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The beginning of October will forever be a special time for me.

One, it’s my actual birthday this week!

And two, it’s my book’s birthday.

My debut book, Leaving the Casino, was released a year ago—and did exactly what I dreamed it would do in my business.

I didn’t write the book expecting it to become a bestseller.

I wanted to make something useful enough that people would read it, keep it, hand it to a friend, and come back to it when they needed it. And I hoped it would give people a way to understand how I think about building a business before they ever joined a program or worked with me.

A year later, it has done all of those things.

So in today’s newsletter, I thought I’d celebrate Leaving the Casino’s first birthday the best way I know how:

By looking at the numbers.

732: Books sold

I’ve sold 732 total books!

367 of those were sold direct on my site (including the book/workbook hardback and digital combo), 355 were sold via Amazon, and 5-10 were sold at other retailers.

Fewer than 10% of self-published books sell more than 1,000 copies over their lifetime, with the average being 250 copies. I feel confident that I’ll crack that milestone (maybe you’ll help?).

And when I started, my whole email list was only about 1500 people. So to see this amount of sales with a relatively small list… every time I see a new sale come in I’m just so thankful.

29: Books sold in September 2026

I might be most proud of this number. Not because 29 books is an enormous number of books. But because 29 people bought the book last month—almost a full year after it launched.

I didn’t want to write a book that had one big launch and disappeared. I dreamed of writing something people would keep recommending and handing to friends.

And keeping a book alive after launch is no joke. You have to keep talking about it, teaching from it, sharing it, and giving other people reasons to share it too. Many authors stop promoting their book after launch and book sales hover around 0-5 copies a month.

So thank you for recommending the book, and especially to everyone who has continued to feature me and Leaving the Casino in your summits, programs, newsletters, podcasts, and communities.

60: Books given away

I thought I was going to have way more of a “launch” and “influencer” strategy where I gave out books to drum up interest. But when launch week came, I was somewhat overwhelmed with just the logistics of packing and shipping 150 sold copies from my garage.

So I ended up with a few boxes of paperbacks that I don’t sell from my site. What to do? GIVEAWAYS! I’ve done three different giveaway drives, where I get your address on LinkedIn when I’m doing the drive and ship you a copy for free.

So between client gifts and paperback giveaways, I put out 60 additional copies into the world.

58: Amazon reviews

For only having ~750 copies sold, having 58 Amazon reviews is a dream, and helps more people find the book. Thank you to every one of you who read and rated. If you wanted to leave me a 5-star review if you enjoyed my book, I would love that!​

141: New Deeper Foundations Members

I've added 141 net new Deeper Foundations Members since the book launched. And while certainly not everyone in the membership came through buying my book… a lot of people did.

People have told me that the reading the book was the first time they felt like they had permission and guidance to build their business their way. The book became a bridge into the rest of my work: a relatively inexpensive way to understand my philosophy, learn my frameworks, and decide whether Deeper Foundations is the right place to build their business.

9: Cities visited on my “book tour”

I didn’t officially do a book tour, but I did take a book on tour and visit members, clients, and colleagues at 9 cities this year: NYC, Minneapolis, Boston, Seattle, Portland, SF, LA, Chicago, and Columbus. I didn’t count, but I estimate I got to hug more than 60 of you during my trips?

It was amazing and a total “Jessica, this is your life” moment to have everyone celebrate the book BUT ALSO see each other in real life.

Yes, you all have legs. No, we don’t all just exist on Zoom. Yes, I am buying the meal and buying the drinks as a hostess. It reminds me that the future of online businesses is actually real-life connection and I couldn’t be more grateful for it.

2: Awards Won

​Fabi Preslar and the SPARK Publications team did a PHENOMENAL job on the creative layout and shepherding this book from manuscript to an amazing, beautiful book, to accompany the illustrations from Hollie Arnett.​

And the book won two awards from book competitions thanks to SPARK’s submissions!

Leaving the Casino won the highest level of distinction in the MarCom Awards - Platinum level in the Thought Leadership category, and the Communication Awards - Distinction in the Print Content-Business-to-Business category.

If you’re publishing a book, I couldn’t recommend the team at SPARK Publications enough. It was hands down the best team I’ve ever worked with in my business.

0: Edits or Typos anyone told me about

If you found one, please let me know! Or you can just let me keep believing that there were no typos in the book and make my little perfectionist heart happy.

Again, help me celebrate my book’s birthday and get 50% off copies purchased directly through me from now through October 11 with code BIRTHDAY50.

And if you already have a copy, can you leave me a review?

NEW EPISODES

Relationship-Led Pipeline with Jessica Lackey [Originally Live AMA] Your pipeline doesn’t have to depend on algorithms, constant posting or a giant email list. When I was figuring out who to invite to speak at the Solo Consultant Summit, Jessica Lackey was the first person I had in mind. If you’re trying to build a solo consulting practice, her name comes up again and again. This episode was originally a live AMA, and it’s packed with practical answers on building a relationship-led pipeline: how to structure it, how to scale it and how to keep up with it without living in your inbox. Listen to the Pod

“How do I know what I sound like” with Samantha Pollack Sam runs Indie Copy Studio and works with business owners, authors, and academics who share a healthy side-eye for anything artificial, and she explains what developmental editing looks like when it’s applied to sales pages and emails instead of manuscripts. Her answer to “how do I know what I sound like?” is refreshingly unglamorous: you have to write a lot before you can hear it. We talk about why writing to format is how the internet got so much slop long before AI showed up, and the difference between writing to get something from your reader and writing to give them something. Sam also makes the case that reading fiction, and even Hamlet, might be the most useful homework a business owner can take on. Listen to the Pod