It began with a promise to a small child and evolved into last night's book signing at the Penn Bookstore for Karen Quinones Miller's third novel, Using What You Got.
Miller, a former reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, faced a handful of people and regaled them with the poker-playing braggadocio of Reggie Bynum, a main character in her latest novel.
Miller explained how elements of the book were loosely based on her experiences with her daughter and teenage nieces.
Her daughter also inspired her to write her first novel, Satin Doll, in 1998.
In an effort to sweeten her daughter's appetite for bed, Miller promised her then-12-year-old child that she would write a novel. Rather than break a promise, she finished the book in two months.
"There was no pressure, only a 12-year-old girl. And all those years there must have been a novel locked up in my heart," she said.
Miller then sent 35 query letters to major publishing companies informing them of her hot-off-the-inkjet-printer manuscript. She received 50 rejections -- some companies thought they had to tell her no twice.
Still, she persisted independently. Miller found an illustrator, taught herself how to typeset, priced printers and borrowed every single dime it took to print 3,000 copies of her work.
"When I met another self-published author, after I had sunk my life's savings and my next month's rent in the printing of my book, he told me it would take two years to sell 3,000 copies," she said.
It took her six months.
To promote the book, she and her daughter would venture into popular avenues, like 35th and Walnut streets, Broad Street and 52nd Street at 3 a.m. every night and post hundreds of flyers.
The team of two hit up every bookstore in Philadelphia and convinced them to carry her book. In eight months, she sold over 20,000 copies. The major publishers who had rejected her months ago called her back.
Random House began with an offer of $10,000, but that was too low for Miller. A bidding war began that resulted in a publishing auction -- the rights to her novel were sold for $165,000.
She quit her journalism job and began to write fiction full time.
"Each book is an issue I need to work out in my life," she said.
Essence placed her on its bestseller list. And she inspired others, who turned out last night to hear Miller speak.
"I sat in this bookstore and read your books while my husband was taking classes at the Law School," Courtney Omega said. "I'm a journalist, but your book inspired me to write my own novel."
One Penn Bookstore employee paused her shelving to listen to Miller.
"She reads with such feeling and brings such expression to her characters. They enticed me to buy her novel," Virginiah Curtiss said.
"She has a dynamic personality. I started with Satin Doll and bought one for my niece; that opened a world of literature for her," first-year Wharton MBA student Icy Jones said.
