SantaThing 2023!

It's that time of year again—this is our SEVENTEENTH annual SantaThing!

Important links
- SantaThing page
- SantaThing Help/FAQs
- Blog post
- Donations thread

You can edit your SantaThing entry at any time by going to the SantaThing page, and scrolling down a bit to "Your SantaThings." Each entry has an "(edit)" link to the far right of that line. Click on the member name next to a SantaThing profile to read about their preferences and leave suggestions!

Any questions? Post them in this thread, see the SantaThing Help page for FAQs, or email me directly at kate@librarything.com.

It's that SantaThing time of year again! Yay!!

I've participated for myself for many years, but this year I'd like to include a request for my DIL who is USAF deployed abroad.

Do any of the Indy booksellers on this year's U.S. list ship to APO addresses?? If so, which one or ones do?? Thank you!!

I'd like to ask for a donation this year if at all possible. 🥹 Santathing is such a bright place every year. Thanks for always working so hard to bring it to us!

I'd like to ask for a donation. SantaThing is one of my favorite activities this time every year. Thank you.

YAY! I will sign up, I just need to think about how much I want to put towards it.

>3 litwitch: and >4 HuberK:, make sure you head over to the donations thread (if you haven't already) - link at >1 katemcangus:.

I'm so excited for another amazing year.

>2 mrsandersonut: Let me talk to our US bookstores and I'll get back to you on APO shipping.

>7 katemcangus: Thank you for checking. I'll very interested to hear your findings.

I have never really participated in SantaThing, and have no desire to do so. One year I made a few suggestions, and ever since I get spam on my profile every year. I have asked for years to get taken off the list, I even tried blocking the staff member whose name is on the spam, to no avail. Is there no way to get off the list?

I am ignoring this and every other SantaThing topic.

>9 MarthaJeanne: I'm so sorry to hear that you're still receiving SantaThing messages. I'll see what we can do to fix this.

>3 litwitch: >4 HuberK: Just repeating what LibraryCin said: if you want to be considered for a donation, you'll need to post in the Donation Thread.

So the only stores for the US is the 3 Indy booksellers or Amazon Kindle, is that correct?

>12 crazy4reading: That's correct!

I'm not sure I understand what exactly is Donations, in this context ? Is it to donate books without being a secret santa ?

>14 Morningkill: No, you pay for someone who cannot afford to pay for themselves.

The way the program works is that you register and you pay the sum you want for your Secret Santa to use. When you donate, you do it for someone else instead - so they get the money and they get to be Secret Santa for someone else. If you get a donation, you get a registration for free (for as much money as the donation was) - so you get books when the time comes and you get to pick for someone else as their Secret Santa.

>15 AnnieMod: correct.

>16 mellymel171328: I get the donation codes went to me and I hand them out in the order I get them and the order they are requested. :) if you have anymore questions please feel free to message me.

Is it not possible for Blackwell's to be an option outside of the UK? They offer free worldwide shipping.

>17 Stevil2001: A good point, and one I should've picked up on beforehand. We think we will open up Blackwell's to everyone regardless of location, with the caveat that books might not make it to homes overseas by Christmas. Hold tight and the option to choose Blackwell's will appear by the end of the day.

>18 katemcangus: Great, thanks! I use Blackwell's a lot for cheap UK editions of books and find them pretty reliable and competitively priced.

>7 katemcangus: Hi Kate, Do we have any news about our booksellers shipping to APOs yet??

I’d like to understand how the book selection works. Would I be able to see the other persons book reviews and research what they like and what they’ve already read? Also, does library thing take care of shipping…or would my personal information (name & address) be given to someone else? Would I have their userID where I could thank them?

>1 katemcangus: To make sure I understand. Can I in the U.S. choose a Secret Santa connected with Blackwell's in Oxford or do I have to remain with a U.S. store? Thank you, Tonya

>21 RaggedyMandy: librarything orders everything so only they see the addresses. Other members don't see it.

>22 TonyaJ: The person you are choosing for selects the store where they want their books to come from when they sign up for Secret Santa. So whatever store your designated Santee has chosen is the store you go to to look for their books.

>20 mrsandersonut: Yes, I'm so sorry for the delay! I can confirm that BookPeople and Powell's do deliver to APOs and I'm waiting for confirmation from Longfellow.

>22 TonyaJ: You may choose any of the US stores or Amazon Kindle or Blackwell's.

Is Book Depository not an option anymore for international orders? I'm in Canada.

ETA: I see this "Non-US members should choose Blackwell's (UK & International), Kenny's Bookshop (Ireland & International),". Are those coming from the UK and Ireland? That might take a while to Canada. And does that mean a portion of what I pay will be for shipping? Book Depository was nice that way. Thanks.

ETA2: I really should look closer/read further before asking. I see this:
"Kenny's Bookshop (Ireland & International): All orders outside of Ireland will have $6 USD less in their budget, to cover shipping.
...
Blackwell's (UK & International): All Santees will get exactly what they've paid in."
Guess I was just disappointed not to see the place I'm used to seeing!

>27 LibraryCin: I think Book Depository closed. I know, I'm in Canada too and I was wondering how it would work this year! I think Blackwell's is great!

Yes, Book Depository closed this summer.

>28 olegalCA: >29 Stevil2001: Oh no!!!! I hadn't realized.

Blackwell charges no postage even o the US.

We are looking for donations :) if anyone would like to donate please message me directly. :)

https://www.librarything.com/topic/354960#n8280495

>32 mellymel171328: I messaged you on Friday.

>33 dianeham: I just seen tonight! I'm so sorry that I didn't see it sooner. I messaged you back.

>33 dianeham: this is the first year that I'm working and running the thread . I work 12 hours overnights so please have a little extra patience with me this year. :)

>34 mellymel171328: no problem.

Will there be a Holiday Card Exchange this year? I always like to sign up for that, as it is much more budget friendly way to participate in the LibraryThing Holidays.

>37 Literate.Ninja: They usually do that after the Santa Thing because Santa Thing takes so much time to organize and do, so I'm sure it will be coming! I also participate in it.

>37 Literate.Ninja: Info about the card exchange is in this months State of the Thing. It says:

Holiday Card Exchange. LibraryThing’s tenth annual Holiday Card Exchange is just around the corner! Once it launches, you will buy or create your own holiday cards for your fellow LibraryThing members, and receive as many in return as you send out. How it works:

Mail a holiday card to a random LibraryThing member.
You can mail a handmade or store bought card. Add a note to personalize it.
You’ll get one from another member.
Sign-ups will open Tuesday, November 28th. Stay tuned for announcements on the LibraryThing site, and through our social media accounts.

>38 LibraryCin: and >39 dianeham:,

Thanks for the replies. I guess this shows that I only skim the SOTT, haha.

>25 katemcangus: Thank you so much for checking! I'm so happy to add my DIL to the fun!

>40 Literate.Ninja: And I haven't even read the most recent one yet!

>39 dianeham: I love the card exchange! But wish sign up was sooner than the end of November because some cards take 3 weeks or more to arrive.

If anyone wants to donate or needs a donation. Please go to https://www.librarything.com/topic/354960 or message me directly.

>43 clamato: I buy Christmas cards from the New York public library and they arrived today.

I imported my Goodreads and it stuck my entire wishlist under both the wishlist tag AND the "books I own" tag even though I don't own them. Do I need to go through and change them each individually or do you think it'd be fine to just add a note in my santathing entry that if the book is on my wishlist they can ignore the "owned" tag? I hope I'm making sense. Lol Thanks in advance!

>45 dianeham: It's not about buying the cards. If you send cards abroad, they need more than a few days to arrive and the LT exchange is too late for that.

>47 Ennas: I was just saying I bought my cards. Sorry, just making conversation.

>46 litwitch: The LT staff definitely checks to ensure that the books chosen by your Santa aren't already owned/read by you, but I think it would be a good idea to at least leave a note in your ST entry about it.

>46 litwitch: You can use the power edit option in the catalog to remove the "books I own" tag from the items that have the "wishlist" tag.

>50 knerd.knitter: THank you! I wasn't aware of that option!

Seems like it is working this today!

Is anybody else having issues with getting the PayPal page to open to the PayPal Merchant page? I keep getting a Page not Found, and than it returns me to the Paypal front page.

>5 LibraryCin: Thank you.

Hi, I'm in Australia and hoping to participate in the Santa exchange for Christmas cards. Given I'm in Australia, I'd love to have as much time as possible to allow for postage to reach an international recipient. Hoping to see an announcement soon.

>54 Carpe_Librum: Forget it. :( They'll wait until after SantaThing, which means your christmas cards will arrive in february. That makes the card exchange basically US-only.

>54 Carpe_Librum: >55 Ennas: Yes, sorry. We must wait until after SantaThing signups have closed before opening the Card Exchange signups. That means our Holiday Card Exchange signups will open on Tuesday, November 28, so please stay tuned. The other option is to cancel the event altogether, but we'd rather hold the event and be happy sending cards out, even if they arrive late, than not doing the event at all. Hopefully this will not spoil the fun that this is intended to hold! We appreciate your patience.

>54 Carpe_Librum: I love the card exchange. I usually travel during the holidays so I don't see the majority of my cards until after Christmas anyway. It's fun to receive them--no matter when.

We still need at least two donations https://www.librarything.com/topic/354960 please reach out to me if you can donate. :)

Weird question, but will the books be brand new or second-hand?

>59 humouress: New. The program instructions do not allow for secondhand books because they are chosen days and weeks before they are ordered - which causes issues with availability at the time of ordering by LT.

>60 AnnieMod: Thanks.

>54 Carpe_Librum: >55 Ennas: >56 kristilabrie: >57 thornton37814: A Christmas card from overseas can sure warm a cold February day. :)

Apologies if I missed it, but I signed up and didn’t receive a confirmation other than I see my preference post. Does the assigning, paying and picking part start after the 27th or do I need to do something now.

Just keep checking the SantaThing page. When Santas are picked, the one for whom you are assigned to pick will show up.

I'm participating this year, but I had problems with the Early Reviewer scheme (they asked for my ID number. I sent it to them but they have not shipped the book). How will LibraryThing manage IDs?

>65 JALCAM: I'm sorry I don't understand what you mean by ID number? When you pick out a book for santathing you save it. Then LT orders all the books so we can't see each other addressss.

>64 thornton37814: thanks

>66 mellymel171328: ID is a document number that may be used to prove a person's identity (like the US SSN). I was asked for my ID number in order to send me a book (which I have not received so far). It seems to me that the participating SantaThing bookstores are not fraudsters, but I would like to know how they plan to handle that information.

>68 JALCAM: IDs are not required for SantaThing participation.

Since the Santa Thing sign up was extended another day does that mean the card exchange sign up is being pushed back until the 29th instead of the 28th?

>70 ILuvBookplates: No, I think we're still working on opening the Card Exchange signups today! Just after the SantaThing signups close. Stay tuned today. :)

Update: registration is closed and matches are running. Keep an eye on your LT messages for more info on who you'll be picking for!

If you need help with your picks or want to help others with theirs, that Talk thread is now live: https://www.librarything.com/topic/355509

I've been assigned a recipient using Blackwell's, but I can't get to their website. I've tried multiple search engines (and the LT link) on multiple devices, but I get an error message everytime. Is Blackwell's available from the US?

My Santee doesn't appear to have a shop listed in their profile so not sure where to pick their books from or how much shipping I need to deduct. Can anyone advise?

>74 KeithChaffee: Blackwell's site is currently down. They're updating customers on Twitter (if you want to keep up with it), and expect to be back up soon. I'd suggest trying again tomorrow.

>75 normandie_m: I'll ask your Santee their preference and let you know when I do.

>74 KeithChaffee: I’ve purchased from Blackwells but just tried the link I always use and I’m getting a “sorry…” message. Perhaps they’re down today?

>75 normandie_m: Go with Powell's

What do you do if your Santee's library is private? Should I "friend" them, or not? I don't want to get something they already have. Thanks!

>80 indigosky: I've sent your Santee a message letting them know that since they're private you can't see their library and that they might want to go public for a week. If they don't, they simply receive the titles you pick. I'm sure they'll be great picks!

>81 katemcangus: Perfect! Thanks!

I've added selected books on my recipient's santathing page and they show up there but I don't see an actual "Save" button anywhere as it says in the instructions. Am I missing something?

I get an "Caution. Cannot be mapped to a LibraryThing work, so (my recipient)'s catalog can't be checked." message when using using an ASIN for kindle books (the ISBN for the print version works fine)

>84 AurumCalendula: I'm getting that caution too.

The santee I have picked $15 total and a bookstore which needs $6 dollars in shipping. I can't find anything on that store's site for $9 (barely any for $15, for that matter). Is there an option to use a different store, or what should I do? Can I chip in a few bucks myself to make it a good book?

I just added my picks to my Santee's profile. I also added a comment with some further book recommendations, does anyone know if the Santee will see the added comments as well in the end?

My Santee’s library is private, so I cannot see what is already owned. I don’t want to choose duplicates; I want to put in the effort to find something special that isn’t already owned. Should I not worry about it and choose books that fit the categories the person wanted?

Wow that's a short picking time

>78 Copperskye: They seem to be down today... I hope they are back up soon.

>83 bigxstudio: Clicking "Add gift" will save your selection. That's it!

>84 AurumCalendula: As long as you've checked their catalog for the book, that's fine. We'll take care of the rest.

>88 solarbarmamaise: Santees will be able to see all comments after folks start receiving books and we open it back up.

>90 reading_fox: We've got to make sure the books get to folks in time!

>91 dacejav: >78 Copperskye: They're back up!

>89 MyFathersDragon: If a Santee has a private library, they simply get the books you choose. I'm sure they'll be great picks.

>87 wyliem: As long as you don't go over by more than 5 it should be ok. I'd suggest searching for older books - perhaps a mass media paperback?

>92 katemcangus: Thank you!

Hi, the one I have purchasing for does not have a store listed. I am just confused where to purchase from.

>100 leximarolf: I've contacted all the participants who didn't choose a store. I'll let you know ASAP.

>102 katemcangus: Thank you so much! (Also - I noticed I put the same question in two different discussions on here. I just thought it did not post the first time. I did not mean to sound overwhelming, lol)

>103 leximarolf: You're fine! Please pick from Powell's!

>96 katemcangus: Blackwell's site is still not working for me.

>105 dacejav: I just tested and it's working me for now: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/category/_top

>106 katemcangus: I'm in Georgia, it still doesn't work for me, I don't see any prices, instead of prices it says "Notify me" and when I log in, I get this message:
Sorry!
Blackwell’s is currently offline for maintenance. We are working hard to improve your online experience and will bring the website back to life as soon as possible.

For now, try checking our twitter for updates - twitter.com/Blackwellbooks

It's annoying, I don't know how to select books :(

>107 dacejav: I can message you privately and we can work together on this.

>87 wyliem: I feel your pain! I'm having trouble with a $15 price point and nothing has to be subtracted for shipping! I found one about 30 cents over, but they already have it in their library. I don't know how many I've looked up at this point.

Most of what I looked for yesterday was at least $16 and today most of what I'm looking for is at least $20. (Ah, shoot! Today they are all over $20 because I forgot to change from Canadian to US dollars; I did remember to do that yesterday. Will try again for today's titles and see if I have more luck.)

ETA: I stand corrected. I am having better luck today (now that I've changed it to US dollars). But I am lucky that I don't need to subtract the shipping amount.

Wow, $30 at Book People is impossible. Take off $6 for shipping and you're left with $24... but no one makes $12 books anymore as far as I can tell, which means just one book.

>111 Stevil2001: >111 Stevil2001: You could choose one hard cover book, or work with paperback and mass market paperbacks...

There's no way to filter or sort by price that I can see, so finding a cheap book just involves tediously searching titles again and again and hoping a cheap edition of that work exists.

oh man. the prices keep changing. I've picked different books 3 times now trying to get close to the total needed.

>113 Stevil2001: Folks are offering help to anyone asking in the Help thread here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/355509

>114 majkia: We'll check everything when ordering the books, so feel free to leave us a note with alternate titles. I'm sorry for the trouble!

Help. I picked two books for my person, and listed them by ISBN. The program says price cannot be determined, so the full amount shows as available. Ugh. Help.

>117 Nodecaf: You'll need to add the price as our system doesn't calculate it automatically.

>115 katemcangus: I got there in the end! It was just frustrating, as I had a lot of good ideas but the strictures of how Book People works (I've never had a Santee select it before) made them hard to implement.

Hey y'all: 3 hours left to make your SantaThing picks! Make sure your preferences are noted before we open unfinished picks to the elves!

>119 Stevil2001: I'm sorry to hear it was a challenge, but I'm glad you were able to work something out!

Hey y'all, we've opened up SantaThing for everyone to pick books for those unpicked: https://www.librarything.com/santathing.php. Come on over if you'd like to help!

This entry is up for grabs but the original Santee selected three books: https://www.librarything.com/santathing_thing.php?id=19

>123 libraryperilous: Oops - I think I clicked on something in that page while I was scrolling I should not have had ...

>122 katemcangus: Can we fix that, please? I did not mean to claim the user (and they seem to be sorted anyway). Sorry about that :( If not possible to untangle the click, do let me know what else needs to be done for this user and I will take care of it.

>123 libraryperilous: >124 AnnieMod: Looking.

>123 libraryperilous: >124 AnnieMod: Fixed!

>126 katemcangus:, >124 AnnieMod: Thank you both!

>126 katemcangus: Thanks. Sorry for the mess!

I've done this one - https://www.librarything.com/santathing_thing.php?id=410 - with the $6 deducted there's just over a dollar left, it's not showing as completed though.

>129 thebookmagpie: Because that one is IN Ireland, the shipping is free and there's nothing to deduct. So you have just over $7 left to spend.

Sorry to be a pest again.

I snagged this orphan, but I think someone else would be a better Santa for them. Can you put them back in the queue?

Thank you, and sorry!

https://www.librarything.com/santathing_thing.php?id=35.

>130 ablachly: oh fab! I should have clocked that 🙈 thanks.

Also, I'm in the process of selecting for this Santee, but someone else has added books. One of the books, We, is already in the Santee's catalog and rated.

https://www.librarything.com/santathing_thing.php?id=143.

You can go ahead and assign this Santee to someone else, too, if you'd like. :)

Thank you!

>133 libraryperilous: Thanks for catching that!

>133 libraryperilous: I'll delete the choices so that you can pick. Sorry -- we're working so quickly.

>134 katemcangus: Hi Kate --- Since people are catching things, I added a comment early this morning on this one:
https://www.librarything.com/santathing_thing.php?id=191

One of the books chosen is a large print pbk edition that's like $27. There are regular trade size paperbacks available for significantly less; I added the ISBN of the regular edition, and added another suggestion for where to spend the "extra" money. I know I would hate to put in $50 and only get two paperback books. Just my two cents!

>135 katemcangus: No worries, thank you! I'm hitting a price point issue but should have the picks in soon. Thanks for your help!

Hey, so I snagged this one when the call for help went out: https://www.librarything.com/santathing_thing.php?id=129 and got the total to about $2 left. I checked it again tonight and someone unknown has added a title not relevant to the request for $9.99. Is there a way to fix that? I can see the option to delete but it won't let me.

>138 greeneyed_ives: Fixed!

Hi, another case where someone else added books to someone I was adding books to:
https://www.librarything.com/santathing_thing.php?id=152

I tried to replace one of their choices, but it won't let me delete one? (Author KI)

Workaround: I was able to edit but not delete items, so I edited two and now one is empty.

>140 karenb: Fixed!

Picking books has officially closed. Thanks for the help, y'all. Now on to double checking all picks and placing orders!