Pan Macmillan has handed Miranda Dickinson a six-figure, three-book deal, the Bookseller has reported. Six figures is sizable, and when the fifth largest publisher in the UK spends such an amount it's probably not on a whim. So just who is Miranda Dickinson, and why the sum?

The short answer is this: Dickinson is a Sunday Times bestselling author, about whom Caroline Hogg (a Pan senior commissioning editor) says, “If you’re a fan of women’s fiction, you’ll know what an inspiration Miranda is within the community."

The deal sees Ms Hogg acquire the world English rights for Dickinson's next three titles, so of course such praise is expected. Still, Dickinson is the author of six novels with the latest (Take A Look At Me Now) boasting a 4-star Amazon average and a 3.78 Goodreads score. And the author clearly has a fair amount of fans.

Miss R. Saberton writes about Take A Look At Me Now:

Well written, sympathetic characters that stay with the reader and, as always, delivered with Miranda's trademark compassion and humour. I loved it.

And a review from Pajama Book girl reads:

My first Miranda Dickinson novel has finally been read and I must say I enjoyed it greatly. Take a look at me now is extremely thorough in explanation and has a quirky and unique way in which it is wrote, this means that you are straight away dragged into the book by your hair!

Pan Macmillan will obviously be hoping for more of the same from the author, who has been delivering her stories like clockwork for the last five years. Since 2009 every late-October or early November has seen a new Dickinson novel.

Following the sequence we'd assume the new deal includes a release later this year, as well as books to be released in 2015 and 2016.

Yep, we've probably jinxed it!

Not everyone may be a fan of the author's work - being cliché and being too twee, the main criticisms - but every author has their critics, and we doubt Pan Macmillan is too worried.

Obviously we wish her well with the new deal. Dickinson herself writes in an update, "I'm moving on to the next big chapter of my writing life – and I’m so excited!"