Yes, this is an email asking you to buy our book early, but — because we’re Planet Money — we’re also reporting on why that matters. In fact, we are chronicling the whole process of making the book and have a few early tidbits to share.
Preorders are incredibly helpful for authors. If you are buying a book to support them, preorders give them an extra boost that can become a snowball. Booksellers look at preorder numbers when they are deciding on things like: which titles get the sweet, sweet spot in the window, the top of their website, or even just how many copies to stock. They want to pick winners their customers will like and strong preorders are a predictor of that.
The preorders also all count as first day sales, so big preorders increase the chance of starting out on a bestseller list, which then leads to more sales and … you can see the snowball.
These are just a couple of the many things we’ve learned about the book business throughout this years-long journey to make our first book. We’ll be sharing more about our adventures in upcoming episodes, as we get closer to the publication date in the spring.
But, you might be wondering, what’s actually in the book?
A Preview of The Planet Money Book
Our book is filled with brand new stories about all the economic forces that affect our lives. From work and career; to saving and investing; to food, dating and family; and travel (if you count a world tour of the greatest public goods to ever exist). We also revisit some classic episodes and people we met from years back to bring you the updates many of you have asked for.
We’ve pushed ourselves to make this as creative as possible as a physical book. There are beautiful (and weird) full color illustrations and hand drawn graphics. There are post cards and a love letter hiding inside. But mostly it’s good, old-fashioned stories about people who have to make decisions that matter, and what those stories reveal about the big economic ideas that shape our lives.
It’s written by Alex Mayyasi (his writing inspired some classic episodes like this one) and features work from more co-hosts than we have space to list here. We are all so proud of how it turned out. It will grip you, delight you, make you want to turn every page. And we hope that by the end, it will leave you a little more confident making important decisions in your own life. Not just about money, but about anything where evidence, principles and a rational, analytical mindset might help.
But that’s not all that’s in it for you. If you preorder, you get gifts!
People who preorder the book will receive: a poster that’s in the book based on our Laws of the Office episode. You’ll also get a month of Planet Money+ for free, if you haven’t already signed up. (If you are already a supporter, thank you! We’ll be in touch with special offers for you. It won’t matter how you buy the book).
So, thanks for your support, and for preordering today.
Subscribe to Planet Money+ for bonus episodes with behind the scenes takes, extended interviews, and extra facts we couldn’t fit into the main show. Plus, it’s ad free. You’ll get The Indicator and Planet Money Summer School too - all while supporting our nerdy, ambitious journalism. Learn more at Plus.npr.org/PlanetMoney and start with a free 30-day trial by using the code "freemonth".
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We make a board game — We want to make a board game. It must, of course, teach the world about economics. It must be fun. It’d be nice if it sold lots of copies! How hard could that be!? (Monopoly and Catan are hugely popular and basically little economy simulators, after all.) Listen here
Fighting AI with AI — With only several seconds of audio, someone can clone a victim’s voice, call their bank, and potentially get access to … everything. Vocal deepfakes have gotten very good, but so has the technology to fight back. This week on The Indicator, they bring you a special series on the evolving business of crime. In this episode, we hear from the company helping banks beat deepfakes, and we learn about the efforts to protect us all from AI voice fraud. Listen here
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