It was Ms. Fletcher who originally sold The Nanny Diaries to St. Martins Press in the summer of 2000, after suggesting to Ms. Kraus and Ms. McLaughlin, who had met as N. Y. U. students, that their idea for a joint memoir of their days as nannies to prominent New York families would be betterand legally saferas a novel. Ms. Fletcher shopped a partial manuscript to publishers. She was turned away by many who deemed the novel too New Yorky, until Jennifer Weis at St. Martins bought the book for an advance of $25,000. Ms. Fletcher later sold British rights for around $125,000, audio rights for $25,000 (with Julia Roberts doing the reading), and film rightswhich Miramax bought in May 2001for $500,000, plus best-seller bonuses that will ultimately total over $1 million.