Goodreads Book Swap & Giveaways

[Lori]

Has anyone tried goodreads book swap? I did the first of the week, and sometime soon i'll be the owner of Santa's Twin. It was less then $4.00 bucks. Yeah for me!

[Denise]

That's a great price! I haven't tried it. I've only been on goodreads for a couple weeks. I never looked at the book swap; I just assumed it was more of a lending program for trades. I suppose I would be more comfortable with that program if I didn't expect to get my book back.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Lori wrote: "Has anyone tried goodreads book swap? I did the first of the week, and sometime soon i'll be the owner of Santa's Twin. It was less then $4.00 bucks. Yeah for me!"

I've never had an interest in the book swap program. Isn't Santa's Twin a childrens picture book? The story of Santa's Twin is also found in Mr. Murder (without pictures of course :-) There is a sequel to Santa's Twin called Robot Santa.

[Susan (aka Just My Op)]

I've given away a couple of books on it and received one but since I get most of my books from the library and often pass the ones I own to friends and family, I don't have as much to list as I would like. There are some people who seem to take advantage of the program, grabbing up lots of books and giving away few, but you can always check a person's book karma before you agree to send, something I didn't originally know about.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

A related issue :-) I just discovered the Goodreads Firstreads - Giveaways. Authors or Publishers will give away copies of books, sometimes before they are released to help promote their book. All you have to do is give your shipping address. The person sending the book agrees not to use your address for any other reason than to ship the book if you win. This is definitely worth checking out. I only enter for a book that I would actually read. I'm sure some people try to take advantage of the giveaways. Here's a link that should take you to the giveaway page, but if it doesn't work just click on "find books" at the top of the goodreads page and there's a link for "giveaways".
http://www.goodreads.com/book/explore

[Jason]

Dustin wrote: "A related issue :-) I just discovered the Goodreads Firstreads - Giveaways. Authors or Publishers will give away copies of books, sometimes before they are released to help promote their book. All ..."
Thanks for this! I hadn't noticed this feature before. It's pretty neat. I've entered for about 10 books from the list.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I've entered about a zillion giveaways it seems. I've only won one book and it hasn't arrived yet :-( I'll keep entering - I feel like I'm gambling for free :-)

[Jason]

Congrats Dustin. What book did you win?

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

This one:
[image error]

you'll notice my books are increasing in number because I'm adding all these giveaway titles as "to-read" just like they suggest :-)

[Jason]

Nice! That looks interesting. I wish they had gone with Transylvania! I've only marked a couple of those books "to read". I wonder if it helps your chances?

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Winners are randomly selected so I don't think it makes a difference whether it's actually marked "to-read". If you do win a book you're supposed to review it - if you don't, it's supposed to slightly decrease your chance of winning again.

[Matt R.]

I won one book, it was a YA sci-fi book. I was not impressed but some of the other titles look interesting. I might throw my name in the hat again. It is a good way to discover some new authors.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I just won my second goodreads first reads book :-)

[Maciek]

This sounds interesting. Where can I sign up for this contest ? Maybe I'll win something.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

go to the top of this page, click "find books" - this will bring up some tabs, select "giveaways" it'll bring up some covers/books ending soon, go to the bottom and click where it says "more giveaways" you can then view "recently listed", "ending soon", "popular authors" and "most requested"
Good Luck.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I just finished reading my first giveaway last night. I was kinda thinking it was keeping me from winning more titles. I knew I had a lot of book giveaways I had entered that where ending last night so I decided to test my theory by finishing up the other book and marking it as "read". Maybe it's just a coincidence :-)

[Jason]

Congrats on winning "Spin" Dustin! I had entered to win that one too (along with about 5 or 6 others that ended today). The little bit I read about Spin sounded pretty good.

[Maciek]

Dustin wrote: "go to the top of this page, click "find books" - this will bring up some tabs, select "giveaways" it'll bring up some covers/books ending soon, go to the bottom and click where it says "more giveaw..."

Thanks ! I'll give it a try.

[Jaice]

Maciek wrote: "This sounds interesting. Where can I sign up for this contest ? Maybe I'll win something."

Just so you know, most of the giveaways are only for the U. S., Canada, and Great Britain. :-(

[Jaice]

I won one a few weeks ago about mental health by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. It is an advanced uncorrected proof. I am going to give it to my mentor, who is a pediatric psychiatrist (not affiliated with Dr. Mark Ahriman ;-)), though I intend to look through it a bit also, before I give it to her. :-)

[Maciek]

Jason "plasborgma" wrote: "Maciek wrote: "This sounds interesting. Where can I sign up for this contest ? Maybe I'll win something."

Just so you know, most of the giveaways are only for the U. S., Canada, and Great Britain...."

DOH !

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

[image error]
My third Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.

My second first reads book, SPIN, just arrived today :-)

[Jason]

Dustin wrote: "[image error]
My third Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.

My second first reads book, SPIN, just arrived today :-)"

Let me know what you think of Spin. I saw that in the giveaways and thought it looked good.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Spin has lots of pages!!! Well it's a lot of pages for me :-) 458 in mass market paperback. I'll probably be reading it for a while :-) It sounds really good though. I'll be updating my status on this book frequently since it's a first-read title and I will be posting a review also. Spin was published 5 years ago.

Here's the ravings from the cover:

"Robert Charles Wilson is a hell of a storyteller." - Stephen King

"The best science fiction novel so far this year."
-Rocky Mountain News

"Breathtaking!" -Publishers Weekly

"SPIN is many things: psychological novel, technological thriller, apocalyptic picaresque, cosmological meditation. But it is foremost, the first major SF of 2005, another triumph for Robert Charles Wilson in a long string of triumphs." - Locus

"The time is the day after tomorrow, and three adolescents - Diane and Jason Lawton, twins and their best friend, Tyler Dupree - are out stargazing. Thus they witness the erection of a planet-spanning shield around the globe, blocking out the universe. SPIN chronicles the next 30-odd years in the lives of the trio, during which 300 billion years will pass outside the shield, thanks to an engineered time discontinuity. Jason, a genius, will invest his celibate life in unraveling cosmological mysteries. Tyler will become a doctor and act as our narrator and as Jason's confidante, while nursing his unrequited love for Diane, who in turn plunges into religious fanaticism. Along the way, human-descended Martians will appear, bringing a drug that can elevate humans to the Fourth State, 'an adulthood beyond adulthood'. But will even this miracle be enough to save Earth?...Here's a book that features speculative conceits as brash and thrilling as those found in any space opera, along with insights into the human condition as rich as those contained within any mainstream mimetic fiction, with both its conceits and insights beautifully embedded in crystalline prose."
-The Washington Post

Sounds like I won me a winner don't it? :-)

SPIN by Robert Charles Wilson

[Jason]

I just won my 1st first-reads book! It's called "Why I Fight: The Belt Is Just an Accessory" by BJ Penn. He is one of the top fighters in the UFC.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Congrats Slo! I just won my fourth book, non-fiction about attempted suicide :-) Yay!

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Here's your book Slo. I remember seeing this one, but it didn't interest me :-)

[Jason]

Dustin wrote: "Here's your book Slo. I remember seeing this one, but it didn't interest me :-)
"



Thanks Dustin. Hey, how do you paste the book cover in the post like that? I'm still sort of a newbie here :)

[Jason]

Dustin wrote: "Congrats Slo! I just won my fourth book, non-fiction about attempted suicide :-) Yay!
"

Sorry but I had to kind of chuckle at the "attempted suicide :-) Yay!"

:)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Yeah I did that on purpose :-)

to add a bookcover is very simple:
1.go to the comment box
2.click on the add book/author link directly above the comment box
3.search by title or author and add either the cover or just a link

[Jason]

Der....that was easy... Now, I feel silly I never noticed that option before.

I just put The Taking here as a test and because I really like that cover art.

Thanks Dustin!

[Emily]

not a goodreads thing, but I've had some luck on swaptree.com you list all the books you have that you don't want and other people do the same and the site finds matches. It cost 1.00/month that you do a trade (if you don't trade in a month there is no cost) then you ship your book you can even print prepaid shipping labels on your printer and swaptree will bill you at the end of the month. I think it's only US, and I've had about 4 trades. It's a good way to try new books and decrease the clutter of books you aren't going to read again.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I won me another one - non-fiction about sibling rivalry I think :-)

[Maciek]

Dustin, you win like 8 books a week. You must have some connections with the administration. ;)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

No, this is actually only my fourth goodreads giveaway I think :-)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I just won me another one. I'm starting to wonder how I'm going to read all these free books :-) I can get through a book fairly quickly with the help of audiobooks but with ARC and the lesser known goodreads authors, are not an option. My first first-reads win was pretty easy to read because it had lots of pictures/maps :-)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

One of my goodreads friends has shared her ARC of the following book with me so I have this one to read too:

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Besides the first-reads giveaways, I've also recently gotten free copies of the following books directly from the authors: (What have I gotten myself into?)

[Emily]

Dustin wrote: "I won me another one - non-fiction about sibling rivalry I think :-)
"

Dustin, so jealous, wanted that one BAD! Enjoy it and post a review so I know if it's any good,
Congratz!

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Emily :-) I may be willing to send that book to you after I'm done. I forgot to mention the book that Tess Gerritsen and Random House sent me, which I'm sending to you after I'm done right?

I'm not too hard on books so hopefully by the time they get to you they'll still be in fairly good condition - at least I don't smoke :-)

[Emily]

yes, I can't wait to read it! It'd be great if you wanted to send me Mom still likes yoy best when your done, it sounded like great book, as I have 1 half sister, 2 half brothers, 1 step sister and 1 step brother (yea for blended families!) you can imagine all the fights about who was liked more! We were awful! Most of us get along now though. Being in 3 different states helps. Wow, your to read pile must be HUGE! I got my copy of the Kult and can't wait to start it. Thanks so much for all the work you are doing!

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I'm gonna take a little break from arranging giveaways, but you know if an author contacts me with free books, I just can't resist! :-) Follow my reviews about Mom Still Likes You Best and you'll know when it's headed your way :-)

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I just won a book called Shot to Death. I'm really excited about this one because it contains 31 murder mysteries and it's only 270 pages long!

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

I just won this book of poetry - I'm really glad that it's only 95 pages!

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Today's first reads win:

[Maciek]

LOL Dustin, you either really are Dean or goodreads administrators. You don't get eight books a week - you get eight books an hour ! ;)

[Jason]

Dustin, you're cleaning up on these! Are you up to 9 now?!

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Umm I lost count, but I didn't win one today :-) that's all I know anymore.

[Dustin the wind Crazy little brown owl, Colorful Colorado]

Today I won: First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria - there were 20 copies given away :-)

[Jason]

I won my 2nd First-reads book today. Sounds like it will be a good one. :)