How many yearbooks should our school order?
If your yearbook company prints a fixed run, the usual advice is to order for about 30% of your students, based on last year’s sales and any presales, and accept some risk of leftovers or a shortfall. If your yearbook is printed to order, you don’t pick a number at all: families order by a deadline, and exactly those books are printed.
That changes the question from “how many?” to “when does ordering close, and who needs a book that no family will order?” Both are below.
Where does the “order 30%” advice come from?
From how most yearbooks used to be printed. On an offset press, a school commits to a print run in advance, and the price per book depends on the size of that run. So someone has to guess how many families will buy, months before they do.
The guidance you’ll find online reflects that. One large vendor’s guide recommends ordering “enough yearbooks for approximately 30% of the student population”, and its FAQ gives a range of 30–60% of students and staff, adjusted for past sales, presales, price and how easy it is to buy.
Guess low and families who want a book can’t get one. Guess high and the PTA pays for boxes of books nobody bought.
What changes when yearbooks are printed to order?
Some yearbook companies, Rethink included, print digitally and print only what families actually order. At Rethink that means:
- No order minimum. We print the quantity families order, at any size.
- No leftover books. Families order and pay online, and only ordered books are printed, so the PTA never holds unsold inventory.
- No price penalty for a small run. Quantity doesn’t change the per-copy price, because the books are printed digitally. A 120-book school pays the same per copy as a 900-book school.
- No upfront money. No deposit and no setup fee.
So there’s nothing to over-order. The risk moves from “we printed too many” to “a family meant to order and missed the deadline”. That’s a communication problem, and a much easier one to solve.
Do we still need an estimate?
A rough one, yes, just not a commitment:
- For your quote and budget. A quote asks roughly how many books so it can show what the year looks like. At Rethink the number doesn’t lock you in or change the per-copy price. What a yearbook costs.
- For fundraising. Your PTA’s margin is earned per book sold, so an estimate tells you roughly what to expect. Try the numbers in the fundraising calculator →
- For distribution day. How many boxes, how many volunteers, which classrooms.
Last year’s sales are the best starting point if you have them.
What do we still have to plan for?
Printing to order removes the guess. It doesn’t remove the calendar.
- The ordering deadline. Close regular ordering so that every order is in before your book goes to print. The date you approve the book for print is the one everything else hangs on: at Rethink, printing and delivery take about three weeks after approval. Work back from your last day of school. The month-by-month yearbook timeline →
- Reminders, because the deadline is the new risk. A family that misses the deadline is the printed-to-order version of “we ran out”. Send the order flyer when ordering opens and remind often, with the deadline in every message. Free order flyer template →
- Bulk delivery to school. Regular-cycle orders ship together to the school’s yearbook team, free, and the school hands them out. Plan who hands them out, on which day, and how books reach children who are absent.
- Copies no family will order. Teachers, office staff, the library, a copy for the school’s archive, and any families your PTA wants to support. Order these as school or PTA copies before the deadline. Fundraising money your PTA applies toward books it buys carries no processing fee; the 5% fee applies only to money paid out to the PTA.
- Families who order late. A school can choose to offer summer ordering after the regular window. At Rethink it’s optional and uses the same link. Summer books cost $5 more, ship to the family’s home for a flat $9, and don’t carry the school’s fundraising margin. Decide before the year ends whether you’ll offer it, and say so in your last reminder.
- Children whose families don’t buy a book. Printing to order doesn’t change who can afford one. A free in-class activity means every child leaves with something. Printable memory book activity →
How many to order, answered.
How many yearbooks should an elementary school order?
If your vendor prints a fixed run, a common starting point is about 30% of enrollment, adjusted for last year’s sales and presales. If your yearbook is printed to order, as Rethink’s is, you don’t order a quantity: families order by a deadline and exactly those books are printed, with no minimum and no leftovers.
What happens if we order too many yearbooks?
With a fixed print run, the school or PTA usually pays for the extras. With printing to order there are no extras, because only the books families ordered are printed.
What if a family misses the ordering deadline?
Orders need to be in before the book goes to print so they ship with the school’s delivery. After that, at Rethink, a school can offer optional summer ordering, where books cost $5 more and ship to the family’s home for a flat $9.
Is there a minimum order for a printed-to-order yearbook?
At Rethink, no. We print the quantity families order, at any size, and the per-copy price doesn’t depend on quantity.
Planning the whole year? The first-time coordinator’s guide covers everything around the order window.
No print run to guess.
A per-book quote and a sample, with no deposit, no minimum and a one-school-year agreement.