Jan Miller

After college, Miller moved to Dallas and worked as a buyer for a large sporting goods retailer. During that time she met Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-born actor, former professional bodybuilder and politician who served as California’s 38th governor.Open the full entry, who was then under contract with Simon & Schuster, and proposed selling his book in sporting goods stores, an approach that proved successful.⁠[1]

She then met Dan Green, at the time president of Simon & Schuster, who asked her to call him whenever she came across a book idea. She has described that meeting as the beginning of her work as a literary agent and said her career path “wasn’t planned.”⁠[1]

In July 2013, Writer’s Digest published an interview with her. She said the agency was publishing more than 80 titles a year across categories including motivational, psychology, business, finance, politics, health and spirituality; works named in the piece included Joel Osteen’s I Declare, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett’s A Story of God and All of Us, Allison Pataki’s The Traitor’s Wife, and An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski.⁠[1]

Asked what she looks for in authors, she said “Voice. Is. Everything.” and that she wanted fresh voices with the potential to start a movement. She called Dr. Phil a lifelong friend and said: “He was the one who taught me never to be afraid to change your business model.”⁠[1]

She recalled that, about 25 years earlier, after being handed Stephen Covey’s manuscript for The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People at Random House, she said to Covey “I can sell your book,” and he replied “I believe you.” Her closing advice to writers was: “Be motivated by rejection, not stopped.”⁠[1]

On October 2, 2026, the YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel Hard Knocks Business published the video “I Spent a Day With the Woman Behind the World’s Biggest Celebrities.” The host approached her outside her home in Dallas, toured the house and spoke with her and her husband. In the video she said the books she had published numbered in the “thousands” and that the authors she had worked with included Tony Robbins, Dr. Phil, Maria Shriver and Jessica Simpson.⁠[2][2][2]

In the video she recalled moving to Dallas from Colorado without knowing anyone. She later started Dupree Miller with a business partner, initially doing public relations and marketing work and cold-calling prospects drawn from lists of acquaintances and from Time and Newsweek magazines. When her partner decided to stop working, she bought the name.⁠[2][2][2][2]

She described how her work with Tony Robbins began: she was hired to market a Robbins event in Dallas, then went to another of his events in Arizona to suggest he write a book, and contacted Dan Green, whom she had met socially. After the meeting the publisher asked her price for the world rights; she asked for $250,000 and held to that figure through several counteroffers. She said Green agreed to buy at $250,000, said he would have paid $300,000 and that she was “now a literary agent.”⁠[2][2][2][2]

She also recalled that someone later handed her Stephen Covey’s doctoral thesis; after reading it on a plane she called Covey and flew to Provo, Utah, to meet him. She called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People “the biggest thing we’ve ever done” and said she was still working with the Covey enterprise on a children’s book. She added that during a helicopter ride Tony Robbins once said she was not focusing on herself enough, a conversation she said changed her life.⁠[2][2][2][2]

On October 5, 2026, Hard Knocks Business published a short edit from the same Dallas shoot titled “Ever heard of Tony Robbins? Dr. Phil? 2 Chainz? THIS woman works your favorite celebrities!” In this version she also named Arianna Huffington among the authors she had worked with.⁠[3][3]

Drawing on her trip to Provo to meet Covey, she said opportunities come from turning up in person and urged entrepreneurs to always show up (video at 09:42).⁠[2]

For entrepreneurs who want to write a book to build credibility or a brand, she said they first need a platform and an audience that will buy the book, and then good writing (video at 11:23).⁠[2]

She said confidence must be paired with kindness, because arrogance destroys deals (video at 13:17).⁠[2]

For people who want to write a book but do not yet know their story, she suggested starting by writing the story down and studying the craft (video at 15:44).⁠[2]

Dupree Miller & Associates: Official website: http://www.dupreemiller.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[4][2]