About this episode
When you come across a book at a yard sale or a bookstore, you might pay more attention to the words between the covers than the physical form of the book itself. But content and the form are both crucial to a book’s success. Each book you pull off the shelf, is the product of thousands of decisions, big and small, tying together vast supply chains and armies of workers from around the world. <br/><br/>On today’s episode, the second episode in <a href="https://www.npr.org/series/g-s1-112661/planet-money-makes-a-book"target="_blank" >our series</a>: Planet Money sets out to actually write, design, and manufacture a book. We go spelunking deep inside the bowels of the publishing industrial complex. There will be trade wars, sunken cargo containers filled with lost cookbooks, deforestation regulations, and just a whiff of scratch and sniff. <br/><br/><em>Related:</em><br>- Watch our book being printed: <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTk847EUD/"target="_blank" ><em>TikTok</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWU-DQujTpf/?igsh=eTV5bHFjbTFpZzN2"target="_blank" ><em>Instagram</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://open.spotify.com/watch-feed/artist-videos?si=5S_HXKaHTpS53DwzYcTMrA&firstItemUri=spotify%3Aexpression%3A2TtJcMzyT1Ak3Ror8e3ydp"target="_blank" ><em>Spotify</em></a><br>- Episode 1: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/03/20/nx-s1-5751177/book-deal-proposal-auction-publishing"target="_blank" >Inside a BOOK auction</a><br>- Episode 3: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/04/10/nx-s1-5751214/how-books-get-to-bookstores"target="_blank" >BOOKstore Economics</a><br>- Episode 4: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/05/01/nx-s1-5785166/how-best-seller-lists-get-made"target="_blank" >How to make a BOOK into a bestseller</a> <br>- <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/03/11/nx-s1-5726849/laws-of-the-office-poster"target="_blank" >The laws of the office revisited</a> <br>- Series: <a href="https://www.npr.org/series/g-s1-112661/planet-money-makes-a-book"target="_blank" >Planet Money makes a book</a> <br/><br/><a href="https://tix.to/pm-book-tour"target="_blank" ><em>Live event info and tickets here.</em></a><em> </em><br/><br/><a href="https://www.planetmoneybook.com/"target="_blank" ><em>Pre-order the Planet Money book and get a free gift</em></a><em>. / </em><a href="https://n.pr/3HlREPz"target="_blank" ><em>Subscribe to Planet Money+</em></a><br/><br/><em>Listen free: </em><a href="http://n.pr/PM-digital"target="_blank" ><em>Apple Podcasts</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://n.pr/3gTkQlR"target="_blank" ><em>Spotify</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://n.pr/3Bkb17W"target="_blank" ><em>the NPR app</em></a><em> or anywhere you get podcasts.</em><br/><br/><a href="https://n.pr/3h92GwS"target="_blank" ><em>Facebook</em></a><em> / </em><a href="https://n.pr/3FqLuws"target="_blank" ><em>Instagram</em></a><em> / </em><a href="https://n.pr/3sGZdrq"target="_blank" ><em>TikTok</em></a><em> / Our weekly </em><a href="https://n.pr/3zrFvUB"target="_blank" ><em>Newsletter</em></a><em>.</em><br/><br/><em>This episode was produced by Willa Rubin. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is </em>Planet Money<em>'s executive producer. </em><br/><br/><br><em>Music: NPR Source Audio - “Motivation Or Mayhem,” “Missing A Deadline,” and “No Limits After All.”</em><br/><br/>See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br/><br/><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>