Why pre-orders are so important for authors: Planet Money: NPR

Yes, this is an email asking you to buy our book early, but — because we are Planet Money — we also explain why this is important. In fact, we chronicle the entire process of creating the book and have some early information to share.

So, first, the big news. Our book, Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life, is here. Pre-order it today and receive a special gift.

Pre-orders are incredibly useful for authors. If you buy books to support them, pre-orders give them an extra boost that can snowball. Booksellers look at pre-order numbers when deciding things like which titles will have the perfect spot in the window, which ones will sit at the top of their website or even how many copies to stock. They want to pick winners that will please their customers, and strong pre-orders are an indicator of that.

Pre-orders also all count as first day sales, so big pre-orders increase the chances of starting on a bestseller list, which then leads to more sales and… you can see the snowball.

These are just a few of the many things we learned about the book business during our years-long journey to create our first book. We’ll share more about our adventures in future episodes as we get closer to the spring release date.

But you might be wondering what’s actually in the book?

An overview of Planet Money book

Our book is filled with untold stories about all the economic forces that affect our lives: from work and career; savings and investment; to food, meetings and family; travel (if we count a world tour of the greatest public goods that have ever existed). We’re also revisiting some classic episodes and people we met years ago to bring you the updates many of you have been asking for.

We tried hard to make this as creative as possible like a physical book. There are beautiful (and strange) color illustrations and hand-drawn graphics. Inside are postcards and a love letter. But mostly they’re good, old-fashioned stories about people who have to make important decisions, 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 the work of more co-hosts than we have space to list here. We are all very proud of the result. It will captivate you, delight you, make you want to turn every page. And we hope that in the end, it will allow you to be a little more confident in making important decisions in your own life – not just about money, but about anything that requires evidence, principles, and a rational, analytical mindset.

But that’s not all you gain. If you pre-order, you receive gifts!

People who pre-order the book will receive a poster featured in the book, based on our episode “The Laws of the Office.” You’ll also get a free month of Planet Money+, if you’re not already signed up. (If you are already a supporter, thank you! We will contact you with special offers. It doesn’t matter how you purchase the book.)

So thank you for your support and for pre-ordering today.

More info and the link to buy here: Planetmoneybook.com

Thank you from all sides Planet Money And Indicator team!