With more than 6.5 million books in print (nearly three million of The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom
alone), an eponymous CNBC show, contributing editorships at O: The Oprah Magazine
and Costco Magazine
and a biweekly Yahoo! column, Orman commands a great deal of economic bandwidth. This seventh book will be released with a PBS special (her fourth) pitched specifically to 20- and 30-somethings early in their working lives, who are, to put it nicely, having trouble negotiating a challenging economy: "Our starting point is that you are broke, by your or any definition." In the bright, clipped, supportive-but-not-mushy affirmative diction that dominates motivational business titles, Orman lays out a plan for maximizing the little that one has, focusing on ways to raise one's FICO score as a means of making more choices available. ("FICO" stands for the mysterious Fair Isaac Corporation—with whom Orman has an arrangement for her own FICOkit.) She runs through a plethora of money problems and what to do about them: credit card debt, student loans, mortgages (and advice on real estate), car payments, taxes, IRAs—almost anything one can think of that has to do with financial planning that can seem bewildering when presented by a salesperson, a direct mail solicitation or HR orientation. With its combination of specific solutions and deep knowledge of its target demographic's specific problems, this book positions itself perfectly and will see correspondingly strong sales among its coveted 18–34s. Agent, Amanda Urban at ICM
. (Mar. 1)
