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Publishing at 14?

tommydarascal

tommydarascal

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Is it possible for a 14 year old to publish a book? My nephew has been writing a story for almost 2 years now, and I have to say, it is really coming along well. He says he is writing it just for kicks, but I think if there was any possibility of him getting it published then it would be really good for him.

Is it possible?

Thanks,

tommydarascal
 
Anything is possible....there is no age limit to writing and getting published.

When submitting work to agents or publishers there's no reason for anybody to present their age.

What will be difficult is the oh-so many rejections that normally happen before the "right" publisher is found. The younger a person is the harder it is to accept rejection....in many cases that is....
 
Thanks for that!

I am sure he could deal with rejection, but I always seemed to think there was an age limit to getting a manuscript published.

Thanks again!

tommydarascal
 
This probably isnt anything as close as publishing but when I was 14 I wrote a script for a TV show and it went onto the internet for the fans to read. They basically picked out the best fan fic and put it on their website.
 
There have been success stories with younger writers being published, but are they one-hit wonders? If your nephew was really wanting a longer career wouldn't it be best to wait a few years and keep practicing and perfecting and then build up his name as a mature author. The last thing you'd want would be to publish a book as a 14 year old, be promoted as such and then never respected as a more mature author. I'm not a writer, these are just my thoughts, so I can't really comment on what publishers look for. But you would want someone to publish his book based on it's quality, not because it's "good for his age".

Mind you, Christopher Paolini (sp?) is a younger writer with a success story, isn't he? He published his first book at 15 or so (see a short bio here: http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-paolini-christopher.asp). Will he last?
 
sirmyk said:
If you decide to query agents / publishers, leave out his age.
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Maybe. Maybe not. Being so young could be part of his "platform." Anything that generates publicity helps to sell books and there are journalists who might be interested in a writer simply because he is so young.

Oprah and Larry King used to frequently have a young poet on their shows. I forget his name, but he was terminally ill. I believe that he has since passed away. I'm pretty sure he sold a lot of books before he died.
 
Doug Johnson said:
Maybe. Maybe not. Being so young could be part of his "platform." Anything that generates publicity helps to sell books and there are journalists who might be interested in a writer simply because he is so young.

Oprah and Larry King used to frequently have a young poet on their shows. I forget his name, but he was terminally ill. I believe that he has since passed away. I'm pretty sure he sold a lot of books before he died.
Click to expand...

the "terminally ill" part was probably more the catch than the age or the poetry....but that's just a guess....

In this case I would not mention age unless asked. But that's just me.
 
as someone before me said, anything is possible. i think there was some hoopla one year over a 13 yr old publishing a novel.
 
Eragon was published when Christiopher Panolini was only 19 years old he now has a sequal out Eldest and is very sucessful.
 
well...

hi!

i'm fifteen years old and i have written novels. full, complete novels. i would tell your nephew that if he would like to publish, to start looking for agents and lawyers now. AVOID vanity publishing like Dorrance, LuLu and AuthorHouse. if he goes through a subsidy publishing program like that, you owe them money, you sign away your rights, and other bigger houses wouldn't want you after.

if you do send a letter to agents first, you should probably mention his age. it's difficult to write a book--but even more difficult to write one when you're a young teenager. my first one was finished when i was thirteen.

it would grab attention and make them want to see what it's all about--remember, they want money. this causes publicity.

also, try contacting Oprah.
:]
 
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