Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi

So I grab a book and walk up to the bookseller at the counter.

I've decided I just have to do it myself.

I guess I'll go for it.

All right, that's the sound of the first Planet Money book sale.

I think so, yeah.

I did it.

Sweet.

Holding the book in my hands with a bookmark and receipt tucked between the pages, I can't help but think of something Tom Mayer, the book's editor at Norton, said to me about this very moment.

After all the effort that's gone into getting this new baby book out into the world, still nothing is guaranteed.

So, will the Planet Money book end up earning a place on the hallowed bestseller bookshelf at Carmichael's Bookstore or McNally Jackson?

Or will it find itself writhing in anticipatory dread as it slides down a conveyor belt into the gnashing jaws of the proverbial pulping pit?

Reader, only you can decide.

Are you curious about how bestseller lists actually work?

Want to hear about how authors have tried to game their way into bestseller status?

That is our next installment in the Planet Money book series, coming up in the next few weeks.

As we've mentioned in other episodes, perhaps ad nauseum, Planet Money is taking this book on tour around the country, maybe to a city near you.

Check it out at planetmoneybook.com or pick up a copy of the book wherever they are sold.

Maybe on a cruise ship.

This episode was produced by Willa Rubin with help from Emma Peasley.

It was edited by Jess Jang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez.