How many of us use these services? I am on both and would like to hook up with other people on this forum that use those.

I use both, though I find better horror on bookmooch.com

I've used Paperbackswap a few times.

Looks like a lot of work. I hate going to the post office.

Yeah, I'd rather just go to the local used book store.

nope, I if I don't like a book I generally give it to goodwill or some used book store.

William, I'm about to clean out my horror books. Want me to send you a list of the stuff I'm getting rid of? I'd be glad to mail them to you (just not a bunch of strangers).

Tressa wrote: "William, I'm about to clean out my horror books. Want me to send you a list of the stuff I'm getting rid of? I'd be glad to mail them to you (just not a bunch of strangers)."

That would work for me. Go to private message.

Scott wrote: "Yeah, I'd rather just go to the local used book store."

I don't have one of those around here.

Do you have thrift stores in your area? I find thrift stores are a treasure trove of horror/sci-fi books.

I'm on Bookmooch - being a non-American means I don't think I can use PBS from the looks of things, whereas Bookmooch is international. Here downunder, a used novel is at least NZ$8 usually (maybe US$4?) so Bookmooch means I get stuff cheaper and more conveniently. The selection's not crash-hot though. That's why I tend to get stuff through the library (my preference) or ABE.

William wrote: "Scott wrote: "Yeah, I'd rather just go to the local used book store."

I don't have one of those around here.

"

Us either. There's one down in South Jersey about 38 miles from here which we stop at if we're down there but nothing in this area or north of here anymore. We have a couple of thrift shops here, but they're pretty picked over as of late. 2 others have stopped carrying books at all. 2 of the libraries have used books for sale and I've been getting a lot there this year. I haven't signed up for paperback swap or bookmooch as of yet.....

Hmm, I have a load of horror books I want to get rid of...but neither of those sites seem to be worth it to sign up for, seeing as the books I want aren't listed...hardly any Edward Lee titles at all..

Melissa wrote: "Hmm, I have a load of horror books I want to get rid of...but neither of those sites seem to be worth it to sign up for, seeing as the books I want aren't listed...hardly any Edward Lee titles at a..."

Just send them all to me.

I have bookmooch account. Mine is SueB31

I'm on bookmooch and swaptree. I like bookmooch but it always seems like they never have any of the books I really, really want. I've never heard of paperbackswap. I'll have to check it out.

William wrote: "How many of us use these services? I am on both and would like to hook up with other people on this forum that use those."

I just joined paperbackswap. I like it. Can you tell me what BIR list means though? It keeps saying that a book won't be added to my BIR list unless I rate it but I have no idea what this means.

Grace wrote: "William wrote: "How many of us use these services? I am on both and would like to hook up with other people on this forum that use those."

I just joined paperbackswap. I like it. Can you tell m..."

Books I've read

The key to bookmooch and PBS is to fill up your wish list of books you actually want - then be patient.

I post almost every horror book I read on there, and they go quickly. but then again I've managed to get my hands on almost every graham masterton book ever written via bookmooch, it took time, but they showed up one by one.

i love paperbackswap, especially since the used bookstore right down my street closed down. i've tried bookmooch but their credit system is kinda weird if i remember right. paperbackswap is great for more popular books/authors, and sometimes the lesser known ones too as long as you're willing to be patient.

I am on Bookmooch and I really like it. I first signed up as a way to thin out my book collection before a big move- I have given a lot of books to the local thrift stores over the years, and truthfully they seem to have more books than they really want to deal with. So I thought it would be a way to get books to the people that really wanted them.

While at first I was a bit discouraged by not having immediate access to the few books I wanted, I quickly found a lot other books that I did want that I had no idea existed! Looking through other people's wishlists quickly became dangerous :) My wishlist is now up to almost 400.

Bookmooch is especially useful for me for getting books-on-tape and books-on-cd. I travel a lot for work and they are an absolute lifesaver on the road. But they are wayyyy too expensive for me to afford new, and they are not easy to come by at the thrift stores.

Erin have you tried Audible?

I have a ton of books on CD that I have downloaded from them, then I don't know what to do with them. I have a few I'd trade right now - granted they aren't horror books, most of them are Classics since I listen when my son is in the car

Kristen, are you missing any Masterton, still? I'm on Bookmooch and I'd have to hunt through the garage but am pretty sure I've got Walkers, Mirror and Ritual (otherwise known as Feast, I believe). Would be happy to post off any of the above.

I'd ditto the comment about wishlisting everything you want. I had a bookmoocher offer me a copy of something on my wishlist along with something else they were sending me already - she hadn't listed it herself but offered since she saw it on the wishlist! There's a nice feeling about the transactions I've had there. It's slow to give up it's goodies, but you get there in the end...

I'll have to check, I think I have all of those - though I haven't read them yet (such a slacker).

I also managed to mooch and retrade most of the Laymon, Lee, and Bently Little novels... I also have a ton of McCammon I got off of there but I haven't read them yet.

You all can find me on either site as Ravenskya.

Swaptree is also another good site. I've gotten a lot of books, movies and games that I want as well. It's just a straight up trade with other people.

I've sent one book on bookmooch but I haven't been able to get any of the books that I like.

It seems hard to get newer books on there but a lot of the older ones that I've been looking for I've found.

Susan wrote: "I've sent one book on bookmooch but I haven't been able to get any of the books that I like."

I'm trying to find you on bookmooch. What books are you looking for?

Cool...this thread was mentioned on Bookmooch!

http://blog.bookmooch.com/2009/06/05/why...

Woo hoo! We're famous, lol. Looking back I didn't add much to the Paperbackswap vs. Bookmooch conundrum. What's new?

William, the little box of books I was going to send you two weeks ago is still sitting by my kitchen stairs. I might have time to mail them off Monday or Tuesday. See, I'd suck as a member of PBS or BM.

That is so cool, William! We rock.
I'm just waiting for someone to snag the romance novel I've put in my inventory so I can mooch Bentley Little's The Resort from Canada! Yay Bookmooch. If that doesn't work, I've got a few Anita Blakes I can talk my other half round to ditching...

Does anyone else who uses those sites find themselves scouring their home for more books to put up on the site to swap?

Oh, and since we've been linked to on Bookmooch - here's what I've discovered are the good and the bad to each:

PBS - The good:
- you can buy credits if you don't have any

PBS - The Bad:
- You don't get to select who you are getting the books from
- You have to wait on people to admit that the book arrived before you get your credit
- If the receiver claims anything at all went wrong with the transaction, you are now out your credit AND your book.

Bookmooch - The good
-Friendlier community: people are more good natured traders
- instant gratification with points
- more opportunities to earn points, incentives for admitting the book has arrived
- more horror books tend to be available
- you get to select who you want to get the book from, often including notes about the quality of the books. (this also allows you to pick the person who lives the closest to you, cutting down on shipping time)

The Bad:
- Browsing is not as easy as it should be
- The search function could us a little help, if you don't know EXACTLY what you want, it can be hard to find
- suggestion function could also use a bit of work

The way I work it (and I'm completely content with my method) is to have the same wish list on both site, but to only list my available books on bookmooch. If a book I REALLY want comes up on PBS, I simply spend the $2 to buy the credit, it's cheaper than getting the book anywhere else, about the same as postage, and prevents me from getting burned again by sending my books out on PBS.

Kristen wrote: "Does anyone else who uses those sites find themselves scouring their home for more books to put up on the site to swap?"

Absolutely! I never would have stopped at yard sales before but now I quickly peruse them for books I can post!

Kristen wrote: "Oh, and since we've been linked to on Bookmooch - here's what I've discovered are the good and the bad to each:

PBS - The good:
- you can buy credits if you don't have any

PBS - The Bad:
- ..."

Another good thing on PBS is the ability to print your shipping labels with or without postage.

I have never been burned on either site but I am sure it will happen soon enough. I keep identical lists on both sites.

I still say, the biggest pro of Bookmooch is that it's international. It's really nice to see someone putting that much work into a system that works for us non-American used book lovers, too.
I appreciate how much more complicated it makes the postage/points system, so it's pretty cool. And it's nice that you can choose not to send stuff overseas, too.

I never knew these types of book swapping sites even existed. I think I might have to give it a try.

I just got rid of 4 books off PBS. When it rains it pours!

I'm thinking of opting out of PBS. I really like bookmooch and swaptree. Bookmooch does give more incentives such as a tenth of a point each time that you say you've received a book and a tenth of a point for each book that you list, whether or not they get mooched from you. The only con is that really popular books can be hard to get.

On swaptree the only cons I've found were that until someone leaves you feedback it is still considered an open transaction and limits your others. Also, you get reviewed everytime that you refuse a swap or let it go until the time runs out.

I just pawned off 2 books on bookmooch yesterday - I need to read faster so that I can add more books to my list :P

The difference in the two sites is amazing. I noted that on PBS there are 83 copies of available while there are no copies on bookmooch. I have more points on bookmooch so I would prefer to get it there. Oh well.

William, where do you see the number of copies available? Since I got on PBS a few weeks ago I have been trying to find exactly where that information is listed.

Right now I am looking at this page for that book:
http://www.paperbackswap.com/book/detail...

I do not see where it says there are 83 copies- am I just blind? Where does it say that?

Thanks!

William, have you read the rest of that series? I really enjoyed Still Life with Crows and The Cabinet of Curiosities. If I didn't have so much else to read they'd be definite re-reading candidates.

Erin wrote: "William, where do you see the number of copies available? Since I got on PBS a few weeks ago I have been trying to find exactly where that information is listed.

Right now I am looking at this ..."

I had it on my reminder list and when you look at it on that page it shows how many are available.

Danielle wrote: "William, have you read the rest of that series? I really enjoyed Still Life with Crows and The Cabinet of Curiosities. If I didn't have so much else to read they'd be defi..."

I have actually only read Relic. I always intend to read another but something always comes up first.

They seemed to get better written, tighter and more suspenseful (imo) at that point in the series. Didn't enjoy the later one(s?) as much. They were also pretty grisly. I'd definitely recommend them, but maybe not Reliquary so much.

Relic is a good book. Danielle, I just marked his others you mentioned as to-read.

William wrote: "How many of us use these services? I am on both and would like to hook up with other people on this forum that use those."

I just joined, put a few boxes on so far, am about to put the rest in as soon as I can get the rest of the ISBN's written down. I do have dance of death, I saw that someone wanted it. haven't spent much time on the site, already have 2 books to send out. woo hoo! haven't seen anything I wanted besides the skipp-n-spector books i've been reading. they are so twisted!

I love the Pendergast series, I haven't read The Wheel of Darkness yet but it's in my room just waiting for me.

Bookmooch, fantastic.