5 Things NOT to Do On Your First Day at PaperbackSwap.com
Writers read. A LOT in many cases. Our love of reading is often the push that starts us writing. But with all the economic woes in the world today, many people are finding it necessary to cut expenses. And that sometimes means that there is less money for buying books.
If you haven’t heard of it yet, PaperbackSwap.com is a great alternative to buying new books. You list the books you want to get rid of and get credits to spend on “buying” someone else’s books. You pay only postage to ship your books to a requester and you receive books you request for free.
I signed up for it last Saturday and let me share with you my hard-earned wisdom on what NOT to do on PaperbackSwap.
- Do not list 78 books immediately after you first sign up. This way lies MADNESS. Listing so many books greatly increases the chance that some of your books will be on other people’s wish lists and you will get bombarded with requests that you must fill promptly. Wrapping books for four hours and then hauling all 24 to the post office is not something you want to do, especially if half of them are hardbacks. Trust me on this.
- Don’t wait to get your packaging supplies until after you sign up. You don’t want to make two or more trips to Staples (or your local office supply shop) in one night.
- Don’t think that you’ll save money by taking the books to the post office and using the automated machine to weigh and buy postage. Those Automated Postal Center machines don’t have a setting for Media Mail and you’ll end up spending twice as much on Parcel Post pricing.
Addendum to Tip 3: Don’t waste your time standing in line to have the postal clerk weigh the book and apply postage.
- Don’t assume you must buy a postal scale to be sure the weight of the books is 100% accurate. Unless you really want to buy a postal scale just to have one in your home as a symbol of your Uber Writer status.
- Don’t spend all your credits at once. If you have an item on your wish list and it becomes available, you have only 48 hours to confirm that you have credits available to get that book. If you don’t have credits available, the book goes to the next person who wants it.
INSTEAD: Start with 10. 10 books is enough to get you 2 credits to spend on 2 books. Then add books in blocks of 10 every few days. This will keep the flow of requests manageable.
INSTEAD: Stock up on 2″ wide clear packing tape, bubble mailers, if you want to go the easy route, and find your scissors.
INSTEAD: Buy postage and Delivery Confirmation service through PBS for only 43 cents per package. You can print out the mailing label, slap it on the package and drop the book in your mailbox for your carrier to pick up. Your time is worth a lot more than 43 cents, trust me.
INSTEAD: Go with the estimated weight that PBS provides. It was pretty accurate on most of my books. (If you do decide to buy a postal scale, get a mechanical one that weighs up to 5 pounds. They were around $30 at Staples. Not that I bought one myself, you know, and then had to take it back because there were pieces rattling inside that shouldn’t rattle. Nope, not saying that at all.)
INSTEAD: Hold one or two credits back as long as you have items on your wish list. If you don’t use the wish list, feel free to spend them all.
And there it is… 5 tips to make your PBS experience blissful and pain-free. For the most part.
Honestly, give PBS a try. You can get books for $2-3 each and send your unneeded books to a good home. It’s green-friendly and a great way to check out new authors for less money.
If you do sign up on PBS, add me to your Buddy List. My user name is cccorbin. And if you feel so inclined, you can list me as your referrer. It gets me a credit for each referral and you get the joy and delight of helping out a favorite writer. And the Muse Fairy of All Writing Knowledge will bestow fantastic plots and unforgettable characters on your novel.*
*Not a guarantee of service. Some restrictions may apply.
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18 comments
Pattie on March 5, 2009 at 9:34 am
Got this from PBS’s Twitter…great post! I agree. I would also add, once you get going, reuse those bubble mailers you keep getting. It’s a great way to recycle AND save money. But packing tape is a must.
CJ Robinson (1 comments.) on March 5, 2009 at 9:55 am
Love your blog. Something we can all relate to. I did 4 out of 5
-PBS loved it as well, Tweeted it. Have a good one!
Abby Leigh (1 comments.) on March 5, 2009 at 10:00 am
Great advice! I have been using PBS for over a year now and intuitively followed most of these tips. I handle packaging differently – wrap with plastic and then use the printable PBS mailers as outer packaging.
FYI: I found your blog via the PBS Twitter feed.
cdayzee on March 5, 2009 at 10:43 am
lol – that’s too cute!
(am going to see if I can add you properly lol)
Meags on March 5, 2009 at 12:13 pm
For mailing materials, I use manila envelopes. Most books fit inside and it’s easy and cheap.
philip l (1 comments.) on March 5, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Actually, I just found today that you can use the Automated Postal Center to print 1 stamp for the amount you specifiy. You you can just print the stamp for $2.23 or however much you need, and you’re good to go.
MonieG (1 comments.) on March 5, 2009 at 8:07 pm
I LOVE PBS. It’s one of my favorite swapping sites. Your tips are excellent for new users.
MonieG’s last blog post..Review: Steve Martin – The Magic Years by Morris Walker
Cheryl on March 6, 2009 at 12:22 am
@Pattie Great idea on reusing the bubble mailers. And I definitely agree about stocking up on packing tape. I went through an entire roll for those 24 books. Of course, I was a little tape-happy on the first few packages…
@CJ Robinson Good to know I’m not the only one making the rookie mistakes.
@Abby Leigh I used the printable sheets for most of the paperbacks I sent, though it took me a while to get the hang of taping them so I didn’t have tape corners sticking out all over the place. After so many books in such a short time, I think I’m an expert now.
@cdayzee Thanks! Appreciate you stopping by and will look for you on PBS.
@phillip1 Good to know on the APC! I never thought about using it to print a specific amount of postage. Though after the convenience of using PBS Money, I don’t know if I’d do anything else.
@MonieG I think PBS is going to be a long-term favorite for me, too. Can easily lose time just browsing what’s available. It’s like Christmas every day!
willaful on March 8, 2009 at 9:34 pm
You can indeed use the APC for media mail by printing out the stamp. This is easier if the post office has a scale handy to check the weight, but if you’re just sending a standard paperback, you can pretty much rely on it being $2.23. Write “media mail” on the package.
I have not had as good luck with the suggested postage as you have had, it tends to be wrong for me more often than right.
Cheryl on March 9, 2009 at 8:23 pm
@willaful Thanks for the tips! Good to know an alternate way to handle the postage if I ever have trouble using the PBS Money.
Selena Brinegar on March 11, 2009 at 10:39 am
I was linked to your blog from the PBS twitter post. I requested you as a buddy (EcoNovelista). Thanks for the tips. I am a new member myself. I already discovered, however, the benefit of buying the postage and delivery confirmation through PBS. A must!
Cheryl on March 11, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Hi Selena, thanks for the buddy request! Just finished wrapping up 7 more books tonight. I’m slowly learning the best way to wrap and how to pace myself on adding more books. Looking forward to seeing a few books coming my way in the next couple weeks. Thanks for stopping by!
Selena Brinegar on March 12, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I just mailed my third book, so I’m still a newbie
I’m waiting for a few books myself. Hope you are having a good week!
Michelle on March 28, 2009 at 8:46 pm
ARGH>I found your post on PBS after joining and posting 53 books…Now after 4 hours of membership, I am responsible for mailing 19 books to 18 addresses, two of which want delivery confirmation. Madness indeed. On the other hand, I spent way to much on new and used books every month – and this will cut my expense by 1/3 at least. And on the third hand, maybe knowing that so many of my castoffs are so popular indicates I’ve got good taste? HA. Thanks for the list – i fumbled and failed on two *I also made two trips to OfficeMax today and will strive to do better in the future.
Cheryl on March 28, 2009 at 10:25 pm
I feel your pain, Michelle. 19 books is a LOT of wrapping. I do agree, though, that PBS will definitely save me money, too. Though I’ve spent so much on postage lately, that I’m actually holding some books, rather than posting them, as they’re on the Wishlists and as soon as I post them, they’ll be requested. Even without posting them, I’m still getting 1-2 requests a week on what I currently have listed. That’s a manageable pace. Good luck getting that stack of books mailed out!
Linda on April 1, 2009 at 5:53 am
One tip for not being bombarded with requests. If you put the books you plan to post into your TBR Pile first, then you can see which ones are wish-listed. There will be a red (or green) W. Then you can easily post from the TBR listing, only as many wish-listed books as you choose to each day/week.
For your books that are not wish-listed, you just take your chances whether someone is eagerly waiting for them. Of course, that’s really a good thing.
Cheryl on April 1, 2009 at 7:12 am
Excellent tip, Linda. I’m going to have to try using the TBR listing. That solves my problem with wanting to get them listed on the site, but not posted as available yet. Thanks!
Michelle on April 1, 2009 at 9:38 am
I wondered what TBR pile was for! Thanks a lot – final tally for SINCE SATURDAY: 53 books posted, 33 books mailed, 1 to be mailed tomorrow. I put my account on vacation hold since I’m going camping this weekend, so some small relief! I’m MichelleTX if any of y’all want to be my buddies…Thanks again for the great advice!