Books, especially children’s books, are a way to funnel money to politicians. The books don’t sell. But companies buy a bunch and give them away. And this has the added effect of giving the author the resume enhancing title of author. Which many people associate with being smart. You can think of it as a money laundry. Money goes to the campaign. The campaign or rich donors buy thousands of books. The author gets paid.
Obama’s first book was never sold until he ran for Senator. Then his campaign and the democrat party bought lots of them and gave them to people at events. Eventually, democrats would buy some of them. But they weren’t good books and they weren’t completely historical. However, the Obama’s became millionaires while in office.
Companies don’t buy them. Taxpayers do. Check out how many your local library systems and schools purchase.