About Books in Hand
We are a new organization, and we’re still figuring out how we can make the biggest impact. Sometimes it feels like our business model and overall structure changes on a daily basis, as we learn from each experience. But our goal never changes: To promote literacy, by moving books from the shelves of the ex-user, into the hands of the end-user.
Who?
Donna Holsten started reading at three years old. She grew up with books in her hands constantly - usually having two (or three) different books in progress at any time. Solidly in the middle of Gen X, Donna rode the waves of new technology starting in the 90’s, and saw books get washed away by screens, decade after decade. She never lost the belief that holding a book in your hands, turning the pages, smelling the paper, hearing the thump on the table when you set it down - these physical experiences are a part of the reading process that a screen can never bring.
Currently, Donna is a hospice nurse. She has been active in dog-rescue for many years, and has fostered more dogs than she can even remember. Her hobbies include doing counted cross-stitch, tile-mosaic work, and re-landscaping her yard over and over as the gophers constantly destroy it.
What?
Our mission is to keep books out of the landfill, distribute them to folks who want them, and get money to schools, teachers, and other literacy-focused non-profits. Right now we’re small - mostly focusing in west Contra Costa and north Alameda counties. Our main goal for the second half of 2026 is to establish a solid volunteer base.
While we are establishing a good volunteer system, we can accept a limited amount of book donations. Those books get sorted through and checked one-by-one. Every usable book ends up with someone who wants it. Sometimes we give the books away for free to end-users, sometimes we work with partner organizations, bookstores, or resellers, and sometimes we resell directly. All profit we generate goes to schools, teachers, or other literacy organizations.
Our medium-term goal is to expand the website and create a forum section. This would be for schools, teachers, libraries, and other literacy organizations to post their extra available books, post their needs, and have discussions. Our long-term goal is to have a brick-and-mortar location, where books are always free to schools and teachers, and very low-cost to everyone else.
Why?
About 15 years ago, Donna happened to get about a thousand really good vintage books, and decided to sell them on Ebay. That was fun, and then it was done. But then… Roll around 2025, and Donna was doing a house deep-clean and discovered three unsold boxes! Well, they should be put back on Ebay, of course. And…so it begins. Three unsold boxes turned into estate sales for fun on the weekends, turned into a couple thousand books in the Ebay store. (Of course.)
As it happens, there are a lot of stumbling blocks, when trying to scale-up as a private book-reseller. Donna started trying to come up with solutions, and the one answer that kept coming back was: “This wouldn’t be a stumbling block, if I was running a non-profit.” So, Donna said, “Hold my beer,” and Books in Hand was born.