How to write a bestseller

After a succession of careers, Adele was approaching her 30th birthday when she decided to try and fulfil her burning ambition to write books. She wrote at nights, at weekends, in airports, in hotels, on her PC and even on the back of menus. After biting the bullet, she sent a couple of chapters to an agent and he was interested enough to want to see the rest.

Of course, Adele hadn't yet written the ending. 'I figured getting started had to be the hardest thing', she says. 'In this, as in many things, I was mistaken; the endings are harder.'

She sent the completed manuscript three months later and it was snapped up by Penguin. In the following weeks it was sold in the USA, Germany, Italy, France, The Netherlands and other countries.

So what's her secret? She tells Penguin UK: 'I sit by a closed window, facing the computer, silently pleading for the phone to ring to ease the pressure of having to finish the page. I do have to be in the mood to write. If I'm bored my readers will be bored, so I always wait for inspiration to strike.'

It was such a guaranteed money-spinner that eight publishers competed at auction, with HarperCollins eventually beating the competition. Warner Bros have since bought the film rights and Jenny has followed up her success with Talking to Addison and Looking for Andrew McCarthy.