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arjie | on: Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
My daughter receives books through this program and I was curious how it was sustained at a $2.5/book wholesale cost.

Interestingly, the coordinating body that selects books, facilitates distribution, and negotiates wholesale pricing is the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, but per-book funding is actually entirely through local charities and so on. This means that where charities are unable to act as partners, children will not receive books, but it also means that the program can operate by growing and shrinking as local support (including from state and local government grants) comes online and goes offline while keeping the overhead for local partners low.

Dolly Parton came up with the initial local structure for her region in Tennessee and David Dotson of Dollywood scaled the operation using this decentralized model. Very impressive structure that makes this sustainable.

Here’s the interview where he talks about it: https://www.endbookdeserts.com/dolly-parton-imagination-libr...

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conductr | parent | next
Regarding cost per unit. I think the publisher likes this type of partner because they can really get their initial order volume up high without much risk. This allows them to have a super low cost per unit, maximizing profit, from the start.
ssttoo | root | parent | next
Yup, and the “industry standard” wholesale discount publishers give to e.g. bookstores is usually 55%
TuxedoBuddy | root | parent
That seems like an incredible discount. Can I assume then that bookstores are competing against each other via very minute (perhaps one or two dollar) price discounts while still maintaining a high profit margin?
danielheath | root | parent
I worked at a publisher back around 2010.

The unit cost for the publisher to put a $20 AUD book on a shelf in a book shop was about $2 AUD.

The bookstore kept quite a bit of that margin - $10 or so - but they had to pay rent & staff a store. If they were only selling $500 worth of books per day, it wouldn't have mattered if their margin was 100%, the fixed overheads would eat it all. If they could keep stock turning over quickly, the profits were impressive.

TuxedoBuddy | root | parent
That makes sense to me. Thank you for that anecdote. I had no idea about these figures.
what | root | parent
> initial order volume

None of the books you get through this program are new releases. But they are printed special for imagination library.

runarberg | parent | next
This structure is (I would argue) a form of mutual aid. Alcoholics Anonymous famously operates under a similar structure. Mutual aid is very popular among Anarchists and is one of the most fundamental tactics of Anarchism, Food not Bombs probably being the most famous mutual aid movements that is explicitly Anarchists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aid

engineer_22 | root | parent | next
Dolly Parton was famous for her embrace of anarchist sympathies.
graywh | parent | next
some governments provide funding -- Tennessee has been covering half the costs statewide
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JeremyNT | parent
Really glad to see this as the top comment.

Parton did a lot of very nice things and was a great contributor to society in good and decent ways that many of her wealth peers totally fail.

But there has since her passing been an element of myth and folklore that has elevated those accomplishments beyond reality.

Her library is a great idea and her support was notable, but the funding in large part comes from government grants and other donors.

To a large degree, the library program is also your tax dollars at work.

mshroyer | root | parent | next
Funding is easy to get once you have an impressive and demonstrably good program. But without Dolly's work (and yes, the work of people she brought on to carry out her vision), none of this program would currently exist.
genxy | root | parent | next
Money is fuel, but it needs an engine. Dolly designed and built the engine.
what | root | parent
All of the books I’ve received through this program have been paid for by the local library and other city funds.

I can also walk into the library and there will be a shelf of free childrens books. Not used, brand new. Stacks of them to take home and keep.

The engine already existed, our public library system.

littlelady | root | parent | next
The intention of this program was to get books in the hands of children, who might not have access to a public library. The books were kept free in order to combat the shame often associated with not being able to afford books for your kids. These two services might be catering to two separate (though sometimes overlapping) audiences.
overfeed | root | parent
> The engine already existed, our public library system

How good one's library is depends on how well-off the operating local government is. The Imagination Library is more egalitarian because it's often funded at county and state-level, so kids with underfunded libraries get the same level of access as other kids from wealthier zip codes

cactusplant7374 | root | parent
Perhaps you can expand on why you think that is a bad idea.
JeremyNT | root | parent
I don't! I think it was a great idea. But I think people commonly misunderstand the way the program operates, assuming Parton herself was funding it, and I'm glad somebody highlighted its structure.