Case studies
Three partnerships, and what each one actually paid.
Every figure below is confirmed and already paid out to the library. Nothing here is a projection, and nothing is an average dressed up as a typical result.
01
A mature programme, sixteen months.
Seminole Library, active since March 2025.
- 16
- Months running
- $15,417
- Confirmed paid to the library
- 0
- Dollars it cost them
The longest-running account in the programme, and the closest match in day-to-day volume to what an established mid-size partnership looks like.
One caveat worth stating plainly. Two unusually large payout cycles in April and May 2026 were driven by a one-off event — an AI company buying books in bulk — and not by anything repeatable. It is a fair illustration of the upside when an opportunity appears, but the steadier months before it are the honest number to plan around. We would rather you knew that than discovered it later.
02
The lightest possible footprint.
North Community Library, St. Petersburg, since September 2025.
- ~2
- Months of scanning per year
- 2
- Book sales hosted annually
- $1,377
- Confirmed paid to the library
Scanning happens in roughly a two-month window, alongside two book sales. Outside that, there is no ongoing staff time commitment at all.
This is the answer to the most common objection we hear, which is that a group has no space and no volunteer hours to spare. Meaningful revenue does not require year-round involvement. The model scales down to whatever a library’s calendar allows and still produces a real annual payout.
03
What the first months look like.
A large suburban library in Pinellas County, since April 2026.
- ~3
- Months running
- $524
- Confirmed paid to the library
- 98%
- Of it in the most recent month
Included because a board deciding today wants to know what the beginning feels like, not just the end state.
This partner asked to stay unnamed, which we respect. The item count climbed on every single payout cycle through June — 5, then 19, then 19, then 39. That shape matters more than the total: it is not one lucky spike, it is a partnership visibly ramping while it finds its rhythm. The first month of any partnership is the slowest one.
04
What had been sitting on the shelves.
Single items, across four different partnerships.
Volume is only half the story. These are confirmed, paid-out sales from individual donated items — the kind that go for a dollar on a sale table when nobody has time to look them up.
| Item | Library | Sold for | Net to library |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Second World War (6-volume Easton Press set) | Citrus County | $400.00 | $158.10 |
| Prime Movers: Ilmor and Its Engines | St. Pete Beach | $261.00 | $105.80 |
| It's Not An Option | Pinellas County | $200.00 | $80.61 |
| The Feynman Lectures on Physics (3-volume set) | Starkey Ranch | $200.00 | $73.86 |
Four items, $418.37 returned to four different Friends groups. Each one would have been priced at a dollar or two on a table.
05
Across these three partnerships.
- $17,318
- Confirmed, paid out
- 3
- Partnerships shown here, of 20+
- $0
- Charged to any of them
These three are a sample chosen to show different stages and different levels of involvement, not our three best results.
References are available on request. The Friends group president or bookstore manager at each of these libraries has agreed to speak with prospective partners. Ask and we will make the introduction — we would rather you heard it from them than from us.