It began with a simple Google search.

In 2020, while under lockdown at the University of Melbourne, New York Times bestselling author Ann Liang typed a question many aspiring writers have likely asked: How do you become an author? Then, she followed the steps.

At the time, the Beijing-born author was studying history and media/communications, surrounded by peers pursuing internships and conventional career paths. But the uncertainty of the pandemic shifted her perspective. “Anything could change in a moment,” she said. “I might as well seize whatever I can and make the most of what I have right now.”

What followed was unexpectedly swift. After querying her manuscript, Liang began hearing back from agents within days, including her now-agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. “From there on, that’s when things really started to feel real,” she said.

The decisiveness of that moment stands in contrast to how her journey began. The idea of becoming a writer had once felt distant—a daydream sparked years earlier after an author’s visit to her school. At 12, she briefly attempted to write a novel after discovering that publishers accepted manuscripts. “I thought maybe I should try writing one,” she recalled in an interview with Publishers Weekly. “Obviously that did not go anywhere, but it was always an idea that really appealed to me.”

Now, that distant dream has taken shape as a career—one that began, quite simply, with a search bar.