Helpful Hints at Finding the Title of a Book

We get occasional posts here on the IMDb Books board asking for help with finding the title of a book, typically something that the poster read ages ago and would like to rediscover. I'm not saying anyone shouldn't post these questions here on this board, but there are better forums in which to ask, forums with a much larger readership than the IMDb Books board (which is only a small part of IMDb overall). These alternative forums are also specialized in this field, populated by members who just LOVE answering these kinds of "Find That Book" questions.

One very important suggestion. If the forum has a group page (as in LibraryThing) or some other suggestions for posting, read them and try to follow them.

In particular, it's always helpful if you put some kind of description of what you're looking for into the subject line of the post. Looking for a Book just doesn't cut the mustard, cuz we know you wouldn't be posting if you wuzn't looking for it. Give some kind of details, like, "Gothic romance, madwoman in attic" or "Boy floats down Mississippi River on raft" or whatever. A lot of forum members don't even waste their time opening a subject line like Looking for a Book because they only want to be bothered with something that's within their own expertise.

Also, once you've gotten an answer to your question, it's always nice to post a "Thank You" and acknowledge that you've found the answer you were looking for. And if the site allows it, it's nice to change the subject line of the thread to add on to the description something like SOLVED so folks aren't wasting time opening a thread that's already been successfully answered. If more than one book has been suggested, it's nice (in your "Thank You" post) to acknowledge which suggestion was the correct one.

'Nuff said. Here are four resources worth taking a look at:
BookSleuth: http://forums.abebooks.com/discussions/AbeBookscom_BookSleuthreg/abesleuthcom?

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/list_group/185-what-s-the-name-of-that-book

LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/groups/namethatbook

WhatsThatBook: http://www.whatsthatbook.com/index.phpStumpTheBookseller: http://www.loganberrybooks.com/stumpthebookseller
This one specializes in children's and young adults' books but there may be some fee involved.You'll have to register at these sites to post questions like this, but typically registration is free. In particular, as to LibraryThing, registration is free (and spam-free) unless you want to use the site to catalog your books (I think in a number greater than 200), in which case there's a very modest one-time fee for lifetime membership.

I'm going to give this thread a BUMP from time to time to keep it toward the top of this Books board. Also, if anyone else has suggestions to add, please do so and I'll try to put them into this top post on the thread. And thanks to Bargle77 who's made some suggestions of this sort along with mine on another thread.
Internet Speculative Fiction Database: http://www.isfdb.org
Useful if you know the name of an SF/Fantasy/Horror short story and want to know what books it's in.

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http://librarything.com/profile/CurrerBell