Now the that the series finale of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” has aired on Amazon Prime, creator Jenny Han has a sense of relief.

“We were keeping a really tight lid on everything,” said Han. “So I'm happy that it's finally just all out there.”

Based on Han’s trilogy of novels, the series tells the story of then-high schooler Belly Conklin (played by Lola Tung) who finds herself in the center of a love triangle between two brothers, Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher (played by Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno, respectively). The series has developed a massive audience, with over 25 million people streaming the third and final season premiere back in July. And while fans finally know Belly’s ultimate romantic fate, a movie sequel is already in the works.

“Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal spoke to Han about her work as both an author and a showrunner, including how she approaches music licensing for the show. Han also got the chance to select the music bridges for this episode of “Marketplace;” you can find the playlist here.

The following is a transcript of her conversation with Kai Ryssdal.

Kai Ryssdal: Hey, Jenny, Kai Ryssdal in Los Angeles, how are you?

Jenny Han: Hi, good. Thank you.

Ryssdal: So I have to tell you a very quick story before we get going. You ready?

Han: Yes.

Ryssdal: All right, my daughter is the big fan of yours in the household, and she just graduated from high school. We just dropped her off for college the other day. But about two weeks ago, she was out with a with a friend of hers that she graduated with, and they pulled into the driveway coming back from lunch, or whatever it was, and her friend leaned out the car window as I was walking back into the house, and she said, “Hey, Mr. Ryssdal, is it true? You get to interview Jenny Han?” So I would just like to tell you I'm the most popular dad in my town right now.

Han: I like to hear that.

Ryssdal: There you go. So the finale has been out for, I don't know, a couple of weeks now. Number one, how does it feel to finally have it out in the world?

Han: It feels like a relief. We were keeping a really tight lid on everything, so I'm happy that it's finally just all out there.

Ryssdal: Are you taking a couple of weeks off? What are you doing?

Han: No, I'm just working.

Ryssdal: That's not the way it's supposed to work.

Han: I know.

Ryssdal: What are you doing?

Han: I'm working on the script for the movie. And, you know, all the all the other sort of, like business-y things, I suppose.

Ryssdal: Well, so that actually gets me to one of the questions I wanted to ask you. You now have, and you can quibble with this phrase, if you like, but you have built something of an empire. And I guess, are you, are you a writer, or are you now a businesswoman?

Han: I think I've always been both.

Ryssdal Say more about that. How do you do both?

Han: You know, honestly, you kind of have to, because, you know, I've been writing books since I was in my early 20s, and book publishing is very different from Hollywood in that there's not as much money. It's a much more, I would say, genteel kind of industry. So you really have to, from the very beginning, be selling yourself, selling your books. And I think with social media, that's definitely has increased. But when I started out, there wasn't even that. So it was more, you know, Willy Loman-style, going to the bookstore and having your little bag of books that you go around and sell.

Ryssdal: And now here you are, though, with a deal with Amazon. You have a handful or more of projects in the works. I guess I want to know what your stress level is.

Han: Like, always high.

Ryssdal: How do you write, though, when your stress level is so high?

Han: I mean, I just do. It's so different for me. Writing scripts and writing TV is very different than writing books, in terms of the headspace that I'm in, because on a regular day, I'm having a marketing meeting or a meeting about merchandise and that's kind of splitting into the day, whereas when I'm book writing, I'm almost in a kind of trance. So it's just a different kind of brain that I use.

Ryssdal: Can we talk creative control here for a second? You had some opportunities on some of your work early, I suppose, and you passed until you could sort of do it the way you wanted to do it. Why? What specifically was it that you want to control over?

Han: I guess, everything.

Ryssdal: Okay, then. Jenny Han, control-freak. No, I'm kidding.

Han: I am. Yes, I'm a creator. I'm a storyteller. So I do want to control everything. Obviously you can't. That's something I work on in therapy. But I would say that as a novelist, you are the producer, the costume designer, you know, the script writer, you're everything, the casting director, because you are making it all up in your head. So I'm used to that level of control, and that's why with "The Summer I Turned Pretty" we started in television because the writer is in the driver's seat in that medium.

Ryssdal: Is there anything you'd do different in your rise? Because, look, you worked at an Olive Garden. You were a nanny, right? Or an au pair? Which were you?

Han: I was a nanny. I was a paid companion.

Ryssdal: A paid companion, right, for a girl who, I think you've said at one point, didn't really need a nanny anymore.

Han: No, she didn't, but we were really good friends.

Ryssdal: So is there anything you do different? I mean, look, people are the accumulation of all their experiences. Would you pick a different set of experiences?

Han: Hmm, is there anything that I would do differently to get to here? No, because I think that, you know — I was also a librarian. I was a school librarian, and I was doing that as I was writing my books. And I think part of why I think the show, and also "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" found an audience was that I've always been trying to understand my audience as a novelist. But also, you know, as a librarian, I would read new books every day because my young readers were coming in and demanding new stories, and so I would go to the bookstore and try and figure out what they wanted. So I think that's important part of my job now as a showrunner.

Ryssdal: A couple of production things I want to touch on. First of all, the music in "The Summer I Turned Pretty" and your other work, it is very specific. It is very to the point. It's also not cheap to do the kind of licensing that you do. Are you a “listen, I want it this way, and I don't care how much it costs” kind of person?

Han: No, I'm reasonable. I think that you want to do it justice no matter what. So if it's a really big song, or a song that I think has special meaning for the singer, for the musician, then you want to make sure that you're placing it in a scene that really highlights it and lets it be a focal point. So for instance, for a more expensive sync, you know, I'm willing to make concessions for a scene where maybe it's more background music, like a party or in a restaurant or something. So I'm reasonable.

Ryssdal: Is it true you wrote to Taylor Swift to ask her to use one of her songs? 

Han: That's true. Yeah, that's true.

Ryssdal: Wow, that's some chutzpah, could I just say.

Han: Well, I really, really wanted it, and I was really, really grateful and appreciative that she allowed us to use her music, and not just that one song that I asked for, but then, you know, we've been able to use her music all three seasons, and I feel extremely fortunate for that.

Ryssdal: Let me get you back to your audience for one minute, to your readers, to the watchers, the viewers. You spent a lot of time, as you said, trying to understand them, and clearly you've developed an understanding because millions and millions and millions of people watch your stuff. What did you learn about your viewers and your readers, and was there anything that surprised you about them?

Han: Hmm, what did I learn? I can't point to one thing. I think that you know, obviously everyone's different, and I've had a relationship with my audience for a really long time, and it's different when you write books, because it's much more small group. It's more intimate in that way. And now with film and TV, it's bigger, so it's harder to have that same kind of relationship, and I do miss that kind of closeness, but to me, it's always been about connection, and that's why I tell stories. So I think it's really about feeling a sense of empathy and like understanding and trying to create stories that that really do that.