SantaThing 2011!

See the blog post. Questions can be asked here!

I assume that when making selections for Amazon, we will be able to take their usual 4 for 3 offer into account. Right?

As long as the same offer applies when we're making the order, yes.

Your message says:

1.Sign up, choosing your preferred bookstore and your payment level ($10, $15, $20, $25, or $30). Book Depository, Amazon, Powell's Books, or Harvard Book Store are available at all payment levels; if you choose the $30 level you'll also be able to choose Amazon or one of its subsidiaries.

Should Amazon be removed from the first list, applying to all payment levels? You list Amazon both under $30 and under the "All" section.

>4 ThrillerFan: - Yes. Fixing.

Anyone else having trouble with PayPal?

How so?

I was kind of hoping that I could mark 2 bookstores and have my Santa pick which one. I prefer BookDepository, but I know that some folks get hives when they think about dealing with BD for SantaThing, in which case if my Santa is one of those folks, I would like to support the Harvard Bookstore...

I guess that's not possible?

Also, I just realized that I should totally put in a gift SantaThing for my dad. I don't know if I'll have enough time to do 2 picks, though! I'm on vacation from this Thursday until the 6th and won't have internet access after the 28th (not reliably, at least).

>8 keristars: - yeah, this is complicated enough without alternate selections, I think :-)

I know that some folks get hives when they think about dealing with BD for SantaThing

Yeah, but surely for their own books, not others'.

>6 AnnaClaire:

Paypal is working for me - both for LT and outside of it...

is there an actual difference (other than mere preference) in choosing say Powell's, or Amazon, or BD, if they all deliver to your country? Meaning, are there major differences wrt book choices?

>12 majkia: - Price will all be a little different, and I'm sure there will be differences in selection as well.

10> Yeah, I know, and I figured it'd be too complicated, but I was holding out hope! Mostly, there were such strong reactions to BD in the last few SantaThing threads that I started to assume that just seeing "the Book Depository" would give some folks an allergic reaction.

>LT Secret Santa/SantaThing is new for me. I love the idea! :-)

>8 keristars: Why would some people get hives when they think about dealing with BD?

>15 Ennas: - Last year we only shipped using BD, and there were some delays, caused by various and sundry factors like a postal strike, a trifecta of snowstorms, &c. &c. Some people didn't get their books until very late. It was bad. Thus, hives (for some). We're really hopeful that no such confluence of events happens this year!

I'm definitely going with BD, I didn't have any problems with them last year and I'd rather save my Santa, who might not speak German, the hassle of picking books on Amazon.de.

>15 Ennas:

Last year BD was the only option for SantaThing. Due to the weather conditions on both sides of the Atlantic and a US customs policy change, which had the effect that the books had to be sent by boat rather than plane, meant that many people got their books very late. In my opinion both LT (giving out free lifetime memberships) and BD (resending books that didn't make it and offering a 10% discount for ST-participants) handled the situation very well, but some people tend to bear grudges.

>17 Octane: - oh you're right, I totally forgot about the extra security too. Yes, that was another factor!

The SantaThing page shows a couple of people as having comments, but I don't see any.

A question, how about other currencies? The amazon.de and amazon.fr sites have prices in Euros, while amazon.co.uk is in Pounds. Should the santas convert the dollar amount them selfs? This makes picking harder, certainly with exchange rate changes.

>20 jarno87: - Once picking starts we'll set target numbers for the specific currencies.

Are we at any point going to get information about how popular the book sources are? I don't really have a preference so I would like to pick the most popular bookstore to increase my chances of getting a good match with my Santa/Santee

>22 norabelle414:

No, we're not going to match by store. So, you may pick Amazon for what you get, but you may be asked to pick from somewhere else.

>22 norabelle414: - I'm sure we'll post counts, but I don't know that we'll necessarily be posting them as we go. At the moment it's fairly evenly split between Amazon and BD, with just a few others.

Is there a way change the text I wrote when I joined SantaThing? I thought it was obvious that people should check my library before picking anything for me, but since everyone else tells people to do just that, it looks like I'm wrong. :-S

>22 norabelle414: - and what Tim said.

>25 Ennas: - yes, just go to http://www.librarything.com/santathing.php, find your name in the "Your SantaThings" section, and click the edit link.

#25 Changing is easy. I've already edited mine twice.

25> Yes, go to the SantaThing page. Before you get the list of participants, you'll have your own brief bit followed by (edit) - click that, change what you want to change, and then hit Submit.

>23 timspalding:, 24, 26 Got it. Thanks.

You might want to consider changing the wording on the signup page. PayPal uses the phrase "transaction ID", not "receipt ID"

Logged out to check how my info looks, and line breaks aren't registering, so my paragraphs are all smushed together.

Well, I did it, but I think I forgot to pick the bookstore and now can't get back to that screen. What should I do? I was going to pick Book Depository.

Still can't see comments that are supposedly there.

>33 varielle: - You're all set with Book Depository.

>34 _Zoe_:. Tim's looking to see what's up with comments.
>31 norabelle414:. Yes. Changing.

Comments now showing.

Thanks.

Love the way you worked out the different payment options, and the different sources. You spoil us! :)

Since, obviously, I don't yet know who my santee is I don't know what country they live in. Thus I choose Book Depository as the source. Can this be changed to Amazon if my intended recepient lives in the USA, say?

>40 guido47: - You're picking where YOUR books will come from, not where you buy books for your Santee. You might choose Amazon, but your Santee might have chosen Book Depository, or vice versa. When your Santee is picked, you'll see who it is, what amount of books you pick for them, and the bookstore you'll be shopping at.

Thanks #41, That makes sense :-)

Dang, I'm out. I don't get paid until the 3rd and I won't be able to cash that check until the 5th.

Oh well.

>41 jbd1: - Is there still an issue with Book Depository showing different pricing and availability to USAnians than from elsewhere? If LT is doing the ordering, then there needs to be a way to see the US view of Book Depository for those of us outside the US, be it Santas or Santees.

I know that last year at least, folks were able to sponsor other members who didn't have the financial resources to participate- any thoughts from the group on the best way to handle that with this new system? Can we still just pay and send the code to the member so they can pick their own bookstore etc?

Are there going to be enough participants to match libraries well enough at the different pay levels?

Very roughly - libraries based on genre fiction, literary fiction, socio-science non-fiction, other nofiction gives four tiers, and at 5 pay levels gives 20 different "categories"

With a couple of hundred partipants that means only 10 or so people per option. Still I guess that is enough, assuming an equal distribution of people -- maybe this isn't true.

#27, 28 & 29: thanks! I missed that link somehow.

>46 reading_fox: - we're not matching pay levels. You might pay $30 and get a Santee who paid $10. You pick $10 worth of books for them, and your Santa picks $30 worth of books for you.

#48 - thanks.

>45 ForeignCircus:

I was also trying to work out the logistics of sponsoring, particularly given the different payment levels. I presumed that it would be possible to use the paypal receipt again.

I'd offer to help organise, but I'm in a completely wrong time zone and I'll be away all of next week and possibly the rest of this week too.

I've never participated in SantaThing before, but I'd really like to this year. However, I simply cannot acquire any more physical books due to the size of my living space. Is there any way to request and receive e-books instead of bound books? I would suppose one would have to choose the $30 Amazon option for a start. Or is this an extremely politically incorrect thing to be asking? If so, just tell me and I'll go away quietly.

>51 rosalita: - yes, you can request e-books (but only using the Amazon option).

Thanks, Jeremy!

Adding this to the signup page now, but if you want ebooks, please put your email address in the "Address (first line)" box on the signup page. Thanks!

Sponsoring Santas thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/127273

>55 norabelle414: - Awesome. Thanks!

> 54 - This probably would be buggy-ily annoying (and feel free to tell me to "make a noise like a hoop and roll away"), but would you be able to do Kindle-only Amazon orders for less than $30?

>57 parelle: - no, sorry, we're not going to complicate things more by adding that wrinkle.

I've never participated in SantaThing, and am looking for to it. But I have a question. While I like new books, I'm happy with used books since a lot of the books I read/have tend to be pricey.

Can I say something like "Used books are acceptable" on the sign-up form? (I'm specifying Powell's so all the used books would still come from them, unlike on Amazon.)

>59 LMHTWB: - no, because there's not guarantee that used books would still be available when we do the ordering, sorry.

Right. Sorry.

Thanks, once again, to the LTers who've organized this. This is my third year and it's becoming a terrific new holiday tradition.

The rules say no pre-orders, but if we are requesting Kindle books, can we ask for a pre-ordered book? (Amazon)

>63 xorscape:. No; pre-ordered books are not eligible. Sorry.

Noticed that on Dec 25th the Secret Santas will be revealed. I appreciate that most people want to be praised for their selections but I'd rather stick to Secret Santa traditions with the option to get in touch for a Santa should they desire. Revelation of identities kind of defeats the purpose for me.

>65 Malarchy: If you don't want to know who your Secret Santa is, you don't have to look at the page where they are revealed.

#65 I like to message my Secret Santa and thank them after the books arrive.

I also like to thank my Santa and I appreciate if my Santee lets me know he/she got the books. (I would also like to know if my selections were anywhere in the ballpark, but since we are so polite, I'll probably never know.)

edit: Please also make comments about book selections (on mine, especially, :D). Every year I have found new books and authors which I have really enjoyed.

If I'm not playing this year, it is because of wierdness with Paypal, which unknown to me until this minute has decided I've spent enough through Paypal unless I do certain things which will take a few business days to clear. Just mentioning this in case it becomes a problem for others as well --

>69 Capybara_99:

You can go around the account and just pay with a card without logging in - this should work?

> 69, 70 Thanks Annie -- had just figured this out myself. Required logging out first, and then I get the option to just pay with the card.

>69 Capybara_99:

If PayPal doesn't work out for you, but you still want to do it, you can send us a check. It's irregular, but not a problem so long as 500 people don't do it.

Hi Tim, How many shells for Santa thing?

59 re used books, Amazon seems t have an issue with aloowing used books be ordered and sent to a third party. At least it seems to. I had someone try to order me some used graphic novels and their system wouldn't allow it. Never followed up on it so it may have ust been something that they were doing wrong or I had a setting wrong on my wishlist.

I enjoy giving more than receiving. Will there be any opportunities to volunteer to select books for someone, without actually getting any in return? (Another of the gift exchanges I once participated in does this -- all participants must have their selections in a week early, and then anyone left without a gift at that time is re-matched with people who are willing to make a gift quickly, without actually getting anything extra in return themselves.) If there are enough others who would be interested in selecting for others without receiving in return, this might also help relax that harried last-minute-selection issue the LT staff faces each year.

>75 pammab: - Yes, for folks who don't make the selection on time we do allow people to step in, but it's going to be a very narrow window this year. You can, of course, leave comments and suggestions for folks on the SantaThing page!

Apologies if the answer is obvious, but this would be my first year participating in this. How would we factor in tax? I'm sure it's different for each country... I was thinking of a situation with a $30 amount from amazon.ca. Most paperbacks cost $9.99, so with tax the total would be slightly over $30. But if tax has to be taken into account, only 2 books could be bought in this case, and the total would be quite a bit less than the $30. Is Canada the exception with tax being added instead of already included in the price?

>77 b_macdonald: Try to factor in the tax wherever it's necessary.

Don't forget you can still enter comments/suggestions for Santas on the main page, even if you've already signed up!

http://www.librarything.com/santathing.php

Apologies if this is an obvious question, but this is my first year to participate. How are we given our Santees? Email, PM, some other method?

#80 I believe through a PM :) this will be my third year.

Thanks (^_^)

If I only want Kindle books (because shipping is a nightmare for where I live), do I just include a link to my Amazon wishlist, so my Secret Santa can gift them to me?

>83 Thwaite: - you can do that, yes.

I have tons of books that I own that aren't in my library. I don't have time to add them. How can I avoid getting a book I already have?

>85 hrose2931:

Depends.
I am in the same boat but most of the ones I had not entered are in two specific categories... so I just people not to send me anything from these categories...
You can always specify a list of authors not to be selected... or something else.
But if the ones you do not have in the account are in the genres you want... I am afraid that you cannot really avoid it...

I am so on the fence! I love, love secret santas, but I am hard up on funds at the moment. Plus I still have to get gifts for others and I'd feel bad getting things for myself when I still have people to buy for! Decisions! Decisions!

>85 hrose2931: You could also enter a wishlist and ask that they select from that.

#87 - Tell me about it! I did Secret Santa the last 2 years. They did add the tiers this time, so I would suggest, given your urge, to go for it at the $10 tier.

As for myself, it's different. Money isn't the issue. I've got a ton of books on my shelf that still need to be read, including a couple from last year's secret santa! (I have Infected, a book I got last year from Secret Santa, as either my next book or book after next to read). Do I need more books right now?

Secondly, my wife is getting me an eReader for Christmas. After doing extensive review of the Kindle vs Nook, I'm likely going to be going with the Nook (will actually be going to a Barnes and Noble tonight to physically see one). None of the stores support Nook eBooks, only Kindle, so would mean more paperbacks for the shelf. Could be a good or bad thing.

Thirdly, I was a little put off by last year. Not the delivery delay, but the task I was assigned. I shop for many books for other people within the family on various topics, like Crocheting (wife), Historical Fiction (wife), Children's Books (daughter), Mysteries with a tie of Romance to it (sister), political biographies on people like Obama, or Kennedy, cooking books, non-fiction books, etc., along with myself (Thrillers, Horror, True Crime, Chess, etc.), but there is one subject I'm turned off shopping for. Religion/Christianity books. It's too touchy of a subject. Don't get me wrong, I'm Christian myself (Lutheran, specifically), but religion is one of those subjects where the wrong book and you could actually offend someone, unlike say, a romance novel (which I personally won't read), where if I chose one that wasn't all that good, ok, at least I tried, and the reader won't be absolutely offended by it, but with a touchy subject like religion, I don't believe in these "adult baptisim", "born-again christian", "new age", or "far out left field" religions at all, not even one iota, but yet others do, and it's very discomforting being put under that level of pressure. Even books on Catholicism (I grew up Catholic, converted to Lutheran when I got married) are too touchy a subject to feel comfortable buying for someone else. I just feel too pressured, and risking getting another religion request is also making me hessitant. Religion to me has always been a private matter, talked about with others only at a church, not in the middle of eating dinner at 8:30 on a Thursday night. Too many arguments erupt that way.

Well, sukino, I have a little less than 24 hours to make that decision. Even if I decide against it, I'll still post suggestions (have already posted a few thus far) to try to help out secret santas around the world, maybe even yours, sukino, if you do decide to join and are looking for books on just about anything other than religion! :-)

i just realized that SantaThing is a perfect opportunity to use the "What should you borrow?" feature. it's very interesting comparing lists while making suggestions on people's SantaThing pages.

I'm still apparently having trouble with Paypal. How long does it take to process?!?

>91 AnnaClaire: - Shouldn't take long at all. Are you getting a specific error? And are you going through the regular PayPal process, or the "un-signed-in, just-use-a-credit-card" method?

Also >90 leahbird: - good call!!

>92 jbd1:
I'm using the just-use-a-card method. I put in my name and address -- no info yet for the card in question -- and I get a perpetual spinner like it's loading.

It sucks that I can't get it to work here, since my internet at home crapped out on us (again) yesterday morning.

Edit: It's still giving me "loading..." -- for more than ten minutes!

Hrm. Working okay for me at the moment. Anybody else having the problem? AnnaClaire, do you have a different browser you can try on, by chance?

At this point, once you've hit the yellow "Pay with PayPal" button and gone to the PayPal site, you've then clicked the "Don't have a PayPal account" link and gotten to the form where it starts by asking for Country, then Card number?

Actually, I don't even get a chance to enter my credit card number. It appears to be a two-step process to give it the info it needs. I'll see if there's another browser readily available on my system (though I should be cleaning up after not having internet access for 24 hours).

Huh. I managed to get it open on Explorer and I think I have some idea what happened: turns out Firefox wasn't displaying the credit card stuff. I see the dropdown for "country" and then it skips to "first name."

Hello, I have a question:
How does it go with amazon.fr and amazon.de concerning the language?
Because people might not speak French or German, so do you pick French people for amazon.fr and German people for amazon.de... ?
Thank you :)

>99 OpheliaAutumn: - no, it's one big pool. Folks will be more than happy to help, I'm sure, and the numbers are fairly small: 3 for .fr so far, 1 for .de (you!)

I'm sorry but I chose .uk for myself and .fr for Maxik, please tell me I didn't make a mistake as we don't understand German :(
If I made a mistake is it possible to correct it? I am not able to check on our santa thing profiles...

>101 OpheliaAutumn: - Sorry. I've got .fr for Maxik, yes. Apologies!

No problem thank you for everything :)

89 -- If you ever get a religion request again, try giving C.S. Lewis. He crosses all denominations and writes even to the non-Christian.

The end is nigh!

The verification/picking process is well underway. Stay tuned for a profile comment later tonight or tomorrow. If you didn't pay when you signed up (hem hem) we'll be contacting you very shortly.

>106 jbd1:

"Contacting" you, with an emphasis on "contact."

SOOOOO BUMMED I MISSED IT!!!

Crud. I've done this every year but blew the deadline this time out. Just wanted to mention that so nobody at LT marked me down as a victim of snowpocalypse 2010 who didn't want to come back.

Happy book picking, everyone.

Perhaps you can assist with picking books; they often need that kind of help!

Ooh...I can't wait to find out my Santees so I can start picking books!

What happens if someone under-picks? I just saw one that chose about $22.50 of books when they had $30 to spend. It's possible that the one got its extreme discount after the selections were made, but still, the person should easily be able to get another book.

I have a question, I vaguely remember last year about a rule of no used books? Powells.com seems to have a lot of used books, how do you figure out a price of a book or where to pick from it because it seems to be from many different sources?

I think I read some where Zoe that if someone under picks by a good bit that when they are doing the order they will personally add another book.

>112 _Zoe_: - Yes, we'll add another if we need to and can.
>113 LittleSambonie: - Right, no used books (because they might not still be there when we go to order).

My concern is the links for the ISBN are for BD but the person is asking for books from Amazon. Also, the prices are better from Amazon so while I didn't go over $30 for Amazon, I did for BD.

>115 jbd1: Thanks, I'm glad they will get another.

>116 Morphidae: - Don't worry about the links. Just get to the amount requested from the store they picked. I'll see if we can just remove the links so folks don't get confused.

Wait, but I like being able to see what books people chose, even if it's from the wrong site! Maybe add a disclaimer instead?

We'll figure something out, yes.

There is only enough space for five ISBNs but I have enough left to get a sixth book for my Santee. How do I add another book?

We're not going to do more than five titles; I'd suggest picking a couple more expensive books.

Hmm, I spent $30 and now I can only select $10 of books for somebody else? I understand I will still get somewhere in the region of $30 in books myself, but I just love selecting books for someone else and feel very limited right now. All the books I think of are over $10 at book depository.

Anyone else feel disappointed at getting a much lower budget than they spent?

>123 yhoitink: You might have a chance to pick up extra Santees at the end. Last year I was disappointed with my main assignment (asked to select from a very limited wishlist), but I managed to get two extra Santees later on and had a lot more fun.

Hopefully it will still be possible for me to do that this year without being signed up at all.... I agree that picking for someone else is great.

>119 _Zoe_: - I've changed the links over so they now go to the LT work page, at least for now.

Folks earlier had requested a breakdown by store:

Book Depository 235
Amazon.com 183
Powells 72
Harvard Bookstore 19
Amazon.co.uk 15
Amazon.ca 11
Amazon.de 6
Amazon.fr 1

Give or take one or two, that's the count.

>125 jbd1: I love having the LT links. But I'd just as soon have the BD links as well, at least for people shopping from BD. It's fun to see what editions have been chosen and how much the selections add up to ;)

It's a bit weird that I'm getting captchas when trying to follow the links.

>128 _Zoe_: - I think the ISBN-based LT URLs have a high-load thing built in, so if you do a few of them it stops you (happens to me often when I'm getting LTER batches ready, too)

The person I am getting gifts for requested ebooks only from Amazon. However, when I go to enter in the books I am selecting, it only wants ISBN numbers. It is not accepting the ASIN numbers. What do I do?

Oh, and is there a reason we cannot choose books that are UNDER $2.50?

>130 Dranea:/1 - the ASINs are saving correctly, they're just not "checking" as ISBNs. We'll correct for that later on; as long as you've saved them in there, you're good. The under-$2.50 thing is more for physical books, but we're going to keep to it with ebooks as well unless there are special circumstances.

I had so much fun picking for my Santatee! I even found a bunch of new books to add to my wishlist!!

Thanks LT for all your hard work on this project!!

Awesome! Thank you so much!! I just wanted to make sure.

All done, thanks for the assist, Jeremy.

I just checked out my santee's 'wish list' and worked from that. :)

On my Santee's page, there are fields for "Title", "Price" and "Total", but they're not filled in. Will they be filled in later? It would be nice to see the total price.

>136 kgodey:. It's not currently set up to calculate the price on the SantaThing page. Just make sure that the ISBNs add up to the right number on the appropriate store site. When we used only one store (like last year) we had it set to display price, &c., but don't have that set up this year.

#104 - I ultimately decided to pass this year, more than anything else, because I just have way too many paperbacks on my TBR list, and when we went out Wednesday night to look, I'm basically going for the Nook, not the Kindle, so none of the sites selected this year sell that. Had I gone with the Kindle, I'd have signed up for Amazon.

Hopefully next year, when my paperback stack is down a little, I'll be ready for Secret Santa 2012.

More than 100 Santas have already picked. Great job! Hey, if all the picking happens early, we can get the orders in sooner! :-)

I think I'd rather have the BD links back, even when they're not relevant. I keep starting to look at the selections and giving up when I hit a captcha, which comes very quickly. There are some books that just aren't found, too.

>139 jbd1: The problem I'm running into is on the $15 order, all the PB's are $7.99 so I can't get my santee 2 books. I could try to find 1 TB for closer to $15, but I'm less certain they'd enjoy it. Is it possible for me to kick in an extra buck to the Secret Santa cause? I don't want LT stuck with extra expense.

>140 _Zoe_:. Having Book Depository links only was confusing people, so we're not putting that back. Tim's working on something else today; we may add store links back eventually but it's not happening right away.

>141 tottman: - Just try to get as close as you can. There's a smidge of wiggle room, but not much :-)

>141 tottman:

There is a similar issue with $20 ones. Making it into 3 books is... a pain. And you have leftovers so you either need a small book or to go for a second more expensive one...

Yeah the numbers aren't really ever perfect, unfortunately (hence why we didn't do the $30 split into two $15 thing). Just do your best :-)

>144 AnnieMod:

$10 is even worse, all the books I wanted at first were $12ish. I finally found one for just under $10 by one of the authors I wanted. Not quite my first pick, but maybe it will introduce them to the author and they'll go find one of the other ones.

> 20, 21 What are the target numbers for different Amazon sites? Or is that information somewhere and I haven't just noticed it?

>147 mellu: - Ah, sorry.
Aim for:

UK - £19
Canada - $30
France/Germany €24

would it be possible for LT to do their Amazon ordering through ShopHunger.com? a percentage of everything bought via the website links on the site goes towards Heifer International. if those 183 Amazon orders were all $30 (i'm sure they aren't) then we could generate $110 for Heifer, which would buy:

11 shares of a goat, sheep, or pig ($120 would get the whole animal)
OR
5 flocks of ducks, chickens, or geese
OR
3 honeybee hives
OR
a trio of rabbits AND 2 flocks of ducks, chickens, or geese OR a honeybee hive

wouldn't it be nice if OUR gifts kept on giving?

#149 That would be nice for a charity to benefit, too.

I always start my Amazon purchases at www.librifoundation.org so that this charity, which donates books to rural public libraries, gets money. Libri says that they usually get 6 to 7% of the total purchases starting from its site. (Conservative estimate would be $330 in Libri books.)

During the past few years, they've received more than $3,000 just from people who do this.

For those doing popular fiction books, $20 isn't too terribly bad. A lot of them, especially those of the new paperback format (taller), those are typically $9.99. There's $19.98, not sure how much closer you can get than that.

For the $15 order, if there is a Trade Paperback (i.e. larger format), often many of those are in the $13 or $14 range. Also, a few less popular authors I've still seen be prices like $6.99. They are rare, but that and a $7.99 book also keeps you 2 cents below $15.

Just a few thoughts.

I picked books for my Santee, then decided to go back and look at the links - I get what appears to be random book covers but I pasted the isbn's from Amazon so they should be correct. So I tried to look at some members whose Santas picked for them and the same thing happens. What am I doing wrong? Part of the fun is looking at what members picked for each other and adding to my ever growing wishlist.

Hi "Santa-in-chief",
I have chosen 3 books and now want to Start the Sending process. Can I begin it before the 8th? I still don't understand the postage angle.
Thus 2 of the books come from Amazon it self. And one from a site under Amazons Umbrella. Do these 3 qualify for "free" postage?

Guido, in Australia (which is why I chose BD)

>152 fdholt: - You're hitting the LT "captcha" that asks you to name the author. Do that and you'll continue on to the work page.

>153 guido47: - No, we do the ordering all at once, at the end of the process. All three books need to come from Amazon itself; having checked, your third selection doesn't fall under that, so I'd choose another. Thanks!

It's really not that easy to find a good selection that gets as close as possible to the given limit. I'd hate to waste any money my Santee paid.
Now I found a reasonable combination, but unfortunately it just adds up to $25.01 ... I guess 1 tiny cent should qualify as "smidge of wiggle room" ...

>155 kaixo: - Yes, that's fine!

>143 jbd1: How much is 'a smidge'? I mean, is there a maximum for the 'wiggle room'?

And can I change my mind until the deadline when I fill in the ISBNs?

>157 Ennas: - be as close as possible. I'm not saying any more than that.

And yes, you can change ISBNs anytime up until we close the picking process. If all are picked early, we can close it early and get in the orders in sooner, though, so keep that in mind.

Ok, I will (2x). Thanks!

-edit-
Which ISBN do I use? The -10 or the -13?

>159 Ennas: - doesn't matter.

Ok. :-)

One of the ISBNs links to the hardcover on LT, though it was the mmpb on amazon. ?? Help??

>161 Ennas: - It's linking to the LT work page, which brings all the ISBNs for the title together. As long as it's the right one for Amazon, you're set.

Thanks, I feel very set now. :-)

>159 Ennas:, 160 I put in two ISBN-13s last night, and the ISBN-checker told me they weren't valid. When I switched to ISBN-10, they were accepted. For the third book I chose, I used the ISBN-10 to start with, and it didn't have any problems.

>164 casvelyn: The same thing happened to me. Guess the answer wasn't "doesn't matter" but "ISBN-10". :-)

>165 Ennas:. Well, "shouldn't matter" probably would been better!

lol

I used ISBN-13 with no issues.

Where are you finding the ISBNs? I'm looking on the book page on Amazon and don't see it anywhere?

ETA: Nevermind. *scroll down, Lee, scroll down!*

>169 MrsLee: Scroll down to the product details.

Hello! I just picked my books for my Secret Santas! What I would like to see, way at the end, when all the books are shipped, is a full list of what was ordered :) I'm just curious if there are certain themes in books picked, etc. Anyway, this is just a suggestion

>172 TheDivineOomba: - yes, we'll do up a list (of at least the most popular books, anyway).
>171 AvantSecurityGuard:/3/4 - Zapped. Adios.

> 148 Thanks! Now I can start picking some books.

A small suggestion for next year: Perhaps $16 would be a better cut-off point than $15? I'm trying to pick two books for my santee and virtually every book I look at is at least $7.98 on Powell's.

Do you want us to include some alternate options, in case prices on our first choices jump before you guys order?
And what is an acceptable amount below the cutoff? (I’m currently weighing up between $22.62 or $25.15 for a 25 order.)

>178 joannasephine: - no, just include what you want ordered. And just try to get as close as possible to the amount. I really don't want to be more specific than that :-)

Further to 153/154, My 2 books from Amazon itself come to $27.07 (I do want these 2 to be sent) It is almost impossible to find a book for $2.93 *grin*.
Thus what hapens to the "free" postage?

>180 guido47:. That's fine. As long as it's over $25, we'll be able to get the shipping. And the little bit of extra you have will hopefully even out for the folks who go a bit over the limit.

I came in at $29.96 for my santee. If the Amazon 4 for 3 applies, as it should, my santee's getting 5 books.

#180 I think there are some books available for about that price. Dover thrift editions, perhaps.

Does the 4 for 3 apply with Amazon.com? If so, I need to go back and pick another book...

LT said so around messages 2/3 above.

What does the 4 for 3 mean at Amazon? I don't use them much and have no idea what that means. I have 3 books picked that come out to almost $30. Can I pick another book for my Santee? If so what price range?

>183 Mareofthesea:/4/5 - If the books qualify for 4-for-3, we'll use it, but still, don't go over $30. See
http://is.gd/I9DMYt for some info on the 4-for-3 thing.

#186 This seems to be a limited selection - I am sticking to the books I chose! Thanks for the explanation.

I chose a book for my Santee a couple days ago, but thought it didn't quite fit the request, so today I went looking and found something much better. However, I don't see a 'remove this book' from the Santee page? Now I have two books listed that are way more than what the Santee paid, but the one I want him/her to get is at the bottom, where it'll get deleted...

>188 Thwaite: - Just delete the ISBNs of the ones you don't want, and save. Should be all set.

Oh, right. I'll just shuffle off and be embarrassed somewhere else...

#190: don't be embarrassed!! We've all made mistakes & that was an easy one to make...

>191 skittles:/0 - Indeed, no worries!

Ooh, I wish we could go with used books. I'm having a terrible time trying to fit under $15 at Powell's, given my santee's very limited tastes..

>193 Magentawolf: - Sorry, we can't. There's no guarantee that the used book will still be there when we order.

When using Powell's, do you have to specify somehow which edition (HC, TB, MMP) you are selecting? The ISBN's seem to take you by default to the used copies.

>195 tottman: - No, if you put in the right ISBN we'll be able to figure out which you mean.

Just want to verify something - on Amazon the Kindle books have the same ISBN (in some cases) as the paper book version... but my santee only wants Kindle, will the orderers know it should be a Kindle version only?

>197 crazybatcow: - yah, I'll check them for the few Kindle-only folks. Or you can put in the ASINs (which won't save as ISBNs but will still save).

I was wondering how you actually choose who gets to pick for who? That is: what's the matching criteria and order? My friends and I are trying to work out why we got who we got.
I'm not complaining about mine, but their's seems a bit .... odd, with not that many books in common.

>199 bj: - it takes your libraries into account, but it's also got an element of randomness. I really wouldn't spend too much time trying to work it out.

Every year, one fun thing about Santa Thing is the chance to be a "fill in" Santa.

When will we be doing that this year?

>201 lindapanzo: - That happens right at the end of the process, probably from about noon EDT on Thursday, give or take a bit.

Potentially stupid question: I picked mine (Amazon.com, $30) yesterday and on the page where you input your choices, one of the rules is 'don't pick ebooks'. But some of the above posts seem to suggest you can actually choose them... Is this correct? The person I picked for requested Kindle ebooks so I'd like to change my selections if possible!

>203 mooingzelda: - Yes, for Amazon if the person requested them, you can. If you use the ASINs, know that they may give you a "this is not an ISBN" warning, but they'll still save.

Thanks :o)

>204 jbd1:
I didn't know that e-books were permitted, and therefore didn't say not to pick them. Are e-books allowed if we don't specify a preference one way or the other?

>206 AnnaClaire: - unless you did from Amazon.com and specified that you only wanted ebooks, they're not.

Whew. I did go for the Amazon option ($30), but I said nothing about format.

#199 - I'm not convinced there is a system at all other than random pot luck.

I did this in 2009 and 2010. I chose to skip 2011 because I just have way too many books on the shelf, and need to catch up. I also said in the winter that I'd probably skip 2011, so even then I knew I needed a year to catch up. In addition, I'm getting a Nook for Christmas, so Kindle products won't work.

Anyway, my library is mostly Thrillers, some horror, a minute amount of sci-fi, and chess.

In 2009, I got a Santee that was into political thrillers. Who was I reading at the time? Vince Flynn! Almost a perfect match.

In 2010, I got a "born-again Christian" (whatever that's supposed to mean - you're born once, baptized either at birth like me, later on like many Baptist denominations, or never at all if you have parents that are some form of non-Christian, and after that, you believe or you don't) wanting religion books. Absolutely NOTHING in common with Thrillers and Horror Novels. (i.e. Killing Many vs Thou Shalt Not Kill)

Again, what happened in 2010 (chosen Santee and delivery issues) are not the reasons I didn't go for it this year, it's that my TBR pile is way too high right now, but to answer your question, I'm not convinced there is a system at all, or if there is, it's extremely loose.

>209 ThrillerFan: - Well there is an element of library-comparison, but we also have to rejigger things occasionally (this year, for example, a mom got her son and a woman got her brother, for example). So in those cases we just randomly switch people around.

Wait, we can go "over the limit" (#181)? Really? With an extra $0.67 I could get my Santee the three books I really wanted to pick rather than scrounging for a third title that I was just okay with so my total would squeak in under the $20.00 limit....

>211 SunnySD: - Not if you can help it, but if absolutely necessary, yes.

#211,

Don't ask, don't tell *grin*

>213 guido47: - exactly!

Jeremy, thanks for answering our questions so patiently.

>215 lindapanzo: - :-) I love my elf-duties!

Is it just me, or do there seem to be fewer comments on santee's entries this year? I've always enjoyed reading comments (and leaving what I feel I can contribute) to get more ideas for books to discover. Maybe the "What should you borrow" has helped fill the gap. Maybe the shorter time (which is a good thing) reduces folks browsing time.

#217 I've thought the same thing. I don't think I've put as many comments out there as in previous years.

Not sure why except, perhaps, it seems like a lot of people chose their books more quickly this year.

>#212, 213 OOOooh, thank you! Goody, goody! I'm not telling... (grin)

I had a massive toothache last night and couldn't sleep, so spent the time leaving comments and suggestions for people who had 0 comments so far. I love the "What you should borrow" feature, but only use it as one element because often it recommends books from my library which I either haven't read or didn't like. Still, between that and our shared books and the Santee's wishlist (if they have one), is sure helps with ideas.

Several people are marked "private" and I can't see anything about them or leave a comment *shrug* hope their Santa can!

MrsLee, I must have overlooked the 'comments' area...?

221 - If you click on the Santee's name, you see all their comments, then the place to enter ISBNs, then a box you can leave some comments/suggestions in at the bottom. Hopefully it is helpful, but if nothing else, when all is said and done, that person has some more recommendations to look at.

Okay...but I've already ordered their gifts. Oh well.

Thank you, anyway. Something to remember for next year. :)

223> You can still leave a comment, and you can change the isbns if you like to.

Anybody got the time to be a Santa tonight? We've got a person who paid for ST but never actually signed up, so I'm going to add her into the system. If you'd like to pick gifts, let me know asap so I can set you as the Santa. Thanks!

I'll have some time, and I love being a Santa!

>225 jbd1: I can if you still need someone.

Santa found, thanks! Stay tuned, there may be more chances soon!

225> If you need more Santas, feel free to use me.

I can probably do at least one if you still need help

I'd love a chance to place Santa some more if need be

Let me know as well..I would love to help

Is anyone else jealous that those who are last to get their gifts selected wind up with the most comments and suggestions? :)

Or should I just be happy that my wishlist and TBR pile isn't growing any bigger?

>233 tottman: Or should I just be happy that my wishlist and TBR pile isn't growing any bigger?

Ya, my wishlist has grown enough just by commenting on other people's, it is probably a good thing there aren't many comments on mine.

I always depend on Santathing to give me ideas about new authors. I love getting suggestions (some of which I take and some I don't).

233 tottman - Not all of them do. There are still a lot with just 1 or 2 comments.

Just wondering, because thankfully my Santee wasn't set to "private" status, but when I attempted to comment on a couple of those still unpicked who have private libraries, all I see is a blank page with no options to add ISBNs or to comment. Do those folks need to set their libraries to public in order to play, or will their Santas be able to see more than I can?

>237 SunnySD: - their Santa will see the same thing you do on public SantaThing profiles (that is, their requests, &c., and a place to add ISBNs). Unfortunately private libraries are still private, which makes picking particularly difficult.

>238 jbd1: - hmmm.... On the private library pages I don't actually see anything at all on the SantaThing public profile except a header that reads "SantaThing Gift" and a "back to SantaThing" link. No place to add ISBNs or comments. No scroll option either, just blank space.

>239 SunnySD: - Right. Only their Santa (or an admin) will see it.

Gotcha - thanks!

I found it really hard to pick books. The overlap on my library and the santees is on stuff that I wouldn't say is easy to replicate. If any elfs that are really good at this would take a review please. I made a comment (that has duplicated by mistake) on my alternatives. I'm really thinking now I need to change my mind- help!

>242 C4RO:

If you send me a PM with the Santee name, I can look and see if I can help?

I was just looking at the SantaThing page - 89 of the 92 unpicked have comments - that is everybody except the 3 marked private.

Of the people who have been picked (451) - 12 are marked private and only 2 of those have no comments.

There are 55 people with no comments - so 50 of the people who can have comments and have had books chosen have no comments. Not even an "enjoy your books" or "Happy Holidays" :(

Also no suggestions to look at when SantaThing opens all comments after Christmas.

I think the comment count is not always right. My Santee has two comments, but on the list page, it says "0 comments".

I do hope the counting is wrong, because acoording to the list page, I don't have any comments at all. :-(

>245 Ennas:

Scroll down and find her/him in the real list - not at the top where he/she is singled out for you.

Mine says 0 at the top but it has the correct number down in the list.

Ah, thanks! "Down under" I have two comments! :-)

Ennas - at the top where it names your Santee mine says 0 comments but in the main list it shows that there is a comment for my Santee.

It is possible that it doesn't show if you have comments for your own entry as I can see that you do have comments:)

Edit - too slow:) Also means that I really don't have any comments:(

245, 246

Thank you for pointing that out! I was feeling rather sad that I wasn't going to get any comments (although I was grateful that I had at least been picked!) but now I can see I have two comments. Whew!

Edit to add: By the way, is there a way to look up who our Santathingers were in previous years? I can't remember who picked my books last year, and I'm wishing that I knew!

Ok, who wants to play Santa today? First response gets it!

me!

>250 jbd1: : May I ?

>251 KarenElissa: - yes, but I think we'll have a second coming today too, so if so Cathcartes that one's yours!

253: I can help too if necessary. I've given up on sleeping for the day.

>253 jbd1: : Ok, I'll wait. If you send a name after 20h GMT I'll see it only tomorrow morning for me, middle of the night for you, don't worry if I don't pick the books immediatly.

me too, if there are any spots left!

>244 calm: I've been trying to go through some of the already picked who have 0 comments and add a suggestion or 2 if I can think of any.

Making suggestions for others is half the fun:)

I think making suggestions is much easier than actually having to pick the books too - at least someone can wade through suggestions and discard those that aren't appropriate, but if a package arrives at your door and your picker misread your tastes... could be fun!

>258 crazybatcow: - I definitely agree! No budget or availability to worry about with comments :)

Ack, don't even say that. Worst nightmare about this whole thing is screwing up what someone else has paid for and more importantly is eagerly awaiting. So much pressure. :)

On the other hand, I'll be happy with whatever, so maybe I'm putting too much pressure on myself when I shouldn't... :)

Still, to y'all who are doing extra Santa duty, kudos to you!

#260 - I'd think it would be a very small minority of SantaThing participants who won't be delighted with whatever they get.

Don't worry!

:) As long as people read what the Santee had written in their request, there should no really bad surprises.

I hope I get a surprise! won't even mind if it's "bad".... well, unless it's a historical textbook...

I think if you are the type that is super picky about your books, you probably won't participate in SantaThing. If you do participate, you are more likely they type to just love getting books in the mail, no matter what they are! :-)

Only 81 unpicked as of now. I recall that last year, it was a much higher percentage the last day. With a day to go, we are in much better shape!

so are these people unpicked because their Santee fell down on the job or what?

Note: for those who entered ASINs in the ISBNs field. I've had to put a placeholder ISBN in so that the Santee counts as picked, but I'm paying attention to them and will make sure that the books you selected are what gets orders. So no worries!

>266 majkia: - Yes, those Santas still have about a day to pick for their Santees :-)

This is the first time I've enrolled in SantaThing, and I've just picked my giftee's selections. Is it okay that the total amount comes to just a hair under the target amount? Or should I select slightly less expensive books to allow for any possible taxes or shipping charges?

>268 MyriadBooks: - no, that's exactly where you want to be. Thanks!

>269 jbd1: — Yay!

Hang on - do the comments I left for my santee show up before they get their gift? I assumed they would only see them when things were done and delivered, so I mentioned one of the books' titles along with my reasons for making those selections.

#271 I think they throw open the comments to our santees on Christmas Day or thereabouts.

I can see comments for everyone except myself right now. For my own, all I can see is how many comments there are, not who made them or what they say.

Jeremy? Can I edit my comment so it does't spoil the surprise if it arrives before the book does please?

I believe that when they make the comments visible, the choices are visible as well... So anyone looking there before getting their books does it on their own risk.

For me, the receiving of the books isn't the fun bit - it's looking through everyone's comments and libraries that I'm really enjoying. It's really interesting what books people are choosing and I like the comments as to why they chose the books they did because a few of them I've looked at and thought 'really!? You think they'll like that?'.

So, thanks everyone for playing and letting me look through your library! :-)

Comments don't show until 12/25.

GMT or LT/EST?

Ha. I don't know, let us order the books first! :-)

>252 Louve_de_mer: - Santa pick info is on your profile. Thanks!

Heh, >279 jbd1:, we are all sorta freaking out before anything has really happened aren't we... oops... :)

Can I be $1.30 over or do I need to trim that down?

I really want to get these two for my santee person, i have another one that i had to pick for and I was under like 1.70 or so, so that evens out right? LOL

I'd also be willing to help out if you need more people to pick out books. I remember last year a lot people were left with santas who didn't choose any for them. :(

I totally welcome comments on my requests even though my santas were efficient and picked already! Thanks Santas

Yeah, my Santa picked, but I'd love more suggestions too!

I'm available as an extra Santa

Me, too. Though not for myself, obviously :)

I need some help, I have finals this week and I thought I would have time to pick books for my Santee but Im running out of time and I havent even had a chance to think about it!

To be honest I havent been able to read for pleasure at all in the last 6-8 months because of college and I have absolutely no idea what to even pick at this point :(

I need someone who is knowledgable in Paranormal Romance / Urban Fantasy to PM me and help me pick out some books.

Much apprecated!

I'd also love some comments. My Santa picked books already, but I always get gift cards to book stores for Christmas. Any comments will help me with my post-Christmas shopping. :)

#287, Since I don't know who your Santee is (nor do I want to, nor should I) it is difficult to know how extensive your recepients library is.
I have been wading through some "rubbish" Urban Fantasy
this year but did rather like kim harrison for the romance side of Vamps. et. al. and of course jim butcher "Dresden Files. And as an "old" SF man, I guess that is sort of praise.

Guido.

ETA. If your "Santee" doesn't have any of those authors, perhaps start with the first in the series, although I feel
that if it's in budget get the second one as well.

ETA2. Rachel Caine the "weather warden" series. A bit
too paranormal romance for my taste, but interesting premise and reasonably well written.

#287. Seanan McGuire is excellent Rosemary & Rue is the first in the series, also reccomendd is Nicole Peeler's Jane True series.

284 & 288 I'll look for you & try to suggest some additional good reads if I can ;)

Eta- corrected author & series name

If Santas are still needed for unpicked Santees, I'd like to help out.

I'm happy to help if Santas are still needed.

> 279 : Done. It was fun to choose in the hurry.

Beginning at 12 pm LT time today (17:00 GMT) we'll open up the unpicked Santees to volunteers.

>281 lilkim714: - That should be okay, if absolutely necessary :-)

My Santa already picked for me, but suggestions/comments are always welcome!

>287 Emidawg: - Karen Moning's Fever series is an excellent urban fantasy (and paranormal romance).

okay... I'm done with waiting - can I have my books now please!!

Or, maybe just open up my comments page so I can read that until Christmas.... that'd work okay too.

> 294 : If you are short of rescue Santas I gladly volunteer once again.

Me too! Rescue Santa-ing (I like that term) is one of my favorite parts of the process!

If I've worked out the time zones properly, I should be available to play Santa again, too.

It's gonna be a long day, but I've got Christmas music blaring on Pandora and my Santa hat on! :-)

>294 jbd1:..it is absolutely necessary..book depository seems to have weird prices..thanks :)

I will try to be on around 12ish (i'm at work, so anything can happen) to try to help with the unpicked santas..I love santathing.

I can help with unpicked Santees. I'll check in closer to the time mentioned (12 pm LT).

wow down to 39. I've never seen so few unpicked Santees at the end. Maybe everyone is starting to understand how this works!

I can help, too, if you don't have enough Santas by the end.

can we just claim the ones we want now? i know EXACTLY who i want!

I'll be available for more Santa-ing!

>306 leahbird: Me too!

I will be out at lunch getting food at 12-12.30, but I would love to help as well and I know exactly who I want as well.

I would like to be eraserhead(debra)'s santa..if thats okay. I will be back at 12.30 and can have it done soon thereafter.. Please let me be this person's santa, I would love to help!!

Down to 33 unpicked now...

310: That's really good.

ok, it's 12, but nothing has changed on the Santee pages. are we just supposed to leave our picks in the comments or will the isbn boxes open up? (i don't remember what we did last year)

>312 leahbird: Heh, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one busily refreshing the page.

constantly! hehe

>313 fyrefly98: yup, me too! :-)

Just a minute! :-)

316: It's not quite christmas morning yet but we're all still impatient lol

such eager beavers we are! i LOVE giving books though!

1. Go to http://www.librarything.com/santathing.php
2. See the section "Unpicked: Needs a new Santa!"
3. Click on members to check them out.
4. Comment to help or, when you're sure you want a member, click "Grab this member for yourself."

You may want to refresh the page before you click, to make sure it's still free.

Many many many thanks to all members who help out on this. Feel free to also write who you're picking below, ask questions and etc.

Jeremy: the person I just picked has a message from somebody saying that she already picked books for them, but there are no ISBNs, and the message is not highlighted. She does not say which books she picked. Should I just go ahead and pick some others?

>320 SylviaC: - Not yet; let me see if I can find out what they wanted to order.

Thanks.

>320 SylviaC: - I've given that one back to the original Santa for another go.

Ok, I'm going to eat something and take a quick walk, so if I don't respond instantly, that's why. Back in a little bit!

I'm done picking for my new Santee! I'm wondering if I should take another one.

I thought we had until 4pm Eastern to pick books. Where did the 12pm cutoff come from? I just went to finalize mine and found that my person was listed as not having a Santa. (I assigned myself as his Santa and put in the books, so I'm all set now.) If we really only had until noon before our person was put up for grabs it would have been nice to have that listed on the SantaThing page. I see now that the reminder email I got did mention the noon cutoff, but it was listed below the 4pm deadline.

Just a suggestion for next year that the cutoff be a little clearer.

I picked for one more. Last I looked there were only 4 left, I have no idea what to get any of them.

326> If they had all been picked yesterday they would have already started ordering!

I don't see the "grab this member for yourself" link. Are they all grabbed already?

looks like everyone is at least claimed now and only 10 have yet to be finalized. so that's great! this is my favorite part of SantaThing... there is something so fun about dashing around multiple sites to decide on the perfect books for a stranger on a moment's notice!

>326 brewergirl: - we had to have everything completely done by 4 p.m. Yesterday's reminder message said "It looks like you haven't picked for your person yet. If you haven't made any selections by 12:00pm Eastern US (17:00 GMT), we may give your pick to someone else."

>328 fyrefly98:/9 - Yes, at the moment all have been picked and we're waiting on final orders. Then I get to verify them all :-)

And just a note, if you're an original Santa coming in late and want to absolutely want to select books, just let me know and we can try to make that happen. I have the power :-)

I picked a santee who wants only books for the Kindle, I chose e-books but she(?) is still in the "unpicked" list because there are no ISBN's

K, sec. Thanks.

>333 Louve_de_mer: - All set, I just have to put in a placeholder ISBN there with an asterisk to remind me when I'm ordering that that's what it is. Thanks!

No possibility to grab the "private" unpicked.

They're all picked at the moment, just waiting for orders (two of the Santas, ahem ahem, are LibraryThing staff members ...)

Is there a way to specify bargain price books on Amazon? I want to make a last minute change to a book I think my Santee will like better if possible, but the same ISBN is available at both regular and bargain price.

>338 ryvre: - we'll choose the lower when we order.

I'm glad I checked My Santees before the cutoff. My Book Depository one, when I picked the books last week, came in $5.00 or so under the cutoff. When I checked today, it was over by $5.00, so I had to make a last minute change so my Santee didn't get stuck with only one book.

I'm not sure I like the fluidity of their prices, maybe next year picking books based on price should be what the full price is, not the discounted price. If that's even a good rule of thumb, I don't know. I just wanted to throw this out there.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen such fluidity on other book buying sites. I mean, I only picked my Santees stuff a few days ago, and it was like, a dollar and some under, and now I went back, and poof, I'm a cent over.... freaky. According to the chatter it's cause sometimes their suppliers run low or something like that... learn something new every day.

I'm going through the ones on BD that are either way over or way under right now. Indeed, the fluctuations are pretty annoying, but we'll do the best we can!

oh man. I never double checked now feel horrible.

why does the title show up on some of my selections, but not others on my santees pages? Just curious

>344 lilkim714: - They may be showing for Book Depository picks, but don't pay any attention to them :-)

ah okay..

For future years, it would be nice if you could just order the BD books immediately so that you wouldn't have to worry so much about price fluctuations. There could be a "finalize my picks" option or something to acknowledge that changes wouldn't be possible.

Yes, that would be fantastic; unfortunately it would mean changing the whole way ST works. So we'll see. The fluctuations are mattering in only a very tiny number of cases this year.

Also, can I just say that this has been the longest hour in history? :-)

Feels kind of like the New Year's Eve ball-drop countdown!

Okay. Closing up, and starting orders! Thanks everyone for your help!

So if you order the books now, do they arrive soon? That would be weeks before Christmas (not that I'm complaining.)

How can we continue to look at the santathing page? I like looking at other peoples santas and things to see what they got. I dont look at mine of course. The link is gone and I dont know where to find it anymore..

>354 jbd1:..duh..slapping forehead.

Just noticed the title comes up in gray. Only one so far for my Santee. Does this mean you have ordered the book?
And not yet finished ordering?

>356 guido47:. Please ignore the titles and prices for now. Thanks.

Jeremy, thanks for all your hard work.

I've had lots of fun giving suggestions and reading other people's suggestions and messages. I think lots of the selections have been great and I hope everyone gets a great read.
Thanks to Jeremy for all the hard work doing the orders and monitoring our questions.

Thanks to all the LT staff members who make this happen, it's such a fun thing to do! Hope the ordering goes smoothly.

yes, what great fun, esp watching the mad rush at the end of things. Thanks to LT for doing it!

Thanks all. Please do note that particularly for Book Depository orders, we did have to make some final changes to editions, &c., and add/subtract a book here or there. In most cases we left a note on the ST page noting that we had done this, but it was rather a scramble and in a few cases you may notice a book just appearing or disappearing. We tried in all cases to keep as close as possible to the original intent.

I'm happy to report that Book Depository orders are now all in and should be making their way out shortly. They had the earliest and firmest deadline so we worked on that section first. Today we'll be making our way through the rest of them, and hope to have all orders out by the end of the day, all things willing.

Thanks for the update Jeremy. Thanks LT for this wonderful program and all your hard work!!

"and add/subtract a book here or there"

Ah, does this explain the random book added to my Santees' page?

>364 Thwaite: - Indeed.

One of my santee's books got switched out for another one..not that I mind in the slightest, just was curious to see what was chosen. Is there anyway to find this out?

366:
http://www.librarything.com/santathing.php

If you click on the santee's name, you can see the isbn's. Just do a search with that.

Whoo-hoo! Looks like the books I selected made it through! Now hopefully there will be surprise and delight when the opening happens...

>366 lilkim714:/7 - depends on whether we edited that ISBN list when we ordered; if not, just send me a PM with the Santee's name (since you had a few) and I'll see if I can track it down.

By way of update, we just about got through all the ordering yesterday, there are a very few left to finish up this weekend. Lots of shipping notices are coming through already so I suspect things could start arriving as early as Tuesday or Wednesday!

Now, question: do folks want me to set up an arrivals map again this year? If so, I'll get it ready.

yes, please on the arrival map! fun tacking them for me.

Map sounds very good Jeremy.

Now we just have to wait for the books to start arriving ... and have the patience to not open them before the 25th:)

Calm: Luckily for me, I open presents on Yule! So get a head start!

>370 majkia: - Okay! Thread here. I'll link up the map once we get our first "point" :-)

>371 calm: and have the patience to not open them before the 25th

Have what? Me no comprende.

I'm opening them the moment they arrive. I'm not even waiting to get them inside. It's taking all my self control to not look at the books on my SantaThing page. :)

>375 ryvre: Argh! LA LA LA LA LA. I can't hear you! LA LA LA LA LA.

375> I have to admit that I peeked, but only until I got the green checkmark. I was dying of curiosity about those 5 or 6 comments and what was being suggested. I also hate surprises. But I'm holding out on seeing the final picks, since it's not like I don't have a hundred books on the floor in my To Be Read Soon stacks.

Argh. I just checked one of my santees and the three books that got ordered weren't what I expected. Well, one of them was, but at some point I changed the two others for one more expensive history book, and all that I can think is that I didn't submit properly. Oh, well. Too late now!

377> How do you look at your page? I thought you couldn't until the 25th. (I'm not planning to, anyway.)

Also, you're supposed to wait until Christmas before you open them?! I don't know if I can do that. Actually, I'm pretty sure I can't.

Log out of librarything then because you're not you anymore you can see the comments and selections

Oh okay, I thought you had to be logged in to see the Santathing page.

379> Nah, some people wait until Christmas because that's when they open gifts. I don't personally celebrate the holiday (unless you count going to my parents' house to eat a fancy meal and cry from the stress of being around miserable relatives "celebrating Christmas"), so I'll open mine when it gets here. I'm pretty excited to see what was eventually picked. :)

Also, yeah, just log out and visit the page. I happen to have typed in the santathing.php address so often in the last few years that when I'm at work and not always logged in, I can just start "sant..." and it'll take me there, and then the peeking is irresistible :P

382> Yeah, I don't really celebrate Christmas either; it was an entirely unremarkable day where I grew up (except that it would be a holiday from work/school.) I'd always read about kids get presents twice a year instead of just on their birthday and wish we did celebrate it. :)

I think I'll just open my package when it gets here, though.

I can't wait to receive the package. I will wrap it so that I have something to open on Christmas morning/day.

Had a surreal moment last night when I checked the mail to find a book package I hadn't ordered! Could this be a SantaThing book arriving already, I wondered? But the return address was wrong, so... I opened it. It was my Early Reviewer win from November - a happy surprise to see it so soon!

Okay. Update! All but the Kindle books are now ordered, and many of the books seem to be already on their way, so should be starting to arrive this week!

On Kindle books: I'll be doing the ordering for those tomorrow. Since we can "deliver" them anytime, my thought was to have them delivered on 12/24. If you'd rather have them before, please let me know before tomorrow morning LT-time (either here or send me a PM). Thanks!

I started a new thread to discuss the most-picked SantaThing books:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/128477

We've got our first arrival (YAY!) so I've started the map; it's linked in the first post at http://www.librarything.com/topic/128351

I've now started a discussion thread if you want to share your ST gifts, discuss, &c. :-)

http://www.librarything.com/topic/128612

My books arrived yesterday and I came on the site to find out who my Santa was...but I'm failing miserably. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

>390 Wings3496: Secret Santa identities will be revealed on December 25th, however, if you accidentally stumble across the santathing page while logged out of LT who knows what you might discover ;-)

I got a santathing package today, yay! But, it looks like there's a problem with the 2nd book my Santa ordered. The packing slip says "the following items are not currently available and are NOT on backorder: The Imperfectionists". Bummer! I guess I am out of luck?

So sad... I figured I'd give the "little guy" (Powell's) a chance instead of using Amazon like I always do, but maybe that was a dumb decision... Hopefully LT didn't actually pay for that 2nd book I didn't get.

>392 Milda-TX: - don't worry; when I saw that the originally-ordered copy wasn't going to ship, I ordered another copy of the second book for you; it's on the way!

Wow, seriously?! You are one awesome elf! Thanks!

I got the first of my SantaThing books today, and while I'm delighted with it, I was a bit concerned by the fact that the price on the book was $7.99 and the cost on the packing slip was $9.11. Does this reflect tax, a low dollar exchange rate, shipping cost, or should I have received a trade paperback rather than a mass-market? I have no problem with the book and don't need a different edition or anything, but it does seem odd. I ordered through Book Depository.

>395 aviddiva: - Honestly I'm not sure how the BD "retail" and "total" prices are calculated (I just know they chance all the time!). And you've got two more books on the way :-)

what are the numbers and "store=" that's showing on the SantaThing page now?

Ah, crap. Stuff from when we ordered. Sec :-)

>397 leahbird: - Should be gone now. Thanks.

>396 jbd1: Thanks! Honestly, I wasn't complaining, it just seemed that the cost of the book shouldn't be higher than the retail price, and if it's because of currency fluctuation, next year I'll choose a US distributor. I'm delighted with the book itself, and eagerly awaiting future arrivals!

>400 aviddiva: - No worries, I didn't think you were :-) It is fairly curious, and somewhat confusing, just how BD figures out what to price things. But I'm sure currency, shipping, &c. all factor in.

Okay - I've now opened the SantaThing page, so if you go there you'll be able to open your ST page and see your Santa's name. We're doing this a bit early since it's 12/25 in some places already (and, frankly, so I don't forget to do it in the morning). If you haven't gotten your books yet and don't want to peek, don't look :-)

I know some folks are still waiting for their packages (me too). I'm sorry, and I hope they'll be along directly!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Festivus, &c. &c. &c. from all of us at LibraryThing! :-)

Merry Christmas (or any holiday you want) to you and to the staff.

And now i'm going to see who is my Santa. :-)

Thanks Jeremy! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or what ever holiday you celebrate. I will try to wait till I open my gift before I take a peek at my Santa.

Awe I didn't get a note, made me kinda sad :( lol oh well MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!! or Merry Christmas Eve Rather haha

I did! ;) This was a wonderful year of SantaThing and I had a great time making recommendations and puzzling over what to get my Santee. Thank you LibraryThing staff for all your hard work!

Yes, thank you for all that you do to make this clever and fun program work so well!!!

>407 maggie1944: Perfectly said; I agree! An amazing amount of work by LT staff. I've gotten so much out of my membership! Thank you.

*points at #407* What she said!!

Just want to add to the chorus of thanks to the LT staff who make SantaThing possible and who put so much work into getting it "right" in such a short amount of time. You deserve these mad props! Thank you guys.

Add my thanks as well! First time I participated, and very enjoyable!

I concur with the previous statements of my fellow librarythingers..this was my 3rd time participating in Santhathing and it has sort of become something of a tradition for me that I look forward to all year. Thanks for making this such an enjoyable treat!

As promised, a SantaThing debrief thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/130773

Thank you, thank you LT for a very successful SantaThing!!!