Random Chitchat

[Lillian]

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Lillian wrote: "Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Hi all! Any audiobook listeners here? I have a special gift for the first person who responds :)"

Love audios. Especially driving or do..."

That's obviously what happens when you try to sign up when you've got COVID! Did it work this time?

[Shelby]

Ugh it's official. I really hate trying to find books to add onto Elfster. I've never used their wishlist in the past just always had the note to check my secret santa shelf here. But I thought I'd try to be accommodating over there. I'm getting a migraine trying to make it find books and not a million other weirdly unrelated items!

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Shelby wrote: "Ugh it's official. I really hate trying to find books to add onto Elfster. I've never used their wishlist in the past just always had the note to check my secret santa shelf here. But I thought I'd..."

I just input direct links. It's often easier.

[Canopy]

wohoooo, hello all

[LizzieG]

Shelby wrote: "Ugh it's official. I really hate trying to find books to add onto Elfster. I've never used their wishlist in the past just always had the note to check my secret santa shelf here. But I thought I'd..."

Direct links are easier. If you want to use their search, click on the Amazon icon, then enter your search criteria (author, title, ebook). Then if it doesn't come up immediately just hit the enter button 2-3 times and then it will come up. It's a very weird system but someone else here alerted me to that trick and it works well.

[Rachael]

Not sure if any of you have heard of these or not. These are some of my favourite reads in the last two years

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton


Leaving Time by Jodi Piccoult


The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley (and the rest of the series)


The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune


To Hate Adam Connor by Ella Maise


The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary

[Sheri]

Shelby wrote: "Ugh it's official. I really hate trying to find books to add onto Elfster. I've never used their wishlist in the past just always had the note to check my secret santa shelf here. But I thought I'd..."

I'm not a huge fan of it either...quite honestly, it's a pain.
BUT...if you add a direct link, it doesn't show the price. :(
IF you find it on Elfster, the price shows up on the wish on your wishlist.
I didn't know the 'enter 3 times' trick, so thanks Lizzie.
I start with the book title and add kindle after it...or add the series name plus kindle. And it tends to work more often than not. For some reason, if I search for 'book title followed by authors name' it never shows up. *shrugs*
It's weird if you ask me. Ha

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Sheri wrote: "Shelby wrote: "Ugh it's official. I really hate trying to find books to add onto Elfster. I've never used their wishlist in the past just always had the note to check my secret santa shelf here. Bu..."

Typing "Kindle" is a great trick!

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Hi everyone!! Just a quick update in case people try to reach me over the next 5 days. My family and I are taking a quick trip to Iceland (please drop suggestions/recommendations if you have visited!), so I'll be a little less responsive over the few days. I'll have my phone still, so hopefully I can check in and make sure there are no pressing issues :)

[Sheri]

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Typing "Kindle" is a great trick!"

Did it work for you?
I hate that it doesn't show the price if you copy and paste a direct link. I will definitely share my opinions to the Elfster help desk after the exchange. Their "improvements" are not so much of an improvement! :/

[Hemmel M.]

Bye Heather! We'll be good!

[Hemmel M.]

Yes! Someone else started a Smashwords shelf. And it contains M/M.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

[Sheri]

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Hi everyone!! Just a quick update in case people try to reach me over the next 5 days. My family and I are taking a quick trip to Iceland (please drop suggestions/recommendations if you have visite..."

Ooo, fun! Here's hoping the Northern Lights make an appearance for you! *fingers crossed* My Doc just went a few months ago. There's much to do and explore but don't forget your cold weather gear. Ha. It'll be chilly!! Hope the jetlag isn't too bad, I hear it's kinda brutal with our time difference. Safe travels!

[Mariana]

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Hi everyone!! Just a quick update in case people try to reach me over the next 5 days. My family and I are taking a quick trip to Iceland (please drop suggestions/recommendations if you have visite..."

Have a great trip! Sounds like so much fun.

[Richard]

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Hi everyone!! Just a quick update in case people try to reach me over the next 5 days. My family and I are taking a quick trip to Iceland (please drop suggestions/recommendations if you have visite..."

My pressing issue is that I'm not your luggage-bearer, darn it!

Have a delightful trip. Tell Sausage-Swiper I say hi.

[M'rella]

I switched a lot of my books from Amazon to Smashwords on Elfster.

I also reorganized my list, grouping books by author.

[M'rella]

Don't forget, you have an option to edit the title when adding a book. That means you can manually type in the price of the book if you are linking outside Amazon.

[iam]

M'rella wrote: "Don't forget, you have an option to edit the title when adding a book. That means you can manually type in the price of the book if you are linking outside Amazon."

For me that never works, even though I always add price manually when adding a book (via the browser extension) it doesnt show up in my wishlist :/ Editing doesn't work either

[M'rella]

PS
You can also EDIT books from your list.

There is a 3-dot menu above the "View/Buy" button.
Click on it and you will see EDIT and DELETE options. For whatever reason, the box is tiny in takes you to VIEW 90% of the time. BUT - If you are lucky or if you click it just. so. you can actually edit
- book's title (add the price)
- status (most wanted)
- move to a different list
- add notes

[Relly]

Don't forget to mark a book purchased when you buy it off someone's list.
It lets others know that person has already received that book as Smashwords has a no return policy on gifts and if you gift a book already received there is nothing that can be done about it.

[Sheri]

iam, did you try and add to the book title? For the books that do not show a price, I've been adding the price to the book title. It doesn't keep the price up to date (for sales and whatnot) but then again, if a book drops in price for a sale and then goes back up, it doesn't seem to adjust or correct the 'elfster price' either.

M'rella, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has trouble with those little edit dots. Ha. It only works every third or fourth try for me!

Relly, good tip! Thanks for that. I'm just starting to try and include some smashwords books and I didn't know that about their gifting policy.

[Gustaf]

Relly wrote: "Don't forget to mark a book purchased when you buy it off someone's list.
It lets others know that person has already received that book as Smashwords has a no return policy on gifts and if you gi..."

And don't forget to check if your book has been redeemed on Smashwords. If it's been a few days you can always resend the email. Smashwords gifts have a tendency to get stuck and emails not being sent. It happened to me right now with a Bingo Prize I sent to someone.

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Hi all! Checking in from Iceland :) all good here I see! I’ll be home again Monday night :) it’s COLD and rainy so no mothers lights, but so beautiful

[Gustaf]

I miss Iceland. Such a beautiful country.

[M'rella]

iam wrote: "M'rella wrote: "Don't forget, you have an option to edit the title when adding a book. That means you can manually type in the price of the book if you are linking outside Amazon."

For me that nev..."

Editing works. But only after you spent half an hour clicking on the itsy-bitsy box that either ignores you or takes you to the amazon (or other publisher's) page.

[M'rella]

@Gustaf

I usually ask for the Smashwords link sent to my email, then forward it. It works faster and is more reliable. Just make sure your Smashwords email is different from Elfster and GR.

[Hemmel M.]

Yes, M'rella. And when the book is not collected, you can use the link to mail someone else the gift.

[Sheri]

Sorry for the rain Doc, here's hoping you get some sun before you leave! Glad you're having a great trip :)

Sooo, I have changed the email with Amazon before, when a person doesn't collect their gift. But I don't see that option this year?
I can only 'resend email'...which I did for a few books that weren't claimed last year. My old elf might pop up a few times this year :)
Or wait, are you talking about smashwords unclaimed books?

[Hemmel M.]

Happy to see it's an effort everywhere :-)

[Richard]

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Hi all! Checking in from Iceland :) all good here I see! I’ll be home again Monday night :) it’s COLD and rainy so no mothers lights, but so beautiful"

Welcome back later on tonight. It's cold here, now, though nothing much compared to Iceland's cold.

[LizzieG]

Sheri, I know what you mean about Amazon. I have a couple of books that I sent from an exchange earlier in the year that were never redeemed but I don't see where I can resend to the original email or anything. I mean, I guess I could try to reach out to Amazon, but that's a lot of work. Ha ha ha ha.

[M'rella]

@Lizzie

I was on the phone with AMAZON for an hour last night (midnight to 1). Twice I thought they just hung up on me, but I stuck it out.

They told me I had options of simply clicking on a button.... WHICH DOES NOT EXIST!!!! Ugh.... (them: oh, but we see it here!... me: oh, but I. DONT. HAVE. IT --- and so on back and forth, back and forth)

I am so aggravated with them, I am going to switch as many books to Smashwords and other publishers as I possibly can.

[Sandra]

Shelby wrote: "Ugh it's official. I really hate trying to find books to add onto Elfster. I've never used their wishlist in the past just always had the note to check my secret santa shelf here. But I thought I'd..."

I have an add-in for Chrome for Elfster called Elf-it, and it works with Amazon, so all I have to do is bring the book up on Amazon and click the add-in which then puts it on my Elfster shelf. That might work for you?

[Sarah]

This is my first time participating in this exchange, and honestly, it’s changed my tbr list for forever! I pretty much only listen to audiobooks, which put ebooks out of reach for me. This exchange really motivated me to take the time to sit and read ebooks, which opened some doors for me, as well as some indie authors!

Also, seeing everyone else’s lists, and finding things to put in my list…priceless. I’ve found so many books that look wonderful, but that don’t have audiobooks, and now I feel like I can tackle them! So I’m really grateful to be here, and am just having a great time!

[LizzieG]

Sarah wrote: "This is my first time participating in this exchange, and honestly, it’s changed my tbr list for forever! I pretty much only listen to audiobooks, which put ebooks out of reach for me. This exchang..."

That's awesome! I love audiobooks too but some (many) of my favorite books are (sadly) not available as audiobooks. Hopefully you'll find some ebooks you love and that you can enjoy the slower pace and focused relaxation that sitting down to read offers. As opposed to the potential for multi-tasking, which can be good, that audiobooks give us.

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Back from Iceland! I'll be reviewing the people who signed up on Elfster and sending out final reminders to join later today :)

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

For those who follow me on Instagram (link in my GR bio), I'm posting some iceland pics, for those interested!

[Richard]

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "For those who follow me on Instagram (link in my GR bio), I'm posting some iceland pics, for those interested!"

*sigh*

I'm still eternally cast out from Insta. *heavier sigh*

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Richard wrote: "Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "For those who follow me on Instagram (link in my GR bio), I'm posting some iceland pics, for those interested!"

*sigh*

I'm still eternally cast out fr..."

Pariah across the board, LOL

[Richard]

It must be the MAGA flag I fly all over the blogosphere. D'you think Trump'd endorse me?

/irony

[Ashley GR]

Sarah wrote: "This is my first time participating in this exchange, and honestly, it’s changed my tbr list for forever! I pretty much only listen to audiobooks, which put ebooks out of reach for me. This exchang..."

Sarah, I'm exactly the same. I stick to audio most of the time and then kindle unlimited and hoopla when I'm reading an ebook. I feel like there should be a list of great books that aren't on audio so I can easily see what I'm missing. I want to see the non audio, non kindle unlimited books as those are the ones that I don't typically read. This exchange is perfect for that!

[[deleted user]]

Excited that we have matches now 😁

[Sarah]

Luke wrote: "Excited that we have matches now 😁"

Me too me too! Ok opinion time, should our secret Santa names be different from our elf names? Tell me what you think!

[Gustaf]

I usually use the same because coming up with one is hard enough 😅

[[deleted user]]

Sarah wrote: "Luke wrote: "Excited that we have matches now 😁"

Me too me too! Ok opinion time, should our secret Santa names be different from our elf names? Tell me what you think!"

Ooh that could be fun 😂

[[deleted user]]

Are we still also allowed to buy gifts for anyone in the exchange as well as our match?

[Ami]

Luke wrote: "Are we still also allowed to buy gifts for anyone in the exchange as well as our match?"

Of course!! I know there are a lot of elves for other people that are not assigned to them (I am actually one of them *lol*). So feel free to spread around the cheer

[[deleted user]]

Ami wrote: "Luke wrote: "Are we still also allowed to buy gifts for anyone in the exchange as well as our match?"

Of course!! I know there are a lot of elves for other people that are not assigned to them (I ..."

Yay thats great 😁 I've been one too and don't want to stop haha

[Hemmel M.]

I use many names. I usually get confused by myself.

[Shandra]

I got ridiculously excited when I received my match-up email. This exchange is so festive and makes the season so much more fun for me.