBN.  Copy it down and come here to PBS.  Put the ISBN in the search box and run a search on it.  That should put the book into the PBS system right away and the record will pop up.  Then, add the book to your WL and you are #1.

And make sure when you are using the search feature here you are using "All Books" instead of "Posted Books". If it is not in the data base,  check back in a few days, since the data base is up-dated often. I have also seen someone mention in a thread sometime ago, that when searching for a book here not yet published and an entry does not exist, the system will go out and look for it. (Please note: I am not a computer person, so I have no idea how, or when) and then the book will be added to the data base when it is up-dated.

After you find the book, click on +Wish to add it to your wishlist, and the system will notifiy you via email when the book is posted. You will then have 48 hours to log in and order the book.

I've already done what you gals suggested. It's not in the system. These are privately published books that aren't available at Amazon. Maybe I need to wait until someone posts it and adds it themselves. ?? :)

Shoot, it normally works if the book's in Amazon's database.

I don't know how to go about it if the book's not there.

I found this over in the Help documents:

Help Center - How do I add a book that is not in the database to my Wish List?

This cannot be done.   A book must be known to the PBS database in order to be added to a Wish List.

• Our database is regularly updated.
  • if your book is not in the database, it could be added at any time!
  • You can used "Saved Searches" to check on this easily--save the search for this item and run the search every now and then to see if it comes up in the search results.
• You should be sure that your Search terms are accurate
  • You may not be finding the book if you are spelling the author name or title wrong
  • Try searching by ISBN, if you know it.  This will sometimes add the listing to the database, and you will be able to Wish List the book from the added listing.
• If a book was published without an ISBN
  • it will not be possible to put that version of the book onto your Wish List, since the Wish List functions by ISBN
  • if a non-ISBN version of the book has been Posted into the database in the past, it can be added to your Wish List, but this means that ONLY that specific copy of the book will trigger a Wish List offer
  •  The "PBS ISBN" (the short, usually 5-digit number attached to a non-ISBN listing to keep track of the book in the PBS database) applies to only that particular copy of the book; only if that particular copy is reposted into the system by a previous receiver of that particular copy will you be alerted to its availability.

Have you tried google book search? Or googling the title to see if you can find out who the publisher is? Maybe you can find the ISBN on the publisher's website.

Thanks Sarah! I guess I could have gone to the Help Center huh? So I guess I'm just out of luck and need to keep checking the database...it does say a book can be added at any time...I wonder if that means we can add it. Not that I'm that ambitious :)

I was hoping the help center'd have the answer as to how it could get added.  I know once I went to post a book to my bookshelf and it asked me all sorts of quesitons about it, like the info contained in the book's record on the site.

I wonder if trying to add the book to your bookshelf would do it?  If you got the ISBN and all the other info (title, author, size, page count) and tried to post it to your shelf and see what the system does.  It may walk you thru creating the record?  Then, you can take the book off of your shelf as soon as it's posted and then add it to your WL.  Worth a try if you can get all the info on the book.

You can go to fantasticfiction.com and look for the author (if it's not there, then you have a problem, especially if its not at Amazon either).  If the author is there, then click on the book, and write down EVERY ISBN shown for that book (unless you want a specific one - i,e., hardback only, PB only, etc., ) and put them all on your WL.  That way you have more books to choose from. 

If you don't find them at fantasticfiction then try GOOGLE and google the name of the author and see what comes up.  Pat

I can add it, if you send me a link to an information page with at least title, author, and ISBN.  If it doesn't have an ISBN, then there's not much anyone can do.

Edited to say this will only work if you have the ISBN.

ummm... I've done this before and it works but it's the backwards way to do it.  Put your shelf on vacation hold.  Take the ISBN you have and post the book to your shelf.  It almost always kicks the info into the system.  Then I open a new window for PBS and click onto the book title, delete it from my bookshelf in the 1st window and WL it in the 2nd window.  Then I remove myself from vacation hold.  I just did it a week or 2 ago on a new book that was in Amazon's system but not in PBS's yet.

Yes I did what Mendy said before too...it comes up when you try to post it but it won't come up as a search.  But be careful, if someone has it on their wish and you post it WITHOUT putting your acct on vacation, then someone wishing it will think that you have it.

Thanks, this is the exact info I want.

Just be sure to do what Mendy said & delete the book before you take yourself off vacation hold. Because I removed the the Vacation Hold first, the book was accidentally moved to be on hold for someone - myself. I ended up having to cancel my own request and re-wish listing it again.  What a headache. It's now logged in my Transaction Archives as a cancelled WL request.

I'm curious though. When I put my Bookshelf on Hold, even if I took it off again right away, didn't I lose my place in the FIFO system? Are all my books at the end of the line now?

Vacation Hold does not affect your FIFO places at all. You will regain your exact spot both for your Book Shelf and Wish List.

I have found a book I want that is not in the system.  I went to Amazon.com to get the ISBN.  I searched the PBS system, not here.  I put my account on vacation hold, tried to post to bookshelf, as suggested above, still not here.  This book was published Sept 2008 and is by a well known author of children's books...Laura Numeroff, "If You Give A Cat A Cupcake".

Terry here is the link for that book

http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/details/9780060283247-If+You+Give+a+Bunny+a+Birthday+Cake+If+You+Give+Books+Hardcover

there are 23 wishers already on it, were you looking only at posted books by mistake?

You lose your place in FIFO if you put individual books on hold but not when you do vacation hold.

Thanks, Deb, but that book is "If You Give a Bunny a Birthday Cake", NOT the IYGA Cat a Cupcake.  Oh, well, we tried :)

hmm that is weird, b/c that was the ISBN on amazon..interesting...

The system should say "valid ISBN# but no details", so you fill in the fields (title, author, etc.) as completely as you can to "create" the book in the system - there should not be a wishlist for such a book, but you should IMMEDIATELY delete the book from your bookshelf once the entry goes through. At that point, the ISBN will exist in the system, so that you can go ahead and put the book on your wishlist for when another member obtains an actual copy.

Hope that helps!

Edited to add: In this instance, however, I'm thinking that the exact same ISBN is being used to cover an entire series of "If you give a ..." books, in which case my advice applies does NOT apply. You're out of luck.

John's added note has probably hit the nail on the head, that there is an entire series of books "If you give a" and the whole set has the same ISBN. Publishers can be very stupid about this kind of thing and it really messes it up. While there's no guarantee we are right, it's a pretty good guess, and I've seen it before.

Here's the best solution I can offer. Not much, but better than nothing:

Make sure the book was searched for by name only also, so that if it has been posted without an ISBN it could be found as well.

If it really isn't available, and does appear that the entire series is under the same ISBN, then the trick mentioned earlier, about putting your shelf on hold, posting it, then removing it, then taking your shelf off hold, will at least help.

What this does is allow another person who has this exact same book, to know that the book really does exist, and even tho they shouldn't post it to that listing, many people do, and even if they don't if you watch for it, they may post it w/o an ISBN on their own, since they've seen someone else do it.

That's the best that can be done, as far as I know. You might also put a TAG note stating that "all of this series seems to be under the same ISBN so be sure to search by name w/0 ISBNs as well". This also will be tip for owners of other copies of this series to do the same.

Hope this does some good. I had a very old cookbook that I wanted, that did not have an ISBN, so I made an entry like I suggested above. Before too many months went by, I searched one day, and was successful! It had worked to encourage someone to post their copy so that I could find it. Good luck!