 To gain a publisher for her work, now called "Through a Glass Darkly", Koen sent the manuscript to Jean Naggar, whose name she found in "Writer's Digest".Naggar encouraged Koen to continue finishing the book; believing it to be "the launching of a major author," Naggar mailed the manuscript to five major publishing companies; Random House purchased it for a "whopping" $350,000 in August 1985, which was at the time a record for a new novelist.Koen and her husband used some of this money to purchase a three-bedroom house in Houston.