How do you win a book? It hurts to see such good books go pass your hands. Help!

Keep cataloging your books. It won't do anything for this month, but will help in future months.

Thank you so much. I will take your advice. I wanted to make a change in some way.

You're welcome, certainly. It's not a guarantee, though. ER is a popular program and many people request each book. I have a decent-sized library and I haven't gotten any books since last year (though I didn't request books every month this year).

Also keep in mind that you can catalog library books or borrowed books. 18 is a pretty small catalog...

So the more books you have in your library the better chance you have at getting books?? I used to get a book almost every month, and now haven't gotten one for about six months...I've reviewed every book I've received.

I use Library Thing mainly to keep track of books I WANT to read, but now that you can keep different libraries, I guess I could catalog other categories...

Some of these books this month are FANTASTIC!!

Lisa...

For each ER book, the mysterious algorithm puts together a list of about 200 similar books, and all the people requesting it are ranked based on how many of those similar books they have. So having more books is important, but they have to be the right books, not just any books. And of course, it matters how well you match compared to all the other requesters; even if you seem to be a good match, lots of other people might be great matches, or for a more obscure book, just being a decent match might be enough if everyone else's libraries match poorly.

I've won two books so far, and both match my library well. More importantly, though, there was less competition for these. One was for available for Canadians only, and so there were significantly fewer people requesting. The other was an e-book and there were many copies available. When there are 1000 people requesting 20 copies, I figure my chances are about the same as playing the lottery (OK, better, but still not good). Even if I'm a good match, there are bound to be a lot of others who are equally good matches. I'll still request those popular books, but I'm neither surprised nor disappointed when I don't get one.

I do agree with the others that you should keep filling out your library, and one day, hopefully, you'll get an ER win. I enjoy checking out the books every month, even if I don't get anything.

7: It is mysterious, that's for sure. I really wanted Sea of Poppies from the last batch, and I have 5 or 6 of Ghosh's other books, so I thought I had a decent chance (with one of the ER books I got before, I did have another book by that book's author). But then there there are people who got that book who don't have any of Ghosh's books in their catalog. So, I don't know what the algorithm takes into account for calculating "similarity" - subject classifications, something else, a combination of things no doubt? There's also just a huge random element to it. Ultimately, it's a lottery, and there's not much we can do to play with our odds, apart from actually reviewing the ones we do receive, and that's probably only a very small part of the equation.
edited for clarity

Message edited by its author, Nov 7, 2009, 7:38pm.

9: The publisher gives a list of similar books to start with, and then LT takes that list and expands it. So some of our no-book-win woes can be blamed on the publisher. :)

Yup, I'm a big believer in blaming the publisher. I don't think they're as concerned with finding the books that are the best match as with finding the books that are the most popular and reasonably close.

I just signed up for Library Thing and requested 4 books on ER. From the sound of your discussions I have about zero chance of getting any of them. But I really love this site so I guess i will keep trying.

12: Well, I've had 2 in 2 years, so that's better than nothing. Some people report getting several in a year; many people report good luck then dry spells. No harm in trying, and the odds are still pretty decent.

12>

With a total of three books in your library, I'd say yeah, your chances are slim-to-none. You may want to consider entering more books -- books you own, books you've read, books you want to read.

This month I requested a book I really want that I've had cataloged in my library under the 'wishlist' collection. I'm wondering if the algorithm will bypass me thinking I 'have' the book. Has anyone ever received a requested book that they already had listed in their catalog?

15: I haven't, but I know someone said in a different thread that they had.

15. I have, but I don't know if that was a fluke or not.

15: I think I remember seeing some confirmation that already having the book in your catalog didn't matter. Or maybe it was just the wishlist? I feel like I saw Abby weigh in on this somewhere in one of the ER threads, but maybe I'm mistaken.

I used to get a book nearly every month, but as popularity of ER grew I don't think I've won an ER book in nearly a year. HOWEVER, I have discovered the Member Giveaway program here and I usually get at least one book from that in exchange for a review, which I'd do anyway. It's worth a try!

>18

This is probably the thread you remember:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/66632#...

Yes, that looks like it; so it was Tim rather than Abby.

For those readers interested in Lift by Rebecca K. O'Connor I think your odds are going to end up pretty favorably. ER did offer 1,000 copies of a book once before but it was the only book offered in a bonus round, so the number of requests was high. Even so, I think it ended with a better than 1 in 3 chance. This one is mixed in with 99 other titles. Lift might end with a better than 1 in 2 chance.

Folks who buy lottery tickets hope to win. . . but usually don't. They have spent money. We mark books we'd like to get. Many months may go by without a "win," but we haven't spent any money on this gamble. It's nice to get a free book, yes, but the odds vary, sometimes in your favor, sometimes not. There's always something at home you have been meaning to reread~~~ let it be your "bonus" book, relax/be happy!

>16, 17, 18, 20

That gives me hope for getting this book!

Message edited by its author, Nov 8, 2009, 11:45pm.

I've received two ER books total; none for a while now. Both of the ones I got (i) related well to books in my LT Library(which is quite small; I'm a very lazy cataloger); And (ii) the categories they were in have relatively fewer LT members who have such books. Does all that mean anything? I tend to think it does, but don't really know.

I find if I hold my head tilted just like *this* and only exhale as I click on the request button, I usually get a selection from that month's picks.

That... and I catalogue the books I read, request ones I would like to read, and then forget about the whole thing until I get a comment on whether or not I was successful.

I know this has been discussed somewhere before, but I can't seem to find it. (Sorry.) Does anyone know if the number of non-ER reviews you post has anything to do with your chances of getting a book? I have an okay sized library, but I must admit, I'm pretty lazy about reviewing books that are non-ER.

Tim's top advice

Review what you've already got from LTER! When we get complaints about not getting books from people who habitually get and don't review LTER books, well, we shake our heads in amazement.

Best of all, though, was the person who got a number of books, had never reviewed one and then, when they got the automatic reminder, accused us of sending spam!

Yup, I'm a big believer in blaming the publisher. I don't think they're as concerned with finding the books that are the best match as with finding the books that are the most popular and reasonably close.

Yes, for what it's worth, I don't think they always choose well. They do better for non-fiction, and worse for fiction—which is hard, admittedly.

With a total of three books in your library, I'd say yeah, your chances are slim-to-none.

I'd agree. The algorithm needs something to "chew" on. I don't, frankly, remember, but it would be reasonable for me to have written that it doesn't even try if the chewing consists of three books.

Has anyone ever received a requested book that they already had listed in their catalog

It doesn't take the book itself into account. It assumes, if you request it, you want it. It also can't help you.

I only began requesting after offering my first book, Impaired Ocular Acuity and Other Demented Synapses in the MG program in September of this year, and after my first month of requesting books (Oct) in the ER and MG programs, I am about to receive a non-fiction book from the MG program.

It's all about the math, which includes odds of which the bookies would make good use, and the advice given here makes sense: upload your books to increase the 'chewing' factor, and when you get a book, write a review.

Message edited by its author, Nov 9, 2009, 10:57am.

29: MG is separate and different: there's no algorithm there; it's a random drawing only. And unfortunately there's no penalty there for non-reviewing.

Message edited by its author, Nov 9, 2009, 11:59am.

>22 As it turns out, the publisher mistakenly put 1,000 copies up for Lift. They meant to put 25. I've just changed it. Sorry this changes the odds!

31- It does change the odds. Now it becomes a very long shot instead of a near sure-thing.

> And unfortunately there's no penalty there for non-reviewing

But there is a boost for reviewing.

As it turns out, the publisher mistakenly put 1,000 copies up for Lift. They meant to put 25.

I'm sure it was an honest mistake, but I have to say, it's pretty convenient that that mistake displayed their book at the top of the ER page at the key time. I wonder whether it would still have been the second-most requested book if it had started out where it is now?

The publisher's response to my "did you mean to offer 1k books?" email was one of mild shock, not Mr. Burns-style fingertip tapping.

I think it's likely they would not have had so many requests, but it kind of doesn't matter, since it was an honest mistake. The reason why no one at LibraryThing caught it right away was that we're all in various states of being sick (despite generally living no where near each other). On the upside, to get all Pollyana on you, I'll probably not make this same mistake again!

Also, the inverse wouldn't have happened, if a publisher accidentally put one book up for Early Reviewers, since we have a minimum requirement built in to the form publishers fill out.

(edited for clarity, also the 'tussin is wearing off)

Message edited by its author, Nov 9, 2009, 5:33pm.

##: But there is a boost for reviewing.

Well, there was with mine - the people who reviewed the first ebook in the series were offered the second one, etc. ;-)

that mistake displayed their book at the top of the ER page at the key time.

I'm really not sure how this is supposed to be such a boon. Are there really that many people who only go partway down the list, such that they saw it when it was first on the list and wouldn't otherwise? I saw the massive number of copies and "all countries" and immediately thought "oh, probably an e-book, probably self-published" and skipped on by. The large number certainly didn't make me think "wow, that must be great" -- it made me think "wow, they must be desperate". And sure, people may have requested it thinking it was a sure thing -- but are random drive-by requests really a good thing for the publisher? I can't see how.

Message edited by its author, Nov 9, 2009, 6:14pm.

>37 I don't know, do you really think people request books based only on how high their chances are, rather than how interested they are in the book? The list this month was really long, and I imagine that many people paid closer attention at the beginning than they did at the end. So I'd attribute the greater number of requests to greater attention paid to books at the top of the list.

37>

do you really think people request books based only on how high their chances are, rather than how interested they are in the book?

Not really, but that was an attempt to understand a possible mechanism for extra copies leading to extra requests. It made infinitely more sense to me than the idea that people would lose interest halfway down the list, but clearly I'm wrong on the "losing interest" notion.

Ha! I start at the bottom of the list and work my way back up.

So the list is just sorted by number of copies? That seems kind of arbitrary. I'd been wondering what the method of listing was and had started assuming it was random, since books from the same publisher aren't grouped together or anything.

It used to be sorted by title, then it was changed to number of copies. I think it was to highlight publishers who gave more than, oh, 5 or 10, since a bunch were giving few copies.

29> I fail to see where 'odds and math' are not at work with regards to the MG program. The people are selected at random, so that involves both odds and the math required to formulate the odds.

And, yes, there is a penalty: authors will be unlikely to offer another book, when reviews are not forthcoming from previous offerings. To those readers who would keep their commitment to review any book they receive, this would be a penalty.

A comment here about Member Giveaways...

I'm very disappointed that, of five trade paperbacks that I liked very much and gave away on MG, not one has to date been reviewed here on LT. I asked for reviews on all of them because they were written by lesser known authors each of whom could have used the publicity. This makes me feel as if I should not bother with MG any more but simply swap my used books at BookMooch, mail them to an LT member I "know", or wild release them through Bookcrossing instead.

Tim, do you ever get feedback from the publishers that use MG? What do they say about it? Are you doing any sort of tracking as to who actually does review a book on MG?

Message edited by its author, Nov 9, 2009, 8:36pm.

Squeaky...

Either people don't feel as much of a need to get the book read and a review up since winning books from MG isn't a "Requirement" as far as winning more goes, or else they don't feel an need to review at all.

Speaking only for myself, even if reviewing isn't something LT will take into account for any MG books I may win, if/when I ever do win one I plan to treat it just like an ER book. I'll get it read and a review up ASAP. Of course ASAP may vary in length depending on what else I may have around to read at that time. *G*

#44 I got "Threads from the Web of Life" by Stephen Daubert as a member giveaway. It is a lovely book, and, yes, I did review it (as I do the times I get an ER).

I have been a member of LT for over a year now and joined the ER program the same month I joined LT. I won a book that month and it matched many of my books in my library. It was Playing Dead by Allison Brennan. The next book I won was in Dec of 08. That was more of a self help book. I was surprised with that one just because I didn't think I had a good chance of winning it.

I have entered almost every month since joining and some I think I have a good chance of getting but I get passed over for them. I am just happy to find more books to read through the ER program.

I have given up trying to figure out how to increase my chances of winning besides just adding books that I borrow, buy etc. I just like to take chances.

44> Interesting... When I offered six copies of my self-published new book on the MG program - where it was relegated because I am not a major publisher - I specifically asked for reviews from the winners. I do hope that they requested my book with that commitment in mind. Time will tell.

I can't be sure, but I'm guessing that at least some people would feel a greater obligation to review a MG book offered by the author or publisher than one being passed on by another LTer. I know I'd give it a higher priority in that case.

>33.

And that's why I'm now, figuratively, drowning in MG books?

Curse my luck and my propensity to write reviews! Also, (aside to MG givers-away) sorry if I haven't reviewed your book yet! I'm reading four books at a time to get caught up, and working on NaNoWriMo (does that make it five?). Don't lose faith in the system: I review all books I receive, regardless of a review request.