Are you book curious?

Ten years ago, I dug into the economics of writing a book and decided against it. Three years ago, the math looked different.

Are you a true crime fan? Bright Young Women, by Jessica Knoll is a must-read. It tells the story of two women seeking justice for their friends, victims of real events by a very famous serial killer (deliberately never named), except that instead of valorizing the killer, it takes seriously the humanity and dignity of those affected by the crimes, and their uphill climb for justice. This book never preaches. It tells a riveting story. You’ll walk away seeing how the media, justice system and public conspire to paint a mediocre man as a handsome evil genius (America’s Sex Killer!) rather than take responsibility for their role in a society that is already built to marginalize women’s voices.

---

What’s the ROI of writing a book?

When I started Sunlight Tax ten years ago, I wrote regular tax articles for the blog Art F City. They started gaining a following, and I really enjoyed writing. So I had a sit-down with my editor, Paddy Johnson, to talk about the logistics of writing a book.

As I’m sure you realize, it’s a heavy lift. At that time, my main source of income was from preparing individual tax returns— a service that I would have to stop while I wrote, which meant foregoing income.

My audience was modest.

My experience with marketing and selling was thin.

While I know I could have written a decent book at that time, these additional factors spelled out an answer to me: NO.

Cut to 2023, when my now agent cold-emailed me after attending one of my tax workshops. She made a compelling case for writing a book now. Many of the “no” factors of my early days had changed.

I said YES.

Do you have a book in you?

Is there an idea or a skill you’re dying to get out into the world?

What does the process of getting a book out into the world actually look like?

Today on the Sunlight Tax Podcast, I’m talking about the difference between the fiction and non-fiction pitching processes, and the seven stages of writing a (non-fiction) book.

If you’re book curious, this one’s for you:

Have burning book questions?

And if you want to go even deeper, and get your book questions answered, I’m hosting a fireside chat with book coach Stacy Ennis this Thursday.

It’s free for my Substack subscribers.

In this conversation, best-selling, award-winning author Stacy Ennis will share behind-the-scenes on how to measure author success, from the ROI of becoming an author to the missed opportunities of not writing your book.

This is a tell-all session about the financial side of writing a book (non-fiction).

We will leave ample time for Q&A and Stacy isn’t shy about talking numbers.

I hope this conversation sparks future authors in my community.

Subscribers: I’ll send the link to join on Thursday.

Not a subscriber yet? Join here to get access to the ROI of writing a book session this Thursday, and an immediate access link.

Warmly,