{"podcast":{"title":"Planet Money","slug":"planet-money-551334","podcast_index_feed_id":551334,"rss_url":"https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml","website_url":"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money","image_url":"https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/10/24/pm_new_tile_2022_sq-e543deddd0a46a98be481b46e6a72efa6b52236f.jpg?s=1400&c=66&f=jpg","author":"NPR (podcasts@npr.org)","episode_count":355,"summary":"Wanna see a trick? Give us any topic and we can tie it back to the economy. At Planet Money , we explore the forces that shape our lives and bring you along for the ride. Don't just understand the economy – understand the world. Wanna go deeper? Subscribe to Planet Money+ and get sponsor-free episodes of Planet Money, The Indicator, and Planet Money Summer School. Plus access to bonus content. It's a new way to support the show you love. Learn more at plus.npr.org/planetmoney","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/planet-money-551334"},"episode":{"title":"BOOKstore Economics","slug":"bookstore-economics","published_at":"2026-04-10T23:30:43+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/planet-money-551334/bookstore-economics","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/planet-money-551334","url":"https://www.npr.org/2026/04/10/nx-s1-5751214/how-books-get-to-bookstores","audio_url":"https://tracking.swap.fm/track/XvDEoI11TR00olTUO8US/prfx.byspotify.com/e/play.podtrac.com/npr-510289/npr.simplecastaudio.com/43b5acee-463e-4612-95ad-d2596d9dd337/episodes/0ce9ad3f-2ad4-4653-891f-d9d8d64f79ef/audio/128/default.mp3?awCollectionId=43b5acee-463e-4612-95ad-d2596d9dd337&awEpisodeId=0ce9ad3f-2ad4-4653-891f-d9d8d64f79ef&feed=hvWWWzRv&t=podcast&e=nx-s1-5751214&p=510289&d=2452&size=39234752","summary":"How do bookstores choose the books they stock, and how does that affect what customers read? It may not seem like it, but every shelf in a bookstore is a highly valuable and contested piece of commercial real estate. And for every new book that a bookstore decides to stock, there are thousands of others that did not make the cut. So how do bookstores make those decisions? And how will the Planet Money book fare under the discerning eyes of the booksellers, the final gatekeepers in the long gauntlet of the publishing industry? Today on the show: the third episode in our series . Planet Money sets out to actually sell a book. We burrow behind the bookstore shelves to learn the secret codes that publishers use to try to convince booksellers to carry the book, from little mom and pops to airport juggernauts. There will be corporate intelligence networks, bargain bin shenanigans, and a giant industrial saw chewing up books by the thousands. Call it Pulp Non-fiction. Related: - Fisher Nash’s Substack - Episode 1: Inside a BOOK auction - Episode 2: Our BOOK vs. the global supply chain - Episode 4: How to make a BOOK into a bestseller - Series: Planet Money makes a book Live show tour and book info. / Subscribe to Planet Money+ Listen free: Apple Podcasts , Spotify , the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts. Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter . This episode was produced by Willa Rubin with help from Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Music: NPR Source Audio - “A Peculiar Investigation,” “Round Round,” and “Neighbourhood Watcher.” See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your…","meta_description":"How do bookstores choose the books they stock, and how does that affect what customers read? It may not seem like it, but every shelf in a bookstore is a…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2452,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/planet-money-551334/episodes/bookstore-economics/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/planet-money-551334/bookstore-economics.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}