Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi

And this decision can have big implications for whether a book actually sells.

Fisher takes into account how the publishers themselves have decided to categorize the book.

Publishers assign their titles something called a BISAC code.

Norton had assigned the Planet Money book a BISAC code for business and economics.

It's actually printed on the book above the barcode.

For Fisher, that could mean shelving the book in the business section, which might be useful for readers specifically seeking it out.

But at Carmichael's, the business section is kind of tucked into a back corner.

Fisher did not want to doom the Planet Money book and Carmichael's to selling fewer copies.

Fisher had actually made this mistake recently with Andrew Ross Sorkin's 1929.

Not only did they order too few copies, but they'd consigned the book to the dreaded backwaters of the business section.

So this time, they decided to categorize the Planet Money book as general new nonfiction, which lives on a big shelf near the entrance to the store.

Let's take a look at where the book is going to live.

All right.

Next to Karl Marx, the original Planet Money host.

Kind of depends how well Marx is selling.

But the book will also, maybe more importantly, live on the coveted display table at the center of the store.

Fisher and I walk over to see exactly where it'll go.

That'll just be the latest part of his struggle.

There's a nice little Planet Money sized hole right there.

There you go.