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  • How to make a BOOK into a bestseller

    How to make a BOOK into a bestseller
    2026/05/02
    In the world of commercial publishing, there are few crowning achievements more coveted than a place on the New York Times Best Seller List. But how does a book actually end up there? There is, of course, a playbook that publishers and authors use to try to gin up enough sales at the beginning of a new book’s life to launch it onto the list. But there is also a world of more shadowy techniques – a whole history of hacking shenanigans going back nearly a century.Today on the show, the fourth episode in our series: Planet Money sets out to make the Planet Money book a best seller, and along the way, we uncover all the outlandish strategies that people have tried to hack their way onto the New York Times Best Seller List. There will be mass hallucinations, legal exorcisms, shady book launderers, and scarlet daggers. And we learn the hard way how trying to engineer your way onto the list, just might be the thing that keeps you from getting there.Related:- “Night People's Hoax On Day People Makes Hit With Book Folks” - New York Times: “Jacqueline Susann Dead at 53; Novelist Wrote 'Valley of Dolls'”- New York Times: “Blatty Sue Times On Best-Seller List”- New York Times: “Court Bars A Suit Over Books List”- Bloomberg Businessweek: “Did Dirty Tricks Create A Best Seller?” - Episode 1: Inside a BOOK auction- Episode 2: Our BOOK vs. the global supply chain - Episode 3: BOOKstore Economics- Series: Planet Money makes a book- Laura McGrath’s new book: Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of American FictionOur book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life is in stores now. Support: Planet Money+Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.Find us on Socials: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok.Our weekly Newsletter.This episode was produced by Willa Rubin. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez and Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Music: NPR Source Audio - "Quirky Episodes," “Dramedy Scheme,” "Unforeseen Consequences,” and “Impractical Jokes.” See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy
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    47 分
  • Spirit Airlines and the future of cheap flights

    Spirit Airlines and the future of cheap flights
    2026/04/29
    It’s way more than fuel costs that pushed Spirit Airlines to the brink of liquidation and led President Trump to muse about “buying” them. Many low cost airlines are struggling due to a canny and calculated set of strategies from bigger airlines that we can think of as ‘revenge of the legacy carriers.’

    Today on the show, we go back in time to when Spirit was riding high and pressuring the whole industry to cut costs. We talk with then-CEO Ben Baldanza about his radical vision for cheap air travel and then travel to the present day to hear how legacy airlines beat Spirit and other budget airlines at their own game. Plus, what happens to us passengers if Spirit does go away.

    Newsletters:
    Greg’s weekly deep dive
    The brand new Indicator link roundup

    Related Episodes:
    People Express and how flying got so bad (or did it?)

    Book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life is in stores now.

    Support: Planet Money+

    Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

    Find us on Socials:

    Facebook / Instagram / TikTok

    This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Greg Rosalsky, Jacob Goldstein, Zoe Chace and Emma Peaslee. It was produced by Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Alex Goldmark. It was fact-checked by Vito Emanuel and engineered by Jimmy Keeley. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

    See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

    NPR Privacy Policy
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    26 分
  • Battlefield rare earths: How the U.S. lost to China

    Battlefield rare earths: How the U.S. lost to China
    2026/04/24
    At one point in history, one U.S. company monopolized the rare earths industry. Then China took over the industry. Can the U.S. bring it back?

    Rare earths are critical to making, like, everything. From smart phones to electric vehicles to microwaves. They’ve also become a powerful political weapon for China, which controls the majority of mining and processing of rare earths.

    Today, we have the story of the rise and fall of America’s rare earth industry told through that single company. It’s a corporate saga made for prestige television about the elements that literally, once, made prestige televisions.

    Live event info and tickets here.

    Pre-order the Planet Money book and get a free gift. / Subscribe to Planet Money+

    Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

    Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

    This episode was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Marianne McCune. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Cena Loffredo and Jimmy Keeley. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

    See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

    NPR Privacy Policy
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    34 分
  • Live: Anthropic co-founder on AI and jobs

    Live: Anthropic co-founder on AI and jobs
    2026/04/22
    We talk with Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark and Chief Economist at Redfin Daryl Fairweather about two of the biggest issues of our time: AI and housing.

    We have been crisscrossing America doing live shows to help promote the new Planet Money book. In each city, we’ve been doing interviews with special guests. And since we won’t be able to make it to every city in America (or most cities) we wanted to bring the tour to you!

    Live show tour and book info. / Subscribe to Planet Money+

    Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

    Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

    This episode of Planet Money was edited and produced by Eric Mennel and Emma Peaslee. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Robert Rodriguez and Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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    NPR Privacy Policy
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    30 分
  • Do prediction market bettors make anything better?

    Do prediction market bettors make anything better?
    2026/04/18
    Have you noticed a lot of young people getting into antenna-maxxing as alpha? Or, maybe searching for any bit of copium after they fat-fingered and got rinsed? Or maybe they farmed during a yes-fest on Mention Markets resulting in some serious printing?

    If none of that made sense to you, then we have the perfect episode for you.

    Prediction markets have taken off in the past few years, using the same legal loopholes as the crypto market to essentially claim they are a “swap,” or “futures market,” similar to that of the totally legal grain and pork belly markets, and less like the state-regulated sports gambling market.

    And they are great for the bondsharps who print on the regular (or, in English, “well known market makers who often make a lot of money”).

    These prediction market companies exist because they’ve convinced regulators that they’re also great for the rest of us. They're adding new knowledge to the world. Making us more informed about the future.

    On today’s episode, the case Kalshi has been making to regulators, the courts and the public as to why what looks like gambling and seems like gambling … is not. Why that argument’s kinda been working. And – if no one stops them – what prediction markets could do to our future.

    For more, listen to former CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson on The Indicator from Planet Money.

    Live show tour and book info. / Subscribe to Planet Money+

    Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

    Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

    This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Bobby Allyn and Mary Childs. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Marianne McCune, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

    See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

    NPR Privacy Policy
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    32 分
  • How to get through the Strait of Hormuz

    How to get through the Strait of Hormuz
    2026/04/14
    The United States has been at war with Iran since February 28th. And for a month and a half, Iran’s main leverage over the U.S. has been their control over the Strait of Hormuz — a key global shipping route. Iran has attacked ships that try to pass without approval. And recently they’ve insinuated that one part of the Strait — the part near Oman — is not safe. Which means that captains had to go right by Iran’s shores to get through the Strait … effectively creating a chokepoint for the global economy.

    On today’s show, a source inside Iran tells us how ships had been getting through the strait, and how the tollbooth Iran set up works. And we ask: What does this all mean for the global economy?

    Live show tour and book info. / Subscribe to Planet Money+

    Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

    Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

    This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Nick Fountain. It was produced by James Sneed. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Kwesi Lee. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

    See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

    NPR Privacy Policy
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    19 分
  • BOOKstore Economics

    BOOKstore Economics
    2026/04/10
    How do bookstores choose the books they stock, and how does that affect what customers read? It may not seem like it, but every shelf in a bookstore is a highly valuable and contested piece of commercial real estate. And for every new book that a bookstore decides to stock, there are thousands of others that did not make the cut. So how do bookstores make those decisions? And how will the Planet Money book fare under the discerning eyes of the booksellers, the final gatekeepers in the long gauntlet of the publishing industry?

    Today on the show: the third episode in our series. Planet Money sets out to actually sell a book. We burrow behind the bookstore shelves to learn the secret codes that publishers use to try to convince booksellers to carry the book, from little mom and pops to airport juggernauts. There will be corporate intelligence networks, bargain bin shenanigans, and a giant industrial saw chewing up books by the thousands. Call it Pulp Non-fiction.

    Related:

    - Fisher Nash’s Substack
    - Episode 1: Inside a BOOK auction
    - Episode 2: Our BOOK vs. the global supply chain
    - Series: Planet Money makes a book

    Live show tour and book info. / Subscribe to Planet Money+

    Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

    Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

    This episode was produced by Willa Rubin with help from Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

    Music: NPR Source Audio - “A Peculiar Investigation,” “Round Round,” and “Neighbourhood Watcher.”

    See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

    NPR Privacy Policy
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    41 分
  • A pro-worker experiment in private equity

    A pro-worker experiment in private equity
    2026/04/08
    Live event info and tickets here.

    If your company got bought by a private equity firm, how would you feel? Maybe a little nervous? You might find yourself wondering if there will be layoffs.

    And you’d be right to worry about that. Research shows that while private equity ownership can boost a company’s productivity, it does generally result in job cuts.

    But one private equity executive is trying to do things a different way – giving workers equity, little cuts of ownership in their own companies. To see if doing so can improve outcomes overall.

    On today’s show, private equity is not widely beloved for its societal costs – job losses, product degradation, worsening inequality. And this one guy at this one firm can’t solve all of his industry’s ills. But for the past 15 years, he’s been running a large-scale, real-world experiment to see if giving workers ownership can fit into the big bad world of PE. And maybe lead to more … equity.

    Recommended Listening/Reading:

    What Do Private Equity Firms Actually Do?
    The risk of private equity in your 401(k)
    Here's what happens when private equity buys homes in your neighborhood (newsletter)
    JScrewed

    Find the Planet Money book. / Subscribe to Planet Money+

    Listen free: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.

    Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.

    This episode was hosted by Mary Childs and Wailin Wong. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Jess Jiang with an assist from Marianne McCune, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, engineered by Cena Loffredo with help from Jimmy Keeley. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

    Music: Universal Production Music - "Make Me Want You," "Baby I Surrender," and "Bye Bye Bye"

    See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

    NPR Privacy Policy
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    26 分