Rianne Jones says she never thought distributing 25,000 copies of the Red Cedar Log was beyond reach.
“I was really confident,” said Jones, Red Cedar Log editor in chief. “I believed that all students wanted the book.”
And now, her goal is close to becoming reality. Jones estimates that most of the remaining yearbooks - about 5,000 - will be gone by Homecoming.
“Everything is going really well,” Jones said.
The Log plans on reducing the amount of stray yearbooks by sending letters out to the 7,700 graduates who did not have their picture taken as a senior. The notices will be sent out sometime this week.
“The seniors can come back for Homecoming and pick up their yearbooks in the process,” Jones said.
The 1,200 graduates that had their photo taken have already received the books in the mail.
When copies of the Red Cedar Log first came off the presses, they were distributed to five different MSU-area bookstores so students could pick them up as they purchased their textbooks.
MSU students who paid a $13 per semester ASMSU tax were able to get the yearbook for free when they showed their student ID, though some students have said they picked up a yearbook - or multiple copies of it - without showing any ID.
“The bookstores were more than willing to take the books,” Jones said.
The College Store and the Student Book Store have no more Red Cedar Logs in stock.
Mike Wylie, an assistant manager at SBS, said he figures that memories and the look of the Red Cedar Log contributed to its popularity.
“They are beautiful books,” he said. “A lot of people viewed them as memorabilia.”
Shawn Bourdo, MSU Bookstore general book and software manager, also appreciates the appearance of the 2000 yearbook.
“They looked nice,” he said. “We still have yearbooks in here from the 1980s. This one is still light years ahead of those.”
While a majority of stores experienced high points in distribution throughout the semester, the MSU Bookstore only had success early.
“We had pretty good success during the first two weeks,” Bourdo said. “But we could not donate the advertising or time to a free product after that.
“We have made them consistently available, though.”
Jones said that the Red Cedar Log will be just as ambitious next year.
“We are planning on ordering 25,000 for next year,” she said.
