I didn't need get to get a blue check mark to write a book, but I did need to be a journalist for a decade, convince an agent to work on spec, and get rejected by every publishing house in New York for my first idea in order to eventually land a book deal
I've never told this story, but the reason I wrote a book about the NRA was because I originally pitched a book about Maria Butina, the Russian government agent who I uncovered in 2017
Every New York book publisher rejected it because Russia was 'so over'