You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey, it's Mariel.

Have you ever wanted to publish a book?

Fiction, nonfiction, a mystery, a thriller, maybe a romance novel?

That's what my friend Alexi wants to do.

I really want to start a new genre of like financial romanticcy.

So I've been pushing us to try to get into the game by like writing 50 Shades of Green as like

Planet Money's new kind of entrance into this world.

This by the way is Alexi Horowitz-Gazi, co-host of the NPR podcast Planet Money.

Now not only do I want to read this, but I also think Alexi can make it happen because

he's become something of an expert on book publishing.

Planet Money just published a book called Planet Money, A Guide to the Economic Forces

that Shape Your Life.

It's packed with narrative stories that'll help you understand things

like how banks really work and why our money is worth less every year. And as part of that,

I kind of was voluntold to go explore how it actually got made and what it told us about the

publishing world and how books get made in this day and age. He learned a lot, and he's sharing it with us.

On this episode of Life Kit, how to get a book published.

Among other things, we'll talk about coming up with a book proposal, landing an agent,

and understanding where your book fits in the marketplace.

Because while you're probably making something you care about, and you may consider it a piece of art,

you are also trying to sell it.

...