Hi!  I am a bookseller online (don't worry I don't sell the books that I get here, which are mostly wl books, I hurry up and read and pass on.)

Anyway, I was at a bookseller forum online somewhere and the subject was PBS.  Booksellers were moaning about coming here and finding it afloat in Grishams and such and never coming back.  Several other PBS members jumped in say that they never find anything good here, but use the site to get pop reading material.

I did not enlighten these folks that, of course, at any one time you will find a lot of popular dated books listed here. But to me the real action of PBS is the WL action. Meaning the most requested books come in and out without being posted to the general membership.  The last thing we want is more dealers coming here to siphon off the cream. That is why I have always thought the WL is simply brilliant.  It keeps the action fair, we all get in line and wait for what we want.  So I will keep that secret.

Thanks, Susan, for keeping PBS safe for members!  :)

I wonder about those folks.  I rarely read best sellers yet I always find something I like on PBS. 

The wish list is great, isn't it?

"Good" is relative.  I can guaratee that most of the book I read most people wouldn't find appealing.  On the flip side, I rarely read anything newly released.  The joy of PBS is that someone else's trash could be your treasure.

I was on another messageboard recently where someone asked about PBS vs. another internet book swapping site.  Someone complained that PBS didn't have very many  rare books because it had gotten too big.  And then someone else complained that the other site (which I had never heard of but apparently is smaller) didn't seem to have very many rare books either, and wondered if it was because they weren't big enough.

I couldn't help but post something like, "well, duh, neither site is going to have a lot of rare books because they are, well, RARE!" (I said it a little nicer than that there).  I then explained that I have gotten quite a few rare/hard to find/out of print books using the WL.  It sounds like some people expect to come here and every book ever published is going to be available the minute they decide they want to read it. 

It sounds like some people expect to come here and every book ever published is going to be available the minute they decide they want to read it. 

LOL!  They expect that at used booksotres too, though.. I get it at least 5 times a day... disgruntled customers cause we don't have the exact book their looking for. I just want to say "dude, there are hundreds of thousands of books published every year, you can't expect us to know or have everyone,ever printed!"  hee hee....

I heard about this place from a bookdealers forum (I suspect the same one as OP), there some PBS members  were gushing about how great the place was (for themselves to get books, not for resale) so I just had to check it out :)

When I first joined, I expected to find loads of popular books but didn't think I'd find much to interest me. But, if you take the time to search, there are so many treasures. Sure, one has to put in a little work, but that's true at the library, book store, library sale or thrift store. I'd be thrilled if they put in a "Books only Gessi likes" shelf in each place, but thus far it hasn't happened. *sigh*

I'm mean and think that if they're not willing to take five minutes to search or put something on their wish list, they don't deserve the books. So...there? :)

I have read several books I wouldn't have otherwise because someone has recommended the book in the forums, or because I just happened to see it on the front page.  Also, I have taken risks by ordering books I may not like because I know what I can do with them if I don't like them.  i even have the courage to stop reading a book I really don't like because I can just post it.

So, PBS has gotten me some great reading material and has expanded my horizons.  What more can you ask for?

I just wish those 24 people ahead of me on the wishlist for my guilty pleasure book (Dirty by Megan Hart) would hurry up and read their book when they get it!!

So, booksellers don't like this site?? As the saying goes, too bad so sad.

I don't need PBS to get pop fiction and bestsellers.  I fortunately have a great library system and several very good UBS in my community and can get popular books there.  I'm here because PBS provides an easy and economical way of finding the obscure books that I like.  When I first joined it was like my birthday, every day!  And that wasn't even counting the WL, which I didn't start using until later.

Isn't it funny how people can reach such different conclusions?

I actually made the comment today that I wish writers would stop writing for about 5 years so I could whittle down my TBR pile without adding to it!  I can say that now that the last Harry Potter is out, lol!

Seriously though, my problem is I find too much here that I want to read.  If only I had the opposite problem.

I love this site for enriching and broadening my reading horizons.  I used to look in the paper and see what the top 10 books were at any given time and read one of those.  There are so many books I would have never got to read w/o the suggestions on this site. 

I always find books I want here. I collect kid's halloween books, and there is an abundance of them here.

Barbara hit the nail on the head.  I would much rather booksellers didn't like the site, thank you very much!