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Please let me introduce myself. My name is Anna David. In 1999, I was an unemployed dog walker. Yes, you could argue that walking a dog was technically employment but when you’re paid $10 a day to clean up after a dog, it’s hard to convince anyone that you’re actually a writer (especially when you’re a cat person).
But really, the best way for you to get to know me may be through the timeline I’ve created below.
TIMELINE:
1977: Found out the youngest book author was younger than me and got depressed (true)
1980: Started submitting to children’s publications (and getting rejected) (see left for evidence)
1991: Got an internship at Hartford Monthly magazine during last minute panic that I had no work experience and would never get hired after graduating college
1991: Started writing restaurant reviews for the college paper due to same panic
1991: Resurrected the defunct college literary magazine and became its editor (the panic made me very productive!)
1992: Interned at (the now long-gone) Mirabella magazine
1992: Heard that Entertainment Weekly paid its interns so went there, discovered the rumor was true, got hired as an intern and promptly did nothing to take advantage of the opportunity by proving myself to editors and instead worked on scamming premiere invites off of them
1993: Became an editorial assistant at Parenting magazine in San Francisco, despite a lack of children or interest in them and spent three years writing articles on things like how breastfeeding can crack your nipples and the awesomeness of Barney the Dinosaur
1996: Moved to Los Angeles and became a full-time freelancer (oxymoron, which is why there was a class action lawsuit years later) at People magazine
1997: Fired from People magazine despite not having a real job there
1998-2000: Got up to nothing good and did a s*itload of cocaine
May, 2000: Got sober, entire life changed and landed an internship at the Ifilm website as a columnist
Sept, 2000: Was wooed away from Ifilm for dream job at Premiere magazine as a staff writer where I started doing a column called “Party Girl”
2001: Began freelancing for magazines like Time, Cosmo, Redbook, Teen Vogue, Playboy, Details, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Self, Maxim, Stuff, TV Guide, Variety, Women’s Health, Self, Marie Claire, The New York Post, Us Weekly The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, Psychology Today, Entrepreneur.com and more
2002: Wrote a story for Playboy magazine that featured photos of me in such limited clothing that my mother was forbidden from looking at it; the story, “Sex in Two Cities,” was optioned and made into a reality TV pilot for TBS
2003: Was hired as the dating expert on G4’s Attack of the Show, co-hosting a segment with Olivia Munn; started appearing on numerous other TV shows, including Red Eye, Showbiz Tonight, The CBS Morning Show, The Talk, The Insider, Hannity & Colmes and various other programs on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, VH1, MTV and E
2007: Published a “Modern Love” in The New York Times
2007: HarperCollins published my first novel, Party Girl (a “novel” that was almost entirely true) and Sony optioned the movie rights
2007: Started getting media attention, some of it even good
2009: HarperCollins published my second novel, Bought
2010: Started speaking at colleges about addiction and recovery
2010: HarperCollins published my first anthology, Reality Matters
2010: Hired as the editor of The Fix, the first addiction recovery-focused website
2011: HarperCollins published my memoir Falling For Me
2013: Simon & Schuster published the book I wrote for Tom Sizemore, By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There (which perfectly described how I felt about working on it); the book sold so many copies that it hit The New York Times bestseller list
2014: Created the AfterPartyMagazine website and sold it to the owners of The Fix
2014: Soft Skull published my second anthology, True Tales of Lust and Love
2017: Left AfterParty, floundered for a bit
2018: Spoke at three different TEDx events
2018: Created the company now called Legacy Launch Pad Publishing
2018: Released our first book, Aiming High, and watched the author/our client land a six-figure spokesperson deal, add hundreds of thousands of dollars to his company's bottom line (a sports agency which had nothing to do with his book) and launch a lucrative speaking career. Went, "Huh, a book can really transform any entrepreneur's career, no matter their business! Oh, and traditional publishing is archaic!"
2018: Released the Party Girl audio book; sold the Party Girl movie rights to Martin Scorsese's producer
2019: Signed dozens of clients at Legacy Launch Pad and began launching a steady stream of books
2020: Released Make Your Mess Your Memoir, which landed me an appearance on Good Morning America and brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars in new business
2021: Got the rights to Party Girl back from HarperCollins and re-launched it, adding new talent to the movie in development and taking over an iconic Hollywood corner with it
2022: Watched a Legacy Launch Pad book hit the #1 spot on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list
2022: Began speaking at events on sharing your story to build your business
2023: Became a first-time mom at the age of 53
My Point
I didn't tell you any of this to brag. I told you to prove it's possible. I dreamt of sharing my story with the world—or really with anyone beyond my cat. Well, first I dreamt of getting out of the pain I was living with on a daily basis. And then I dreamt of being able to share that journey to help other people through it.
And if it was possible for me to do this, it's also possible for you.
Here are some ways I can help you make that happen:
If you want to know more about my company, click here.
If you want me to speak at your event on sharing your story to build your business, click here.