What's it like to write a bestselling book? We followed Lucy Score for a year to find out.
What's it like to write a bestselling book? We followed Lucy Score for a year to find out.
Clare Mulroy, USA TODAYFri, March 13, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC
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1 / 0What's it like to write a bestselling book? We followed Lucy Score for a year to find out.We followed bestselling author Lucy Score for an entire year as she wrote and published a new romance novel.
Readers of Lucy Score’s new romance novel, “Mistakes Were Made,” will marvel at the cover and sprayed edges. They'll anticipate the love story that awaits them on the pages. But all the excitement in the world would still leave readers unaware of just how far this book has traveled to get into their hands.
It’s all I can think about because I’ve followed this novel for an entire year – from Score’s plotting and writing sessions when we first met in March 2025 in Boston, to developmental edits at her Pennsylvania farmhouse, to the printing press in Virginia, to the March 10 publication day in New York City.
A bestseller known for romance novels like “Things We Never Got Over,” Score represents how some authors are claiming more stake in the digital age. Her sales as a self-published and independent author were so successful that she didn’t need a traditional book deal. Then Bloom Books, an imprint of Sourcebooks, came knocking with a print-only offer.
Now, she and her fiancé, Tim (affectionately dubbed “Mr. Lucy” by fans), retain digital and audiobook rights under Tim’s publishing company, That’s What She Said Books, where he signs other authors, including Score’s sister, Madison Score. The two employ an inside-out approach to business, hiring her readers as assistants and marketers and her brother as Tim’s second-in-command. From a zealous Facebook group of fans to a hometown bookstore turned tourist destination, in romance publishing, everything’s coming up Lucy. After 12 months together, I understand why.
March 2025: On tour for Book One while writing Book Two
I first meet Score in Boston at the tail end of publication week for “Story of My Life,” the first book of a new small-town romance series. On a six-city book tour, Score has the indefatigable energy of a character on “Ted Lasso” (her favorite show): cheerful, sarcastic and happy to be here.
On tour, she’ll meet scores of fans, travel the country and sign hundreds of books, but she won’t have much time to write. Still, in the back of her mind is the draft of the second book, “Mistakes Were Made,” due to her editor June 11.
Lucy Score at HomeApril to June 2025: Back home and writing
When Score returns from her tour, it’s time to really get to work. Her process has changed in recent years due to the moving parts of traditional publishing.
“What’s been interesting to me is how many more layers we’ve added to the process. … (I used to) write a book and two months later we would publish it,” Score says. “Now I have to write a book and it’s not going to come out for nine, 10, 12 months.”
In the morning, she manages the business side of books. In the late morning and afternoon, she writes in 25-minute blocks and joins a virtual writing “sprint” with author friends for accountability.
Score starts her stories with a character sketch, writing everything she knows and feels about her hero and heroine. Then, she outlines whatever scenes come to her first. The formulaic nature of romance novels comes in handy. She knows there will be a grand gesture and a third-act fight and, of course, a happily ever after.
“I just try to drill down to a point where I know why they can’t be together because conflict is just so juicy; I love conflict,” she says. “In real life, I’m very conflict-averse. I don’t want to be involved in any drama or arguments, but on the page, just bring it on.”
When she gets stuck, she walks away from her screen to exercise or visit family. She talks to author friends occasionally, but doesn’t often share much about the plot as she’s writing.
“What usually happens is I go upstairs to Mr. Lucy’s office, my poor Tim, and I will dramatically throw myself on the floor,” Score says. “I just verbally vomit everything, like the problem, what I can’t figure out, where I am so far with the characters and a lot of times that really starts to jog something loose. He rarely says anything. He’s like, ‘Hmm.’”
July 2025: Editing at home in PennsylvaniaLucy Score at Home
In July, I drive three hours from New York City to Score’s home in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. The massive white farmhouse sits on almost nine acres of land with wildflowers in the front lawn and a Koi pond in the back, custom-built and designed over two years during the pandemic.
A secret bookshelf swings open to reveal Score’s office, packed with her own merch and titles by her favorite authors. Upstairs, there’s an entire room dedicated to Score’s translated copies and overstock.
By now, Score has turned in the second draft of “Mistakes Were Made.”
Now, she has “two weeks of bliss where I think the book is perfect and done and everything’s wonderful,” she quips. “Then the developmental edits come in and my soul has to shatter and I have to rail at the injustice of it all.”
Her skin has gotten thicker, she says, but the first 24 hours are still a “strong knee-jerk reaction.” She lets herself “feel the feelings” and step away, returning the next morning with a more objective lens. After developmental edits, which deal with plot and character, she’ll embark on a series of other edits, including line edits, proofreading and sensitivity reads.
“This time around we have a very short turn time, so I have to get them back immediately. So that’s just an added stresser,” she says. “There’s not enough time, in my mind, to make this book as perfect as it could be or as good as it could be, so I have to get used to good enough.”
She’s also outlining book three, the final in the “Story Lake” trilogy. This is much earlier than her typical outlining, and she’s testing out different strategies to keep herself on track for her June 2026 deadline.
Score takes me on a tour of her town, peppered with corn fields and sleepy, winding roads. It’s no wonder she can set the scene for a small-town romance. We’re en route to Cupboard Maker Books, which fans call “the Lucy Score bookstore” because they stock her signed books and her titles are painted on a mural outside. Owner Michelle Haring was a member of Score's Facebook fan group before she met the author “and proceeded to fangirl all over her,” she says.
The bookstore is a tourist destination for fans, and Haring directs visitors to her “shrine,” a decorated bookshelf of Score’s greatest hits. We meet Courtney Coyle, who detoured from her Michigan road trip to see the bookstore and, with any luck, the author herself. Starstruck, she went home with a photo and a signed book.
Every two weeks, Score stops by to sign a stack and Haring ships them out. If Score wasn’t “just as wonderful as the characters in her books,” Haring says, she wouldn’t be doing this. Score stops by unannounced, so she doesn’t get “mobbed,” Haring reveals.
“I ask her not to tell me because I’m really bad at keeping secrets,” Haring says.
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Haring keeps pre-signed copies behind the counter so customers don’t buy and resell them for a higher price online. She says the store has seen a bump in sales because of Score, calling her “a real benefit for the community.”
Later, we grab tacos at El Rodeo, where Score and Tim are regulars. As we eat, I ask about their business operations as a couple. Because Score likes to be hands-on, the print-only deal with Bloom is a “symbiotic relationship” – she reaps the benefits of their distribution network, and Bloom can rely on her for digital advertising. Today, dozens comprise “Team Lucy Score.”
Team Lucy Score includes a dedicated crew of the author's family, former readers and more. The publisher houses dozens more specialists to edit, design and distribute the book.
Score sent me video diaries throughout the year. On July 23, she checks in to say she’s finished developmental edits.
“It’s a real book at this point, I think people could read it and it’s real,” she says, grinning in her pajamas.
August 2025: Designing the book’s cover
It’s time to reveal the cover for “Mistakes Were Made.”
From the jump, Score knew she wanted it to be yellow with a disco ball. Bloom originally showed her a mockup, but the disco ball’s lines were too thick, and it didn’t sparkle quite right. She went to Kari March, a Colorado-based designer who has crafted nearly all of Score’s cover art, and started work on something new.
Designing a cover is “a lot of stock photos and trial and error,” March says.
Lucy Score's cover designer, Kari March, walks books reporter Clare Mulroy through the design process for "Mistakes Were Made."
“Mistakes Were Made” was an easier design because they’d already agreed on fonts for the Story Lake series. Over a video call, March walks me through her process. It took her about a week to play around with concepts and incorporate Score’s feedback. Then she sends the mock-ups to Bloom and they add additional text to the front and back.
Bloom tests the cover with retailers and potential consumers (“I've had some cover concepts that a retailer was like, ‘No, no, that won't sell on our shelves,’” Score says).
Back in Pennsylvania, Lucy has just gotten copy edits back and has a little less than a week to get through them before jetting off to New Zealand and Australia for another book tour.
Fall 2025: Finishing book to send to printers
In early September, Score finishes copy edits. At her kitchen counter, she’s now signing 5,000 “tip-in sheets,” pages that will be bound into finished books at the printers for bookstores and in-person events.
By mid-October, Score is back home from her travels and reviewing the final manuscript before it goes to the printer. With chapter titles and graphics, it looks like a real book now.
Carolyn Telesca, VP of Bespoke Publishing Operations, is responsible for getting the manuscripts ready to print. She tells me the publishers worked backward from Score’s requested publish date. This is an atypical, Lucy-specific operation. Usually, the publishers decide on a sale date independent of the author.
Once Score gives the go-ahead, Telesca and her team work on the layout and design of the book, including internal art on chapter headers, font and maps.
December 2025: The printing journey begins
In December, I journey to Harrisonburg, Virginia, to the Lakeside Book Company printing facilities. This is just one stop on this book’s journey to readers' hands. Separate facilities print the cover and colorful sprayed edges.
I don steel-toed boot covers, earplugs and a reflective safety jacket. I watch as text from the digital files is burned onto large plates of aluminum, then stamped onto paper and cut into long strips to be bound in smaller segments. In another room, a machine will layer the segments and dispense warm glue dots to attach the covers. The manufacturers let me pick up a copy of Score’s hard-earned efforts as it’s spit out of the machine. The book is still warm; "Mistakes Were Made" is literally hot off the press.
Five different editions of "Mistakes Were Made" traveled to two cover printers, three book binderies and two edge printers across five states.January to March 2026: Preparing for the ‘Mistakes Were Made’ release
When I check in with Score in January, she’s finished her first draft of book three and is starting her edits while preparing for the “Mistakes Were Made” tour.
Just before the book goes on sale, I head to Bloom’s Manhattan offices for a peek at their marketing strategy. They’re boxing bookish merch and advanced reader copies, or unfinished books for media and influencers to build buzz before the book goes on sale. In my hands-on lesson, I stuff pens, notepads and stickers with clever quotes into bright yellow bubble mailers.
March 2026: ‘Mistakes Were Made’ release week
On March 10, 2026, “Mistakes Were Made” officially publishes. For the author, pub day is bittersweet.
“Today, the book doesn't belong to me anymore. It belongs to everyone else,” she says. “Before every release, I get nervous. That's just who I am. I think if I ever stopped getting nervous, it means that I don't care anymore. I don't ever want to get to that point. I appreciate the anxiety that comes with this.”
Lucy Score Book Release
That evening, around 300 readers pack into a Barnes & Noble in New York City to hear Score in conversation with fellow USA TODAY bestselling author Xio Axelrod and get a pre-signed copy of “Mistakes Were Made.” Score spends an hour posing for photos with fans, who are eager to share what her books mean to them. Some bring gifts. They’ve traveled from as far as Michigan and Tennessee. One came all the way from Holland. They stop to say hello to Tim on their way out the door, a celebrity in his own right.
Score ends the night reading her Kindle in bed, and soon she’ll depart for Kansas City, her next tour stop. When Score gets back home, it’s time to do it all over again. The title of the third book in the Story Lake trilogy (out in 2027) puts it aptly – “Just One More Chapter.”
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How do you become a bestselling author? I followed one for a year.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
