Episode list

Arlo Finch sprang from a phone call in an Austin hotel room in October 2015 during an epic thunderstorm. Screenwriter John August spent the next month tracing Arlo's journey over seven chapters and realized he had a book series on his hands. After talking to other screenwriters-turned-novelists, August decided it was time to find a publishing house for Arlo. There's a preemptive offer, with only hours to decide.

Saying "It's like Harry Potter" is a useful way to describe a book, but He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named should absolutely not be named in children's publishing. Like Facebook or Instagram, it's the unicorn that warps the industry, and "sets impossible expectations," according to editor Connie Hsu.

Today, they're going to be judging a book by its cover, and they talked to Vivienne To, artist hired to come up with the design for Arlo Finch. They'll also be nerding out over fonts and grammar. Plus, they'll sit down with one of the most important readers of Arlo Finch -- the guy who has to read it aloud. Eventually Arlo Finch is there, in their hands, but how? They know where the words come from but the actual book? That's another mystery worth solving - how do books get made?

This is the exclusive Inside Hollywood edition of printing and distributing books. Even Connie doesn't know how it works. Paper factories make logs into pulp and presses make pages into books. The books are shipped out to be put on shelves. The most important shelves for Arlo are school libraries, and we talk to librarians about what they think of Arlo.

So, this is it. This is the day. After two years of writing and editing, proofreading and obsessing, Arlo Finch is finally out in the world. This book has gone from being an idea to an actual physical thing you can buy at a store.

John took Arlo on the road, hitting nine cities in thirteen days. We're absolutely sure that this is what rock stars feel like. These are some of the questions and answers that you sent in via email and asked John on the road.

When you really think about something, the chances of anything happening are so small. But people are planners. We make things happen. Where fate and plans align, that can be something special. Consider just writing and publishing a book, for example. What are the odds that happens?

Surprise, it's a bonus episode. A couple weeks ago, John and Launch Executive Producer Ben Adair sat down at the Los Angeles Festival of Books to give a behind-the-scenes look into the creation of Launch - from their favorite parts of the show, to the challenges of hosting a narrative podcast - and we thought we'd share the presentation with all of y'all. Plus, John has updates on how Arlo Finch is doing, and how the second book is coming along (there's some controversy between "eldritch" and "Eldritch").