I MADE MORE MONEY FROM ONE SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK THAN MY BOOK DEAL.

I don’t talk about business enough here.

But I’m going to start.

Because many of you are writers. And many of you want to write a book.

And most of you are waiting.

To be chosen, picked, crowned, and deemed worthy of becoming an author…the title that will change the entire trajectory of your life and career.

The title you can choose for yourself. Right now.

Let’s rewind a bit. The year was 2008. I had started a blog called The Champagne Diet and knew I wanted it to become a book. It would be part memoir, part personal development through the lens of a twenty-something year old girl navigating life and love New York City.

Think Sex and The City meets The Secret. Weird combo, I know. But the concept was there because my blog was starting to blow up. I knew this book would hit.

I had glittering dreams of a Y2K cosmopolitan-fueled book party and signings at the Union Square Barnes and Noble dancing through my mind. I’d wear pink (obviously) and get write-ups in Vogue. It was all happening beautifully in my pretty little head until…it wasn’t.

A few years into writing my blog I did wind up securing a literary agent. Something that 99% of people can’t do (look up the stats, I’m not being dramatic). Once I got my agent, the real work began.

The book I dreamed of publishing had to first take shape in the form of a competitive proposal that would have to dazzle the editorial assistants at all the major publishing houses and even the smaller ones. If it passed initial scanning from the assistant, it would get through to the acquisitions editor. Then, if we were lucky, the editor would take it to the publisher.

That proposal took six months to create.

Once the book went “on submission” we waited some more. Every day I stalked my inbox hoping and praying someone—anyone—would email us back.

Finally, three months of my precious proposal collecting digital dust, I sent my agent a frustrated email asking for answers.

I got back a laundry list of no’s from all the major publishers and even the small ones. Nineteen, to be exact.

The feedback was similar:

She’s not a celebrity. Her writing is good but it’s not great. The story isn’t unique enough.

At the time, I had been keeping an eye on what was happening in the world of Self-Publishing. Amazon had recently launched a print-on-demand platform for authors called CreateSpace (now known as KDP) and it was gaining a ton of popularity.

Creators everywhere—authors, musicians, artists—were realizing that the gatekeepers were no longer relevant thanks to platforms like YouTube, CreateSpace, and the budding world of social media. Seth Godin wrote a blog called Pick Yourself that became my power mantra.

I decided to stop letting those gatekeepers determine my fate and I self-published my book.

I didn’t have a big audience. Thanks to the noise I created on my tiny Twitter account that I barely knew how to work, and my personal Facebook page filled with family and friends, that book hit #1 on multiple categories on Amazon the weekend of its release.

I became addicted to the speed, creative freedom, and power of self-publishing. Just me, my voice, and the ability to put it directly into the hands of women who needed it.

So I kept going.

I self-published a book every year after that, refining my voice, learning what worked, and building my audience.

Eventually, I self-published a book called Girl Code.

Girl Code wasn’t just another book. It was a movement. It was a book about everything I believed about women—that when we show up fully for ourselves and for each other, we win. That women are infinitely more powerful together than apart. That ambition, friendship, and success is so much better when we stop competing and start collaborating.

Girl Code went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies around the world, becoming a true global phenomenon.

Not became a publisher chose me. Because I chose myself.

A few years ago, my dear friend Amanda Frances was writing her first book, Rich as F*ck and was approached by a publisher who wanted to publish it.

She reached out to me and asked what I thought.

And instead of giving her advice, we did something most women are taught not to do...

We shared numbers.

I told her what I was making as a self-published author: consistent months of $20,000 per month just from my book, Girl Code.

Then we looked at her offer. $30,000 for lifetime rights to her book. And maybe 10-15% of royalties after she earns out her advance.

The math wasn’t mathing.

And just to say it plainly—I did finally land a traditional book deal, and I made way more money from one self-published book than I ever did on that side of the industry.

Amanda and I actually broke this entire conversation down—numbers, offers, what really happens behind the scenes—on a recent episode of my podcast, Cara Says It All. If you want the full story, go listen to that.

But this is the part you need to understand:

Publishers don’t pick you because they want to build you into a famous author. They pick you because they know you can already sell.

Which means you’re doing the marketing, the audience building, and all the heavy lifting...

...and they’re keeping the lion’s share of your money.

Since then, Amanda and I have both had $20k-$30k months from our books. We’ve each made well into six figures—close to a million dollars each—from self-publishing.

Without gatekeepers. Without permission. And without waiting.

Just ownership.

I share all of this openly and honestly because I know so many of us have been sold a lie. We think we need someone else to give us permission. We think we need to be chosen.

The truth is, we just need to choose ourselves.

Amanda and I created Self-Published because we were having the same conversation over and over again with women like you—women who have the idea, the voice, the story… but no clear path to actually getting it out into the world.

So we built the thing we wish we had.

Not just “how to write a book”… but how to actually become the woman who finishes it and gets it out there.

We walk you through everything—coming up with your idea, structuring your book, staying consistent when your brain wants to spiral, and actually publishing the damn thing (yes, we literally screen share and show you exactly where to click).

But also…the fun part:

How to turn your book into an asset.

How to sell it in a way that feels natural and powerful.

How to use platforms like Substack to build an audience while you’re writing.

How to record your audiobook, expand into different formats, even translate your work into other languages.

And we brought in people who are actually doing this at a high level—like Bryan Cohen, who’s sold 140,000+ books and teaches how to keep your book selling long after launch.

Because this isn’t about publishing a book and hoping for the best.

It’s about building something that keeps working for you.

A book can build a brand. A brand can sell a book.

And you don’t have to be “ready.”

You just have to be willing to start.

Enrollment for Self-Published closes tomorrow. If you feel drawn to this, we’d love to have you: https://amandafrances.com/self-published/

2026 is for the women who make themselves.

I hope you answer the call.

xx

Cara

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