For those of us on PaperbackSwap.com

[Tera, First Chick]

So Sheila opened my world today! I really need to explore the sites I use more. PBSwap has buddy lists. I guess I never paid attention. Anyways. I would LOVE to connect with any fellow users there and requests books from those I know rather than strangers so you get the credit for them. If you have an account there let me know or add me. My name there is shockingly Tera or you can use my email address too.

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

Yes, I would love to be Buddies with others from here too. I am on Tera's buddy list now (Sheila M.) and you can request to add new buddies that way. Feel free to send me an invite. You can also check the wish lists on your buddies, and it says you can directly send them books on their list (even if they are not next in line on PBS's list to get it).

[Meg]

OK I am Meg S (I think) I sent you both buddy invites

[Vicki]

Hi, I am not sure how all of this works, but I am on there too!. My name is Vicki Z, feel free to add me if you like.

[Meg]

Vicki, somehow I can't send you a buddy invite, invite me if yours work.

[Tera, First Chick]

Okay I have Sheila and Meg on my list and I *think* I sent an invite to Vicki... still trying to learn the system.

[Tera, First Chick]

I sent you an invite Teri

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

I sent an invitation to Teri (though is says it went to Theresa in New York, hopefully that is you) but nothing happens when I try to send one to Vicki Z.

I tried searching the member directory for you Vicki, but it says only people with public profiles are listed in the directory (and my profile is not public so I would not be listed there either).

I sent my first buddy list invite to Tera by sending it to her email address (because I knew it) and I think that may be the easiest way to invite someone there. Vicki, maybe you could private message one of us your email address so we can invite you that way? Or if one of you has Vicki on your friends list here, her email should show in her profile on your page.

[Tera, First Chick]

Yeah I tried to send one to vicki too but it didn't work. Is there a space between vicki and the z? i just copied and pasted what you had

[Meg]

Vicki's didn't work for me either, but I have Tera and Sheila. I am going to try Teri next. This is fun too.

[April]

I'm under awentz. Otherwise look for April in Wisconsin!

[Pam]

I'm on there also. not sure how it all works and how to add "buddies", but I'm Pam S. or pammylee76.

[Justine]

I'm either Justine E or possibly thekillfix.

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

Justine and April, I just sent you invites from PBS. I am buddies with Pam also.

The only one that I still can't get to work is Vicki.

If anyone is "buddies" with me, everyone else on my buddy list is a "chick" so feel free to just click to add them to your buddy list. (there is a spot all the way to the right next to a persons name on your buddy list that says "buddies" which if you click it will let you "view this Buddy's buddies)
Wow, did that sentence even make sense? :o)

[Cyndi]

I'm on there but haven't used it much lately. I think I'm mrtoniosmommy.
Teri, I think I requested you. Meg, it gave me someone else and Tera's wont even register!

[Tera, First Chick]

try using my email address mstera@msn.com

[Vicki]

Maybe try my email... tealrose81@msn.com. I think it said you could search by email or just tealrose81. I added a few, but I don't think Meg's worked for me either.

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys*]

I can't figure out how to add you guys. My email is sgrizzle@windstream.net. :)

[Meg]

well Teri, now that we are buddies if we want to lend and/or give books to each other we can get credit for it.

[Meg]

Shelby,

When you go to PBS, go to your account. After you clicked on your account you will see buddy list and click on that. After that click on send an invitation and/or add a buddy. A little window will pop up and you type in each of our names, one at a time of course. I tried adding yours as Shelby but I am now friends with somneone from Idaho!

[Maria]

Ooh ooh I'm going to try PBS now. I was always hesitant because I thought it would be weird to get books from stranger (not that is much different than buying a book from a used bookstore!).
I just signed up - my user ID is MariaMaria

[Lori]

I just signed up. Please add me as a friend. My thing is coffeegirl217.

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

So far I am "buddies" with:

April W (awentz)from WI
Cyndi M from CA
Justine E (thekillfix) from CA
Lori L (coffeegirl217) from OK
Meg S from VT
Pam S (pammylee76) from MO
Tera S from TX
Theresa F (mackenzie10)from NY
Vicki Z frm NJ

and I have invites sent to:
Maria G (MariaMaria) from WA
Shelby G (pebbles32S) from GA

Is that everyone so far?

[Lori]

Is there some way to form a COL group on PBS?

[Maria]

Thanks for posting everyone so far Sheila! I sent invites to everyone with listed user ids! I couldn't find Cyndi, Tera or Vicki though for some reason. Please send me invite if you'd like to MariaMaria.
Now that we are buddies - do we swap with each other by ordering directly from each other's available book lists?
Can't wait! Now I just need to post some books. I'm developing a hording habit of books - so this will good for me to pare down.
Actually come to think of it - maybe that would be a good discussion! I'm kind of a new frequent reader and have been accumulating books. Does anyone else have a hard time parting with books sometimes? How do you decide what to keep?

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

Maria, if you look at my name on your "buddy list", all the way over to the right there is a spot to click to view my buddies. If you do that, it will show everyone else (everyone on my buddy list is a "chick") and then from there you can just click +buddy to send them an invite to also buddy with you.

I first suggested this buddy list to Tera because she was looking for Neferiti, but there is a long wait list for it on PBS. But I have Nefertiti, and am going to be done with it next week, so now I can send it directly to Tera, since she has it on her wish list. I think is anyone has a popular book (one with a waiting list on PBS) that they are going to list, maybe just check everyone's wish list first, or mention it here to see if a "chick" wants it before offering it to the general public?
Plus I will be checking everyone's bookshelves to see if there is anything I want to order. I'd love to let "chicks" get credit for books I want.

[Maria]

Thanks so much Sheila!
So there is a way to post a book available only to your buddies first before it can be seen by everyone else?
I'll have to play around with the settings some more!

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

Maria, when you are on your buddy list page, you can click on "wish list" next to anyones name to see what books they are wishing for. Then, on one of your buddies "wish list" pages, if you hold your arrow over where is says "post this book" a little box will open up that says "post this book into the system for this member". So apparently, you can send a book directly to one of your buddies, no matter where they are on the PBS waiting list.
My first attempt at this will be next week when I send (or try to send) Nefertiti to Tera. I'll definately post here to let you all know if it works or not. :o)

[Maria]

Fantastic ! I see that now. Yes, please report back on the trial run!

[Lori]

I need to find the time to post some books. I'm guessing that when we post the books we own and mail them out, they're gone forever?

[Meg]

Yes, once you send the book you don't get it back, but you get a credit. Then you can go through the books that are posted and get a new book in return. It is a great way to read a lot of books without costing a lot of money.

[Maria]

I'm playing around with PBS a lot today. Just so darn excited about it!
One thing I found is that when you open your buddy list, there is a drop down for "Tags : Tag action". If you go to "Manage Tags" - you can create a tag called "Chicks on Lit" Then you can then tag all you CoL buddies as such. Then you could e-mail (PM) all of us at once - like say if you have a popular book available. This way we could check in with each other on PBS easily before posting a popular book available to everyone on the site. (If popular - once listed it will be immediately offered to someone else, unless you post it directly to a CoL buddy's wish list.) You can tell how popular a book is when you look it up on PBS - it will say how many members are "wishing" for it.
Just an idere :-) I know we are all still tinkering with this!

I have 2 popular books available that I haven't posted yet to PBS:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

If anyone wants one of these - add it to your wish list and e-mail me through PBS or through Goodreads!

[Tera, First Chick]

What a great idea Maria!

[Holli]

I just signed up on this site and have no clue what I'm doing....but I'm Holli (holli4949) from Blacklick OH. :)

[Meg]

Oh Holli, you are in for a lot fun!

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

Yes, Holli, PBS is addictive. I love it! Maria, great idea about the tags. I have tagged everyone on my list as chicks. I wish I would have known you had "The Curious Incident of the Dog.." sooner! I just ordered it on PBS last week. It has already been shipped by someone there though, so is on its way to me. On an interesting side note, last week I also ordered "The House of the Spirits" on PBS last week, and received a PBS message from the person sending it saying she was offering a "2 for 1" special, and asked me to check out her other listings and let her know what second book I would like and she would mail them both together. It sounded too good to be true, but I checked her listed books and she had over 250 listed, so I figured she was just trying to clear her shelves a bit. So I wrote her back with the name of a second book, and when they came they were both wrapped and sent together. What a deal! Has that ever happened to anyone elso on PBS?

[Meg]

Boy Sheila you hit the jackpot. Never happened to me. So what was the second book you ordered?

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

The second book I got from her was The Rapture of Canaan.
The lady who did this is listed in the public directory on PBS. Her name is Mary Lee (mspixie), in case any of you want to PM her on PBS and ask her if she is still offering her books at 2 for 1. I liked that she accepted my first request the same day I made it (I sometimes get annoyed when I order a book and it sits there as "waiting for member" for days on end) and then shipped both books the next morning.

[Holli]

Can you all explain this site to me a bit? I'm having a time trying to add books to my wish list.

[Meg]

Holli
If you want to add books that you are willing to trade you make a list using the ISBN number. Then when someone requests a book from your list you get a credit. For each credit you get to pick a book. The wish list is for books that you would like but are not in the system. You also have the option of buying credits if you go to the store.

If that doesn't help or answer your questions, just ask away.

[Tera, First Chick]

I use the search function to add books to my wish list. Just make sure when you do that you have it set to search ALL books not just all Posted Books. Often I am looking for a book that isn't posted on my wish list and if I don't check that I wont find it. Also look at the book when it comes up usually there a few copies of it and you can see if you are requesting the hardback or the paperback.

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

Okay Tera, I tried posting Nefertiti to you through your wishlist on PBS. My page just tells me it is on a 48 hour hold waiting for the member to respond. I hope you are the member it is asking if you want the book. Let us hope that this works.

[Cindy]

Ok, signed up and tried to add some of you as Buddy's; not sure if they all went through. I am Cindy (cyndil62) from Chandler AZ. Have to add some books now. This seems like it will be fun if I can figure it all out!! :)

[Tera, First Chick]

It totally worked Sheila! So clever!
Cindy I am adding you.

[Lori]

Do they make a PBS For Dumbies? Could I just message someone my password and tell them what I want done?

[Tera, First Chick]

What are you having troubles with Lori I am sure we can walk you through it.

[Lori]

Well...I asked Maria if I could have one of the books she talked to us about and it got posted immediately, giving me 48 hours to take it or leave it. I hadn't posted any books yet because I just took home a bunch that I was done with and won't be going home until Friday. But I had to post books or lose out. So I tried to remember some that I wanted to get rid of and I added some books that I knew I had finished, thinking that maybe they wouldn't be requested immediately and I could have time to switch things around. But the list went public and now 5 of the books I posted have been requested. Almost all of those requested are at home and I don't know how long I have to ship them before I get into trouble. I put my account on hold until the 29th.

I guess what I need to know is how do I post books privately? Like Maria did where she was able to offer them to us first.

[Tera, First Chick]

If you go to "my account" and then "settings" and then "privacy settings" you can scroll down and click your bookshelf to only be visible to buddies or the public and so on and so forth.

I would just message those people and explain you are out of town until such and such a time and they can either wait or they can cancel the request.

Also I would just message Maria and ask her to take the book down until you get your account set up so you can request it. I believe you get two free credits once you list ten books so thats good you can start out requesting before you send anything.

[Maria]

So sorry to hear about the problem Lori! I assumed you had a credit free for signing up when I posted it to your wish list. I'll send it off to you either way - even if you cancel it on PBS.

Thanks Tera about making our bookshelf private - can you make only certain books on your shelf private?

[Lori]

Don't worry about it Maria; I already accepted it from you and had to post my books. (However, if I can up-post my books, then I might have you cancel it and hold it for the time being) It wouldn't give me any credits until I added 10 books. I'm going to mess with it today to see if I can un-post books, but I'm not sure since I've had requests from people. I put my entire account on vacation until March 29, so I don't think I have to do anything until then. I'll probably be back with more questions on making things private later.