Bestsellers Don’t Happen by Accident: Lessons From 3 Bestselling Authors

Here, novelists Dhonielle Clayton, Tara Conklin, and Kate Dylan share the real story behind their bestselling books and the many ways their writing journeys differed. All of them are writing coaches at The Novelry, where you can enjoy one-on-one coaching sessions on your novel when you join us on a writing course.

Our award-winning team includes New York Times, Sunday Times, and USA Today bestselling authors, and our graduates include bestselling Read with Jenna and Reese’s Book Club picks, so you can be sure we know a thing or two about writing bestselling fiction. After all, every bestselling novel starts with one strong idea.

If you’re at the beginning of your own writing journey, The Big Idea course is the perfect first step.

So, whether you’re interested in traditional publishing, self-publishing, hybrid publishing, or you simply dream of selling a million copies of your book, let’s find out what it takes—and what it feels like—to write a book that will hit the bestseller charts.

Meet the authors

Dhonielle Clayton

Dhonielle is a New York Times bestselling author and the board chair of We Need Diverse Books, a nonprofit organization created to promote diversity in children’s literature. She is the New York Times bestselling author of 15 titles. In this article, Dhonielle examines the conception of the first book in her Conjureverse series, The Marvellers.

Tara Conklin

Tara is the New York Times bestselling author of The House Girl and The Last Romantics, as well as a former lawyer—and former New Yorker! Here, the Seattle resident discusses the success of her first bestselling book and how it paved the path for a second.

Kate Dylan

Kate is the Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction novels for both YA and adult readers, including Mindwalker, one of Kirkus’s best YA books of the year, and Until We Shatter, which she tells us about here. Based in the U.K., Kate also delves into the interesting experience of publishing on home turf versus across the pond.

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Originating your book’s big idea

Tell us how you came up with the idea for your bestselling book

Dhonielle Clayton: When I came up with the idea for The Marvellers, I was working as a school librarian. One of my students asked why there wasn’t a magic school she could get an invitation to attend. She was a first-generation child whose parents were from the Dominican Republic and Mexico, and when we looked at all the famous magic school books together, she was disappointed that there wasn’t a place where she could speak Spanish or use magic that felt connected to her identity. That question stayed with me and made me start thinking deeply about magic schools in children’s literature.

Because I’m trained as a scholar with a Master’s degree in children’s literature, I approached it academically at first. I made a list of every magic school adventure book I could find and started reading through them, asking myself how marginalized children fit into that literary tradition.

Before I started writing, I spent three months “story thinking.” I tend to let ideas simmer before I put pen to paper. I often compare it to a sourdough starter. All the ingredients are bubbling and reacting, but I still need a few more pieces before I can bake the bread. During that time, I research, watch documentaries, films, and TV shows, and start building the imaginative landscape of the story while searching for the right character to follow.

I tend to let ideas simmer before I put pen to paper. I often compare it to a sourdough starter. All the ingredients are bubbling and reacting, but I still need a few more pieces before I can bake the bread.
—Dhonielle Clayton

Tara Conklin: I wrote my debut, The House Girl (which became a New York Times bestseller), over the course of five years, but I wouldn’t have said I was writing a novel until about year three and a half. I was working full-time as a lawyer then, but I always loved to write stories, so the novel began as a short story about a character named Josephine Bell.

After I finished the story, I kept thinking about Josephine and the world where she lived, so I started writing stories about other related characters. It was a very organic, start-stop process. The idea for my second novel, The Last Romantics (also a New York Times bestseller), originated from a family tragedy that happened about ten years before I started writing the story.

I had long wondered about this particular event and wanted to write about it, but I wasn’t sure how my extended family would react. After I wrote about 20,000 words, I talked to my father and my grandmother about the book, and they were both very supportive. So then I knew I could keep writing!

Kate Dylan: Until We Shatter actually started life as a very different book. It was originally a story about the tooth fairy—which makes very little sense when you read the final version, but that’s how I first started playing with the idea of a main character who was a thief. She was a tooth fairy who stole teeth. That book was utterly unmarketable, though, so after showing my (first) agent the first chapter, on the shelf it went. I dusted it off a couple of years later, at which point it became a contemporary fantasy novel set in New York about witches.

This was the version in which the Gray was born—a secondary shadow world that features heavily in the finished book—as well as the color-based magic system. But again, after discussions with my (now second) agent, the book went back on the shelf because I still didn’t have the concept right in a way that would be marketable. Two years later, I took the idea of the Gray, the thief, and the magic system, and reimagined them as a fully second-world fantasy heist... and this was the version that my agent, editor, and I all believed would work for the market.

‍In a recent blog post, children’s author Ashley Thorpe has some further thoughts on writing a book that’s ready for the ever-changing publishing industry.

How did you know when the book was good enough to start writing?

Dhonielle: For me, knowing when a story is ready to write feels almost alchemical. I need three things in place before I can begin:

• The “so what?” at the center of the story
• The world itself
• The character who will either cause the most trouble or find themselves at the center of it

I always begin by asking why I’m writing the story. What is making me angry, excited, or emotionally invested in the topic? That emotional core eventually becomes the book’s theme and motifs.

You can learn more about discovering your book’s biggest theme via this insightful blog from Melanie Conklin.

Then I need the world. I’m a world-first writer, so I get excited by creating the setting before anything else. Finally, I need the character who will move through that world and disrupt it in interesting ways. Then I’m ready to start.

Tara: When I started my first novel, I wrote primarily to entertain myself, so I honestly didn’t think at all if it was a “good” idea. It was a character and a situation I was interested in learning more about, so I just started writing about it.

My process now as a full-time writer is obviously different, but I think the questions I ask myself now reflect essentially the same thought process I used then:

• Am I obsessed with this idea?
• Am I dying to know more about this person/place/situation?
• Can I not stop thinking about this?

I think you just need to trust your gut on whether an idea is “good” enough. If it’s enough to sustain your interest, then it’s enough to sustain your reader’s interest.

Kate: I already had a publisher when the viable version of Until We Shatter was born, which meant I already had a team in place to advise me on whether it was worth writing. I wrote a synopsis and the first three chapters, then ran them by my editor, who had the option to see the book exclusively and bid on it first. When she decided to acquire it, I knew I had a green light.

You just need to trust your gut on whether an idea is “good” enough. If it’s enough to sustain your interest, then it’s enough to sustain your reader’s interest.
—Tara Conklin

Developing your book’s main concept

How did the book idea evolve while you were writing?

Dhonielle: The idea for The Marvellers evolved a lot during the writing process. At first, I wanted to create a magic school in the sky that traveled all over the world so any child with magic could attend, regardless of language, nationality, or background. I wanted every one of my students to feel like there was a place for them.

Originally, I had planned to tell the story through two points of view. But as I wrote, one character’s story kept growing larger and more compelling. Narrowing the focus helped strengthen the themes at the heart of the book.

Tara: The ideas for my first two novels both evolved significantly over the course of the writing. I will say, though, that my initial spark of inspiration—the character of Josephine Bell and the family tragedy—remained the same, but I examined them from all different angles over the course of writing those books.

I wrote all the historical sections of The House Girl before I decided I wanted a dual timeline. Then I wrote the contemporary storyline as a free-standing piece, and then I braided them together (which took a long time and many, many more edits!). I don’t necessarily recommend doing it this way, but it did teach me how to write a dual timeline!

Tell us about the first draft writing process. How long did it take?

Dhonielle: Writing the first draft was difficult for reasons beyond the craft itself. Magic school books are evergreen in children’s fiction, but there is one enormous cultural touchstone that dominates every conversation about the genre.

Early in my career, many people in publishing circles and critique groups discouraged me from writing a magic school story at all. I was repeatedly told traditional publishers wouldn’t want another one because everyone only wanted Hogwarts. That fear sat heavily on me while I wrote the first draft, and it took me about a year to complete because I had to constantly battle that voice in my head telling me there wasn’t space for this story. Eventually, I realized I wasn’t building a magic school for one group of children in one place. I was building a global magic school for everyone.

Once I embraced that idea, I was able to free myself creatively. After finishing the draft, I put it away for a while because I was still nervous about it. Later, I came back to revise it over the course of another year before we eventually submitted it.

Kate: Until We Shatter was the first book I wrote a zero draft for, which means it’s the first book that really helped me shave time off my drafting process. I think it took about three months to get a zero draft of the book written, then another couple of months to clean that zero draft up into something I could hand to my editor. Before this, I was averaging closer to 10 to 12 months for a book.

Start to finish, that book was done in just under a year. But of course, that doesn’t include the time the book idea spent moving on and off the shelf.

Navigating the editing process

How did you switch off your internal editor for the first draft?

Dhonielle: I don’t completely silence my internal editor. I control when I allow it to appear. I’m not someone who can write a completely messy zero draft. Instead, I give myself permission to go back twice during the drafting process, and only for plot-related reasons. The first time is after I finish Act One. At that point, I revisit the opening to make sure all the foundational pieces are in place.

The second time is at the midpoint because my stories tend to sink in the middle like a cake. I spend a lot of time making sure the midpoint is structurally solid so the book doesn’t lose momentum. Importantly, those edits are only about the plot. I don’t allow myself to obsess over line-level writing, beautiful language, or descriptions during that stage.

You can learn more about “zero drafts” here.

Kate: This was really hard! Up until this point, I was quite a meticulous writer, and I found it very hard to write rough prose. However, this was a book that I sold on proposal (so only three chapters existed when I sold it), but my publisher still wanted to release it a year after my previous book. So, suddenly, I didn’t have the same amount of time to work my way through the first draft, which forced me to change my process.

Juggling your life routine with your writing routine

What was your daily writing routine like for your bestselling book?

I actually took time off work to get the draft done. Interestingly, that doesn’t mean writing all day. I actually write better later in the day, so mornings became for chores or life admin, then I would draft come the afternoon. I had a daily word goal, and I simply wouldn’t go to bed until I hit it (which was possible because I didn’t have to go to work in the morning).
—Kate Dylan

Dhonielle: At the time I was writing The Marvellers, I was working four jobs. I was a full-time librarian, tutoring students, interning, taking short writing gigs, and trying to write my own projects whenever I could.

Because of that, I usually only had about five hours across two days each week to write. Some weeks, I only managed one hour on a Sunday, and that was all. So my routine became less about daily word counts and more about staying connected to the story whenever possible.

If I couldn’t physically write, I would research. I kept a running list of things I needed to learn or investigate, and during lunch breaks or spare moments, I would chip away at that list. Even if I wasn’t adding pages to the manuscript, I was still making progress.

Tara: Both of those books were written when I had two (and then three!) young kids at home, so I basically wrote whenever they were napping, at childcare, or otherwise engaged. Now that they’re all teenagers, I like to get up early and write first thing in the morning. I feel like my brain is more flexible in the morning. It’s easier to get into a flow and generate ideas than, say, after lunch when all I want to do is take a nap! I then sometimes re-read and edit after dinner—depending on what else is going on.

Alice Kuipers’ blog on managing writing with motherhood is a great read if you relate to Tara here.

Kate: I actually took time off work to get the draft done. As a freelance video editor, I was able to simply stop accepting jobs for a couple of months, so that I could spend all day writing. Interestingly, that doesn’t mean writing all day. I actually write better later in the day, so mornings became chores or life admin, then I would draft in the afternoon. I had a daily word goal, and I simply wouldn’t go to bed until I hit it (which was possible because I didn’t have to go to work in the morning).

Accepting the chaos of your book’s first draft

Tell us about editing the first draft. What was your process?

In total, my first bestselling book took me three years to write, one year to sell, and another five years before publication.
—Dhonielle Clayton

Dhonielle: Editing the first draft was chaotic because I didn’t yet know how to properly edit a novel. It took me eight or nine drafts to truly get the story right because I initially tried to fix every single problem at once. Over time, I learned that revision works best when you focus on different elements in separate passes, meaning: structure, then character, pacing, then world-building, language, and so on.

In total, The Marvellers took me three years to write, one year to sell, and another five years before publication. My editor pushed me through extensive revisions, but always for the better. Together, we worked hard to ensure the world-building and themes felt distinct.

Kate: I worked on that draft with my editor (who I’d already edited two books with), so we had a pretty good working relationship. She knew the first draft was rough because of how fast I wrote it, so my edit letter was quite substantial.

But I’m a better editor than I am a drafter, so this is where I’m most comfortable. We did one big structural round of edits, one supplementary round that addressed some final “bigger things” along with a lot of line-level changes, and then it was off to copy edits.

At what point did you share the manuscript with an agent or editor?

Dhonielle: It took me about two years before I felt ready to share the manuscript with my agent, and another year before we sold it to an editor. By the time the book went to print, I had roughly eight complete drafts saved on my hard drive. Some were developed independently, some with my agent, and several through editorial revisions.

Tara: I shared my first book with my agent, Michelle Brower (who is still my agent, 13 years later!), after spending about five years on the draft. Because I wrote the book in fits and starts, I wouldn’t say that I had complete “drafts” but rather a story that kept getting longer and longer!

But I didn’t start querying agents until I felt that I had taken the manuscript as far as I could on my own. I thought the book was finished when I submitted it to her.

Michelle’s first words to me were: “I love your book, but it needs some work.” We then spent about nine months editing, totally re-structuring and revising the manuscript before submitting it to publishers.

Finding the right time to show your book to other people

Tell us about the road to publishing. Who published the book and how did it go?

I realize that the true value of having a bestseller is the certainty in knowing that you’ll be able to publish another book.
—Tara Conklin

Dhonielle: The Marvellers was ultimately published by Henry Holt at Macmillan in the United States, Piccadilly Press in the U.K., and HarperCollins Australia, along with several other international publishers. The road to publication was difficult. Although the manuscript eventually went to auction between two publishers, it was still a relatively modest auction. My editor, Tiffany Liao (formerly at Henry Holt), immediately understood what the book was trying to do.

We worked together on draft after draft to position The Marvellers as “the magic school of the future.” One particularly meaningful moment came during submissions in the U.K. Nearly every U.K. publisher rejected the book with the same reasoning: children in the U.K. already had Hogwarts. I mentioned those rejections online while talking with my friend, author Dapo Adeola, and he reposted.

The post went viral. Shortly afterward, Ruth Bennett at Piccadilly Press reached out to say that no one had ever shown her the manuscript and that she absolutely believed U.K. children needed another magic school story. She acquired the book, and it has since gone into multiple printings in both the U.K. and the U.S.

Tara: My first publisher was William Morrow, an imprint at HarperCollins. The book was sold at auction; we had seven bidders and theirs was the highest, plus I really connected with my editor, Kate Nintzel. Publishing my first and second books with Kate and William Morrow was a very positive experience. I was given solid promotional budgets, excellent publicists, sent on book tours, all the things.

My second novel, The Last Romantics, was chosen by Jenna Bush Hager at The Today Show as the inaugural read of her book club, which of course was very exciting. Because it was the first, we didn’t know what the impact on sales would be. My editor and I were both online watching the Amazon bestseller list after the Today Show announcement—we kept refreshing and my book kept moving up the list. That was a very satisfying moment!

Publishing my third novel, Community Board, was not nearly as positive as the first two—and the book was far less successful. This, unfortunately, is the reality with publishing: the higher the publicity budget, the greater the chance you’ll have a bestseller.

Kate: Until We Shatter was my “option” book with my existing publisher, so it was a very different process from writing, querying, and taking a book out on submission. The publisher was Hodderscape in the U.K., and the process went very smoothly.

However, an interesting part of Until We Shatter’s story is that by the time the book was edited and polished enough to submit to publishers in the U.S. (where I’d never sold a book before, so I couldn’t sell on proposal), the book had already been chosen for the Illumicrate box (a subscription box service for book lovers), which meant that it was releasing in 11 months no matter what. The subscription box is what ultimately helped the book sell enough copies in its first week to become a bestseller in the U.K., but the short lead time to publication is a big part of why we were unable to sell the book in the U.S. (as they need more time over there). So publishing really is a business of swings and roundabouts!

The reality of being a bestselling author

How does it feel to have a bestselling book?

Dhonielle: Having a bestseller feels incredibly rewarding because The Marvellers truly was an underdog. People told me not to write it. They told me there wasn’t space for it. But I trusted my instincts, kept revising, and kept believing there were children who wanted to see themselves reflected in magical worlds. Watching the book finally find its readers has been deeply meaningful.

Tara: Wonderful, of course! It was also somewhat surreal, especially with my first. Now, I realize that the true value of having a bestseller is the certainty in knowing that you’ll be able to publish another book. You’ve proven yourself in business terms to the publishing industry, and that means you’ll get another book deal! This is honestly the only thing that matters to me at this point—the accolades are nice, but I just want to keep supporting myself as a writer.

Writing a bestseller doesn’t happen by accident

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