Problem: You enter the ISBN on your paperback and the book Listing Preview says "hardcover" (or vice versa - you have a hardcover and the preview says "paperback").

This means one of three things:

1.  Your book is an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC)

If your book is a paperback, and the ISBN brings up a Book Listing Preview that says "hardcover", please check your book to be sure it is not an ARC.   If it is an ARC, it cannot be Posted for swapping at PBS.

Solution:  You can offer this book to others in the Book Bazaar Discussion Forum (read the "How to Use this Forum" topic there before you Post!) but you must not post it to your PBS account Bookshelf. (Note: you must be enrolled in Annual Membership to post in the Book Bazaar Discussion Forum.)

2. The publisher chose to assign the same ISBN to more than one version of this title.

Publishers sometime choose to assign the same ISBN to multiple versions of a book.  However, PBS can attach only ONE booktype to the listing for an ISBN.  If your book does not have the booktype assigned to the ISBN in the PBS database, you will need to post it with a customized listing, using the Post a Book Without an ISBN link on the Post Books page, so that the booktype matches your book.

Solution: You will need to post this book with a customized listing for the book, using the "Post Books without an ISBN" link on the Post Books page.

3. The PaperBackSwap database is wrong.

This can be the case - our database is compiled elsewhere, and can have errors. To find out if this is a database error, you can do the research on alternate database archives (by doing a Google search for the ISBN).  If every single non-Amazon site says that the booktype matches your book, then this supports the probability of a database error here.  If that is the case, you can contact us (using the "send us feedback" button on the Contact Us page) to ask for binding type change for that ISBN.  These take time to do, so in the meantime, you should NOT post your book using the non-matching listing.   If the research you do brings up a mix of hardcover and paperback listings, that means you need to create a customized listing for your book.

Solution if your research shows that no other sites have listed this ISBN with the booktype that appears on our site: Contact us (using the "send us feedback" button on the Contact Us page) to ask for binding type change for that ISBN.  Binding type changes take time for us to do, so in the meantime, you should NOT post your book using the non-matching listing. You can either wait for the change, or post the book with a customized listing you create to match your book, as below.

Solution if your research shows a mix of hardcover and paperback listings for this ISBN on other sites: You will need to post this book with a customized listing for the book, using the "Post Books without an ISBN" link on the Post Books page.

4. You chose the "wrong" ISBN from multiple ISBNs printed on the book.

This is sometimes the case with bound books: sometimes a publisher puts all versions' ISBNs in the inside front pages of a book; in that situation, it can be difficult to know which ISBN corresponds to which booktype.

Solution: Check the ISBN printed on the back of the book or the spine --those can be more accurate in these cases. If there isn't an ISBN printed on the back of the book or the spine, choose one of the other ISBNs printed inside the book. If it still doesn't work (and your book is NOT an Advance Reader Copy), you'll need to use the "post a book without an ISBN" feature as described above.

Related Links:

Solutions to common Book Posting Problems
How to post a book
What can be posted for swapping here?
How do I post a book without an ISBN?
About non-ISBN items at PaperBackSwap