I Wrote a Book - Available Aug. 29, 2013

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You guys... I wrote a book, and both saying that phrase and writing it down feels a little weird and I'm not really sure why? It's something I've always wanted to do. But now that it's done and I'm getting ready to launch it, I'm getting cold feet. Will anyone buy it? Will anyone like it? Will everyone hate it? Should I just burn it and forget the whole thing happened?

These are some pretty real thoughts that have gone through my head. Even despite Kelsey (my editor) telling me how incredibly good it is. How it's the best writing I've ever done. Sometimes it's just really scary to release something you've worked so hard on over the past few months.

But we're going for it.

The book will be available for purchase in the Amazon Kindle store for $4.99 in just two weeks, on Thursday, Aug. 29. Perfect timing for Labor Day weekend read, and motivation for your September budget, no?

If you are wondering about the details, keep reading...

Details

  • Title: It's Your Money
  • Subtitle: What Will You Do With It?
  • Part I: Everything I know About Money I Learned the Hard Way
  • Part II: Helping You and Your Money Work Harder and Smarter
  • Length: There are 20 chapters total. Each chapter is about 1,000 words.
  • Editor: Kelsey. And let me just say (in case you didn't know), she graduated with a corporate communications degree and has been a copy editor for a decade. She's legit and not just my editor because she's my wife. She's also probably harder on me than she is on other writers. Sometimes her feedback was hard to swallow, but it helped me make the book better. She edits all of our blog posts, too.
  • Designer: I am a chronic DIYer and it drives Kelsey nuts. I try to do everything myself first if possible. I suppose this is one way that I'm frugal. I do enjoy designing things, although, I have a distorted reality of what I think is good design and good design in general. As is the case with the cover design for the book. Here is a look at the first and final version of the cover...

It's Your Money book cover

After realizing it was pretty cheesy, I asked my new friend Kevin from Iron to Iron if he had any suggestions to improve the book cover. In a matter of five minutes he had some super helpful advice on colors, typefaces, font sizes and overall look sketched out. It was just the thing I needed. I really got to know Kevin well while at the Texas Style Council Conference. He was one of like five dudes there the whole weekend.

What's it About?

As stated above, Part I of the book is all about all the hard lessons I've learned about money in my life. And Part II provides practical solutions to help you and your money work harder and smarter. Part II also has action steps at the end of each chapter to help motivate you to action. Here's a look at the table of contents:

Part I: Everything I Know About Money I Learned the Hard Way

  • Note From the Author
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1: Young Money
  • Chapter 2: The Other Half of the Story
  • Chapter 3: When You Mix the Two Together
  • Chapter 4: The Honeymoon
  • Chapter 5: The House We Weren't Ready to Buy
  • Chapter 6: The Jeep Daddy Bought
  • Chapter 7: The Breaking Point
  • Chapter 8: The First Thing Saved: Our Marriage
  • Chapter 9: Our First Budget
  • Chapter 10: A $39,000 Hole
  • Chapter 11: Climbing Out of Debt
  • Part I: Conclusion

Part II: Helping You and your Money Work Harder and Smarter

  • Chapter 12: Accountability
  • Chapter 13: Budgeting Gets a Bad Rap
  • Chapter 14: Enjoying the Journey
  • Chapter 15: Getting Started: Your First Budget
  • Chapter 16: Keeping a Budget Going
  • Chapter 17: Play the Budget Game
  • Chapter 18: Why Get out of Debt?
  • Chapter 19: Grab a Shovel and Start Digging
  • Chapter 20: Plan for the Worst, Hope for the Best
  • Chapter 21: Saving for Everything
  • Part 2: Conclusion

I'd love for you to check it out!