Women hold 28% of STEM jobs and about 22% of STEM leadership roles. A strategically written business book changes that math—and yes, you can figure out how to write a book while running a business. Six to eight weeks using dictation and a book map, even while running a full schedule. The real ROI isn’t royalties—it’s speaking fees, consulting clients, and being the name people think of when they think of your topic.

I went on the STEM in Stilettos podcast with Zofia Morales in December, and she said something in the first few minutes that’s been stuck in my head since. Zofia used to manage data centers at the Fortune 100 level. She works with women running engineering teams, architecting scalability solutions, leading entire technical divisions. And she told me almost none of them have written a book.

That’s the part that’s been stuck. Because women in STEM are some of the best-positioned people I’ve ever worked with when it comes to writing a business book. Y’all already think in systems. You document processes for a living. You solve problems at scale and explain complex things to people who don’t share your vocabulary. That’s literally what a book is.

28.2% of the STEM workforce is female. When it comes to leadership, that drops to about 22%. And when it comes to being KNOWN for what you know—being the person who gets called for the keynote, the consulting contract, the expert panel—that gap widens even further. The expertise is there. The visibility gap is massive.

A book closes that gap.

You already think in frameworks. A book is just another one.

The 5-Star Book Map is built for the way your brain already works if you’re in STEM. You identify the problem your expertise solves, the transformation your readers want, and the five to seven core strategies you teach. Then we map nine purpose points—mile markers along the reader’s journey—that pair a narrative moment with a teaching moment. About an hour and a half with me, and you know exactly what every chapter is about.

It’s scaffolding. Once it’s up, you fill it in.

I’ve worked with enough women in technical fields to notice the pattern: the mapping session is where everything clicks. Because it’s a system. It has inputs and outputs and a clear architecture. The “I don’t know how to write a book” feeling usually dissolves once you see that book mapping is just process documentation with narrative structure layered on top.

And once the map exists, the actual writing part is way less painful than you think.

How to write a book while running a business (30 minutes at a time)

Because the real bottleneck isn’t creativity or expertise. It’s time and burnout.

This is the part where most women in STEM ask how to write a book while running a business. They’ve tried. They block off Tuesday mornings. They draft three chapters. Then a project deadline hits, someone needs a decision, they haven’t slept properly in two weeks, and the book turns into another obligation crushing them from the to-do list. I get it. I really do.

I dictate chapters from the school pickup carline—30 minutes, one chapter. Dictation is about 4x faster than typing, and it forces you to think out loud the way your brain actually works. You’re not starting from a blank page. You’re explaining your methodology to someone sitting next to you, and that’s your chapter.

30 minutes × 5 days a week × 6 weeks = one complete book. That’s how to write a book while running a business—you don’t find extra time, you replace time you’re already spending. Commute, carline, that shower where you rehearse the meeting you just had. Replace it with dictation. The book map tells you exactly where you are and what you need to say, and you just talk into your phone.

Real editing happens later. During drafting, your only job is to get the words out.

Royalties are the cherry on top

Now—this comes up constantly with STEM women especially, because y’all like to see the math before you commit. Fair.

For a typical nonfiction book written by someone in business, less than 20% of the revenue comes from actual book sales. The other 80% comes from speaking gigs, consulting contracts, high-ticket clients, course sales—the backend opportunities that open up because the book exists. Sometimes you make more money from a book by giving it away.

96% of entrepreneurs who write a business book see measurable growth. 72% land speaking gigs. Speaking fees with a book run $20k to $50k per keynote. Without a book, you’re looking at $500 to $1k. Big difference. And here’s one that usually gets a reaction: self-published women earn 41% more than self-published men. The self-publishing market hit $1.85 billion in 2024.

When you factor in the consulting clients who cite the book as the reason they hired you, the ROI over three years typically exceeds 2,000%. But those returns come through the doors the book opens—not from the royalty checks.

Which means you need to pick your door first.

Pick your door before you write a single word

When I start working with someone, the first thing we figure out is which door they want the book to open. I call these strategy stacks because you can layer them—but you need a primary one.

Five doors: more high-ticket clients coming in half-sold. Speaking gigs that actually pay. Hands-off digital product or course sales. Strategic partnerships—consulting contracts, getting your book adopted as a university textbook (love that one for STEM). Or being the name people think of when they think of your topic.

And every one of these needs a different book structure. A speaking-gig book needs quotable insights and anecdotes that work on stage. A coaching-client book needs frameworks the reader can start using immediately (so they feel results and want more). A course-sales book needs to teach the “why” and hold back the implementation.

The Book Strategy Quiz helps you figure out which door is most abundant for you. Two minutes. You get a three-day challenge in your email, and if you do all three days and send me your answers, I’ll coach you on them for free. By the end, you’ll have your introduction drafted.

But whichever door you pick—the book still has to be one people actually finish.

Make the reader the protagonist

This is where a lot of technically brilliant books lose people. You write 200 pages explaining your methodology, your research, your career trajectory—and the reader sits in the audience watching. Impressed, maybe. Gone by chapter four.

The Heroine’s Journey framework flips that. Your reader becomes the protagonist. Your stories, your case studies, your expertise—those become the plot devices that show the reader what’s possible for THEM. You’re the guide. The book is their journey.

Only 18% of nonfiction readers finish books they start. Eighteen percent. But when readers see themselves in the narrative, learning increases by up to 96%. And facts are 20x more likely to be remembered when they’re part of a story. Purpose point mapping + the Heroine’s Journey = a book that people actually finish, implement, and hand to someone else.

That’s how a book generates clients for five to ten years without you babying it with ads every week.

Traditional, indie, or hybrid—pick and commit

Three publishing paths. Real tradeoffs on each. I’ll be quick here because this is its own whole conversation (Zofia had strong opinions and honestly I agreed with most of them).

Traditional publishing means 18 to 24 months minimum, and that’s if you land an agent first (another 6 to 12 months). Advance money if you get picked up, bookstore distribution, editorial support. You’re giving up control and speed.

Self-publishing means full control. Publish in six to eight weeks from finished manuscript. Your royalties jump to 35 to 70% (traditional deals give you 10 to 15%, so… yeah). You’re paying for cover design, editing, ISBN, distribution setup. Upfront costs run $3,000 to $10,000 for a professional-quality book. You break even fast if you position it right.

Hybrid is the middle ground. You pay for production support, the publisher handles some distribution. Faster than traditional, more structure than pure indie.

Most women in STEM I work with choose hybrid or indie because they want to ship fast and keep control of positioning. A book is a positioning asset. You’re building authority for speaking gigs, coaching, consulting—the places where the real revenue shows up.

Women are now publishing more books than men. There are 14.5 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. That’s your potential readership—and most of them want books written by people who actually know what they’re talking about.

If you’ve been sitting on this

The 5-Star Book Map takes you from messy idea to a complete book in as little as six weeks of writing. Heroine’s Journey framework, purpose point mapping, and private feedback from me on every chapter—not a VA, me.

Or start with the Book Strategy Quiz to figure out which door your book should open. Two minutes. Three-day challenge. Free coaching from me if you complete it.

Author Alchemy coaching walks you from idea to published, launched, and marketed—strategy stack, Heroine’s Journey, chapter-by-chapter feedback, all of it.

You didn’t spend a decade building expertise so it could stay inside your office. If you’ve been wondering how to write a book while running a business, start with the quiz. The book is closer than you think.

P.S. Zofia titled the episode “Write The D@mn Book Already” and I respected her immediately. Give it a watch if you want to hear the full conversation about making this work as a woman in tech—no guilt trips, no hustle porn, just the actual process. She also has very strong opinions about hybrid publishing that I didn’t have room for here.