[6] After leaving her position as a columnist, Rowell began working for an ad agency and writing what would become her first published novel, Attachments, as a pastime.

[7] The novel, a contemporary romantic comedy about a company's IT guy who falls in love with a woman whose email he has been monitoring, was published in 2011.

[9] In August 2023, Rowell sold the future publishing rights of four adult novels to William Morrow and Company.

[12] Eleanor & Park was also chosen by Amazon as one of the 10 best books of 2013,[13] and it also won as Goodreads' best young adult fiction of the year.

He embarks on his quest with his best friend Penelope and his girlfriend Agatha, all the while "struggling" with Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Grimm-Pitch, his vampire "nemesis."

In January 2014, Rowell signed a two-book deal with First Second Books to author two young adult graphic novels, the first of which was illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks and released on August 27, 2019.