I finally landed a 6-figure book deal after 20 years of trying to become an author. Here's how I did it.

• Melissa Petro is a freelance writer, writing instructor, and author in New York City.
• She tried to sell her memoir for years before selling it at auction in November for six figures.
• To fine-tune it, she became an avid reader, wrote as much as she could, and found the right agent.

Scoring a book deal is always an accomplishment, but after I dreamed of becoming an author for more than 20 years, selling a nonfiction project for six figures to a Big Five publisher felt both astonishing and hard-earned.

Like a lot of people, I'd always secretly harbored ambitions of becoming a writer, but I didn't start taking my craft seriously until my mid-20s when I invested in a Master of Fine Arts. Even then, writing remained a hobby for another few years.