
How to make a BOOK into a bestseller
Planet Money
- Published
- May 2, 2026
- Duration
- 46:45
- Summary source
- description
- Last updated
- Jun 10, 2026
Discusses In the world of commercial publishing, there are few crowning achievements more coveted than a place…
Summary
In the world of commercial publishing, there are few crowning achievements more coveted than a place on the New York Times Best Seller List. But how does a book actually end up there? There is, of course, a playbook that publishers and authors use to try to gin up enough sales at the beginning of a new book’s life to launch it onto the list. But there is …
Intelligent report
Sign in to read teasers, or upgrade to Research Pro to commission a new dossier for this episode. Learn more →
Show notes
In the world of commercial publishing, there are few crowning achievements more coveted than a place on the New York Times Best Seller List. But how does a book actually end up there? There is, of course, a playbook that publishers and authors use to try to gin up enough sales at the beginning of a new book’s life to launch it onto the list. But there is also a world of more shadowy techniques – a whole history of hacking shenanigans going back nearly a century.Today on the show, the fourth epis