Facebook

PaperBackSwap Blog


Archive for December, 2006

Dear Members: Newsletter – December 2006

Friday, December 8th, 2006

That wonderful season is here! Whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Eid, Winter Solstice, or just life in general, this is a time for family and giving, and for reflecting on the year past.

We have seen some great changes at PBS over the past year—the introduction of new features (PBS-DC, the PBS Store, Custom DC labels, the Book Journal) and the improvement of others (the Box-O-Books “overhaul”, the addition of APO/FPO members, the one-page PBS label, the Help Center, and dozens of other “tweaks” to the site). We are so pleased with how the club is working, and we expect that 2007 will bring even more improvements!

We wish all of our members a wonderful, safe holiday, filled with laughter and love…and good books, of course!

Got a story to tell? Have an itch to spin a yarn, craft a tale, expound in an essay? Soon there will be a place for all our PBS writers to share their efforts—and get comments and feedback from others in the club. We can’t wait—we know there is a lot of undiscovered talent out there!

Start the year with Kindness. Details to follow…keep an eye on the Club Members’ Thoughts forum…

PBS Local Book Club Chapters: Newsletter – December 2006

Thursday, December 7th, 2006

Wanna meet your PBS buddies IRL (in real life)? We have some brave souls who are willing to be “PBS Local Chapter Leaders”. These super-organized folks have volunteered to be responsible for arranging PBS meet-ups in their areas.

Brookie (Brook S.) is our Chapter Leader for the NJ/Tristate Area chapter. She is already brainstorming for January—contact her if you want to know more.

ALMOverton (Alyssha O.) is our Chapter Leader for New York City. All of you in NYC or environs, give her a (PM) holler!

Anyone else who is interested in organizing an area (it can be city, state, county, regional—whatever you like), please let us know by sending in feedback to us telling us what area you want to “organize”. Local Chapter Leaders must have a PBS nickname (which means you must make a public profile) in order to be a Chapter Organizer, so that others can find you in the Member Directory. You can make a public profile in your account settings, under “My Account” on the right side of your account page, or from the Member Directory itself. We extend our thanks to our Local Chapter Leaders! We have some other names from other regions of the country, but they haven’t made Public Profiles yet—we’ll let you know how to get in touch with them when they do.

Help Center Search: Newsletter – December 2006

Thursday, December 7th, 2006

We tried to organize the Help Center logically by topic so that members could easily find the answer to any question that comes up, but there is SO much information there, we decided to make it even easier to find! Just type in some keywords from your question (“post book”) or the whole question (‘How do I post a book?”) and click Search to see a list of the relevant Help Center items containing those words. You can put quotation marks around any phrase if you want to see only those items in which that phrase appears exactly, and you can use the “-” (minus) sign in front of terms that you wish to exclude from the search. Try it out!

13-digit ISBNs are here! Newsletter – December 2006

Thursday, December 7th, 2006

As we announced in the mass email sent out a couple of weeks ago, the site underwent a complete retooling on December 4th to allow books to be entered into the database with both 13- and 10-digit ISBNs. 13 digits will be the new standard in the publishing industry, as of January 1, 2007; some publishers have already made the change. You are now able to input the ISBN from your book (whether 10 or 13 digits) in order to post it, request it, or Wish List it. The site will work exactly the same as before—the only change will be that 13-digit ISBNs will be recognized by the database.

The Alternate Log-in link is gone: Newsletter – December 2006

Tuesday, December 5th, 2006

The Alternate Log-in link is gone from the Login page. We had to make this change for security purposes. We know that some of you were used to using this link, but you will still be able to log in! You may need to change the security software on your browser to get in. If all else fails, you should try Firefox, the PBS browser of choice, available FREE at www.mozilla.com. Firefox is a stable, nearly-bugless browser, and it dependably interacts well with the advanced programming on the PBS site. Many of our members are using it very happily—ask them about it on the Discussion Forums. Anyone who is new to Firefox will soon be a convert, we predict!

Calling all Book Clubbers: Newsletter – December 2006

Monday, December 4th, 2006

If you belong to a group that gathers periodically to discuss a book, please look in the Members’ Thoughts Discussion Forum for the sticky topic asking for your input on how PBS could be improved for book discussion groups. We know you’re out there, and we want to hear from you! The Discussion Forums are accessed by clicking the link in the left menu of any page on the site.

PBS Store News: Newsletter – December 2006

Sunday, December 3rd, 2006

The Fleece blankets have been very popular! We knew that you would love them as much as we do. Come take a look in the PBS Store—we are restocking all the time. We have had to discontinue the Violet Moire BookMates, although they were extremely popular—the manufacturer can no longer get that color vinyl—but we have some BookMate I’s left in this color (sorry, no BookMate II’s are left in Violet Moire). If you want one, get it before someone else does! All of the other colors and patterns are available. And remember, giftwrapping (in conjunction with direct-mailing to your chosen recipient) will be FREE during the holiday season on selected items from the PBS Store—you can include a card with your giftwrapped BookMate, so that when the package arrives, your lucky bookloving recipient knows that you were thinking of him or her.

Give yourself a gift! You know the holiday shopping trips that go, “one for you, one for me…”? Well, PBS referrals are like that—they are the FREE gift that keeps on giving. You get a credit when you refer a friend who becomes an active member of the club, and that member gets 3 “start-up” credits when she or he posts the first 9 books. New members bring new books to the club for everyone to share. See the “Spread the Word” page (accessible from the left-hand menu of every page on the site) for all the ways in which you can refer others to the club. You can send a gift certificate (by email, or print it out and present it) to a friend, and get them started with credits right away! Gift certificates are, as always, available in the PBS Kiosk.