How did love stories about vampires, cowboys, and wealthy dukes become the highest-grossing fiction genre in the world? Zachary Crockett gets swept away.

• SOURCES:
  • Delaney Diamond, romance novelist.
  • Danielle Flores, high school math teacher and avid romance novel reader.
  • Brenda Hiatt, romance novelist.
  • Diane Moggy, vice president of editorial at Harlequin.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Even as Overall Book Sales Are Declining, Romance Novels Are on the Rise," by Elena Burnett, Sarah Handel, and Juana Summers (All Things Considered, 2023).
  • "Key Takeaways from the Authors Guild’s 2023 Author Income Survey," press release by the Authors Guild (2023).
  • "How Amazon Turned Everyone Into a Romance Writer (and Created an Antitrust Headache)," by Ann Kjellberg (Observer, 2022).
  • "Vivian Stephens Helped Turn Romance Writing Into a Billion-Dollar Industry. Then She Got Pushed Out," by Mimi Swartz (Texas Monthly, 2020).
  • "A Brief History of the Romance Novel," by Amanda Pagan (New York Public Library Blog, 2019).
  • "How Harlequin Became the Most Famous Name in Romance," by Kelly Faircloth (Jezebel, 2015).
  • "Fifty Shades of Amish: A Strange Genre of the Romance Novel," by Leah McGrath Goodman (Newsweek, 2015).

Performing at a strip club can be lucrative, but it requires financial and psychological savvy — and an eye for social trends. Zachary Crockett takes a look.

• SOURCES:
  • Layla, stripper.
  • Dave Manack, publisher and editor-in-chief of Exotic Dancer.

• RESOURCES:
  • "A Look at Washington State’s ‘Strippers’ Bill of Rights’," by Aimee Ortiz (The New York Times, 2024).
  • "These L.A. Strippers Won a Union. But the Dance Isn’t Over," by Suhauna Hussain (Los Angeles Times, 2023).
  • "Dancers at Northwest Portland Strip Club Vote to Form City’s First Strippers Union, Second in U.S.," by Kristine de Leon (The Oregonian, 2023).
  • "'Everyone and Their Mum Is on It': OnlyFans Booms in Popularity During the Pandemic," by Matilda Boseley (The Guardian, 2020).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why is Everyone Having Less Sex?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).

Why does treating a venomous snake bite cost as much as a house? Zachary Crockett slithers over to North Carolina to find out.

• SOURCES:
  • Steve Anderson, emergency medicine business unit leader at BTG Pharmaceuticals.
  • Nick Brandehoff, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado and executive director of the Asclepius Snakebite Foundation.
  • Sean Bush, emergency physician and president of the North American Society of Toxinology.
  • Nitin Deshpande, business consultant with Premium Serums & Vaccines.
  • Jack Facente, owner-operator of AGRITOXINS Venom Production Laboratory.

• RESOURCES:
  • "This New Antivenom Defangs the Toxins of Cobras, Black Mambas and More," by Cassandra Willyard (Scientific American, 2024).
  • "Perspectives on Snakebite Envenoming Care Needs Across Different Sociocultural Contexts and Health Systems: A Comparative Qualitative Analysis Among U.S. and Brazilian Health Providers," by Eleanor Strand, Felipe Murta, Anna Tupetz, Charles J. Gerardo, et al. (Toxicon: X, 2023).
  • "Access to Antivenoms in the Developing World: A Multidisciplinary Analysis," by Julien Potet, David Beran, David J. Williams, et al. (Toxicon: X, 2021).
  • "The Lab Saving the World From Snake Bites," by Myles Karp (Smithsonian Magazine, 2020).
  • "Why Competition Hasn't Brought Down The High Price Of Snakebite Treatment," by Carmen Heredia Rodriguez (NPR, 2019).
  • "Summer Bummer: A Young Camper’s $142,938 Snakebite," by Carmen Heredia Rodriguez (KFF Health News, 2019).
  • "The Amazing Science Behind Fatal Snake Bites," (BBC News, 2015).
  • "Southern Californians See a Rise in Venomous Snakes," by Rebecca Fairley Raney (The New York Times, 2006).
  • Venom Week.

• EXTRAS:
  • Venom Hunters, TV series (2016).

Online companies promised to bring transparency to the mattress-buying experience. Did that work out? Zachary Crockett takes a look under the sheets.

• SOURCES:
  • Derek Hales, founder and editor-in-chief of NapLab.com.
  • Joe Megibow, C.E.O. of Casper Sleep.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Drake Has a $400,000 Bed − We Asked Why and Where You Can Buy It," by Emilia Hitching (Homes & Gardens, 2024).
  • "Casper Tests a New Store Design as It Rethinks Its Retail Strategy," by Anna Hensel (Modern Retail, 2024).
  • "Is The Direct-To-Consumer Bedding Business Turning Into A Bad Dream?" by Warren Shoulberg (Forbes, 2019).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Are We in a Mattress-Store Bubble?" by Freakonomics Radio (2016).

Channeling the voices of celebrities can be a lucrative career — one that requires empathy and discretion as well as literary chops. Zachary Crockett checks the acknowledgements.

• SOURCES:
  • Valerie Frankel, ghostwriter.
  • Madeleine Morel, President and Lead Agent of 2M Communications.
  • Daniel Paisner, ghostwriter.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Ghostwriting History: Churchill, Kennedy and the Authenticity of Authorship," by Andrew Mumford (The International History Review, 2024).
  • "Column: How many ways can a political memoir backfire? Ask Kristi Noem," by Robin Abcarian (Los Angeles Times, 2024).
  • "Notes from Prince Harry’s Ghostwriter," by J. R. Moehringer (The New Yorker, 2023).
  • "Confessions of a Celebrity Ghostwriter," by Dina Gachman (Texas Monthly, 2022).

How did mobile kitchens become popular with hipster gourmands? And just how much money can a popular truck make from a lunch shift? Zachary Crocket drops some napkins.

• SOURCES:
  • Mariel-Leona Edwards, senior operations manager for Señor Sisig.
  • Matthew Geller, founding president of the National Food Truck Association and C.E.O. of the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association.
  • Evan Kidera, C.E.O. and co-owner of Señor Sisig.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Seed Planted in SF State MBA Program Grows Into Mini-Filipino Food Empire," by Jamie Oppenheim (SF State News, 2022).
  • "Inside Señor Sisig, the First Restaurant for a Pioneer of Filipino-American Cuisine," by Luke Tsai (Eater, 2019).
  • "Tamales, L.A.’s Original Street Food," by Gustavo Arellano (Los Angeles Times, 2011).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why You Shouldn’t Open a Restaurant (Update)," by Freakonomics Radio (2019).

Youth baseball — long a widely accessible American pastime — has become overrun by $10,000-per-year, for-profit travel leagues. Zachary Crockett peers inside the dugout.

• SOURCES:
  • Linda Flanagan, author.
  • Nick Mackenzie, future New York Yankees shortstop.
  • R.J. Mackenzie, physical education teacher and baseball dad.
  • John Miller, journalist and baseball coach.

• RESOURCES:
  • "The Cost of Youth Baseball Is Getting Absurd," by Adam Minter (Bloomberg, 2024).
  • "Perfect Game Sees Prosperity Thanks To New Investments In Youth Sports," by Wayne G. McDonnell, Jr. (Forbes, 2024).
  • "How America Sold Out Little League Baseball," by John W. Miller (America Magazine, 2022).
  • "In Youth Sports, Talent Helps but Money Rules," by Roman Stubbs (The Washington Post, 2022).
  • Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids Sports and Why It Matters, by Linda Flanagan (2022).
  • "State of Youth Sports: Parents, Policymakers Better Appreciate Physical Activity, Face Barriers to Help Kids Play," by Jon Solomon (The Aspen Institute, 2022).

• EXTRA:
  • Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids Sports and Why It Matters, by Linda Flanagan (2022).

Why do we use a specific kind of tree-bark tissue to seal up 70 percent of wine bottles? Zachary Crockett takes a sniff and gives the waiter a nod.

• SOURCES:
  • Carlos De Jesus, director of communications at Amorim Cork.

• RESOURCES:
  • "This Ancient Material Is Displacing Plastics and Creating a Billion-Dollar Industry," by Marta Vidal (The Washington Post, 2024).
  • "Troubled Times For Wine In 2023: Global Production And Consumption Shrinking," by Per and Britt Karlsson (Forbes, 2024).
  • "Three Studies Take A Look At Various Wine Bottle Closure Preferences," by Thomas Pellechia (Forbes, 2019).
  • "How Millennials (Almost) Killed the Wine Cork," by John Gifford (The Atlantic, 2016).