Jessica Knoll knows how to sell a book.
She knows how to write a book, too, as her legions of fans will reiterate.
Theyll tell you thatLuckiest Girl Aliveshook them to their core.
Richard Perry/The New York Times/Redux
Theyll tell you it was the ultimate page-turner, that it was dark and deliciously twisted.
Theyll tell you that the big reveal made for one of their favorite crimes.
But really, she knows how to sell a book.
Simon & Schuster (2)
Luckiest Girl Alivesold more than 450,000 copies.
It spent four months on theNew York Times best-seller list.
It printed in dozens and dozens of countries.Reese Witherspoon bought the movie rights.
It was the most successful debut of 2015.
Amy Schumer and Lena Dunham shouted her praise.
Reese Witherspoon chimed in with, Its okay to be an ambitious woman.
Its actually more than okay…its goals.
The publics hunger for female bravado is something that surprised even Knoll herself.
I never thought it would strike a nerve the way it did, Knoll tells EW.
Its crazy because you go around thinking things like this but you never really vocalize them, she continues.
Theres something really comforting in that.
All of this buzz isnt happening in a vacuum, of course Knoll is far too adept for that.
In some ways, I wasnt even angry at them for being like that, she muses.
I was angry at myself that I couldnt be more like that.
Part of me is like, well the way we did it worked, and women are the consumer.
More women read than men and more women go to movies than men.
She did stints at magazines, including serving as the books editor atCosmopolitan.
Her time atCosmoalso inspired her to take the success ofLuckiest Girl Alive.
All of that perseverance led to herNew York Timestenure, to the adaptation, to her fame.
Or, at least, what some people would call fame.
Im not famous and I would never call myself famous, she cautions.
But Im definitely more exposed than I was several years ago, and its an adjustment.
An adjustment that, thanks to Knolls fearlessness, many more female authors will be making in the future.
