Austen Rachlis, the producer of the Naughty Books documentary, has been fascinated by the story of women who found themselves in dire straits, where they were borrowing money to pay for groceries to making hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in the self-publishing industry.

She realized this could be something she could build a documentary around. She saw it as the classic American narrative, but it also had many branches around it — changes in the publishing industry, questions about women and sexuality, and the empowerment of women to name a few. She saw that these branches could be tied back to the original idea to form a concrete basis for a great documentary.

The Naughty Books documentary, speaks about the way the self-publishing space has been able to empower women.

Many times, professional publishers acted as gatekeepers and said no to these aspiring authors in the past.

When Amazon introduced Kindle, they paved the way for self-publishing to take off — the barriers were removed. It put control into these women’s hands. They were able to find that consumer — that reader — they knew was out there. These women were able to do something they loved and put it directly into their readers’ hands.

Any time you can change your circumstances in such a positive way, and put control in your own hands — essentially change your life — is very empowering.

Listen to this episode of the Mitlin Money Mindset™

🎞️ Watch the documentary on Amazon Prime or Apple TV

Learn more in the SHOW NOTES

For more about the film, you can read Denise’s review of the Naughty Books documentary