How to get books in classroom quantities for cheap?

December 5, 2013 3:13 PM

I'm looking to get 25 to 50 copies of a certain hardback book that was published in 2000. It's the Spanish "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," and it retails for $13 on Amazon. How can I get them closer to wholesale price?

There's got to be a site that has relatively recent books in larger quantities, right? I'd ask the teachers but would like to keep it a surprise.

The specific book is "¡Cómo el Grinch robó la Navidad!" and the ISBN is 1880507730 or 978-1880507735.

posted by wnissen to Shopping (5 answers total)

Try calling your local Barnes & Noble and asking for the Community Relations Manager. They may be able to hook you up with a bulk classroom-type discount. You might also ask a friend who is a teacher to arrange it; teachers always have a 20% discount with BN, plus the CRM might be more willing to help them. But generally they love doing community-minded things if it is fairly easy, and it sounds like this would be.
posted by BibiRose at 3:30 PM on December 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

The flyleaf of many books used to say "contact the publisher for bulk orders" or some such. Have you considered reaching out to them directly? They may also have a .edu-specific sales group, too.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:19 PM on December 5, 2013

Best answer: Next time when you have about a month to fulfill, try donorschoose
posted by jander03 at 10:03 PM on December 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You could try contacting the publisher, Lectorum. It looks like they offer a 20% discount for librarians and educators, according to their website. Since the actual list price is $15, that's not a big difference from the Amazon price, but it is a little bit lower.

You could also try calling someone there to ask about your specific situation. They might be able to sort something out for you.
posted by snorkmaiden at 8:55 AM on December 6, 2013

Response by poster: The Donors Choose idea was great, I found a project in need and was therefore able to write it off since they are tax-deductible, making my dollar go farther. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that one has to complete the process of anonymizing the donation within an hour or so, or otherwise it gets posted with your name on it! Donors Choose also has not responded to my message about this problem, so caveat emptor. Thanks everyone!
posted by wnissen at 8:14 PM on December 23, 2013