Is it possible to publish a book at my age?

Question

I am 15 years old and I started to write a fantasy book.I'm on chapter 2 and I was actually thinking, what am I doing? I'm too young and I don't think It is possible for a 15 year old to publish a book. So now i'm asking, is it possible? If so how should I do it. I really want to!

Answer 1

Christopher Paolini (Eragon, Eldest) was 19 when his first book hit the bestseller list. So, naturally, he was woking on it for years (possibly) before that. You're never to young to follow your dreams!

Answer 2

Of course you can publish a book. The thing to remember is that as a minor you will have to have parental permission. Other than that I can only wish I had your drive. I wrote three books while in high school and regret not taking the next step. For me though it was about the writing, and the dream of someday becoming published!! Check out my book, Born of Fire, by J.R. Mitchell at www.amirapress.com
Hope this helps and good luck to you!
Hugs,
JR

Answer 3

It's possible, but age and experience makes you more likely. Be prepared for a lot of rejections. Honestly, I wouldn't try to publish it until your twenties or thirties. Write the story and put it away, then look at it a year or two later. You'll find you'll want to rewrite parts of it, or the whole thing. Some authors rewrite their books over fifty times. You can't just write a book and publish it. You think it's good, but it might not be. Here's what I suggest doing instead:

1.) Write the book.
2.) Every couple of chapters, post it on the internet for critique. FictionPress, DeviantART, EliteSkills, and similar sites will give you decent feedback.
3.) When you finish the book, have a couple of people read the whole thing. Fix whatever they criticize.
4.) Put it away! Don't touch it for a year or two. Literally, I mean it. Just leave it for the school year. Don't think about it, don't touch it, beyond jotting down ideas you have for it on paper you can keep somewhere.
5.) After a year or two, pick it up and read it again. You'll be amazed that you probably think it's horrible and want to rewrite it. Why? If you don't think about your own plot for a long time, then you forget a lot of what it's about or involving. That is, you're brought closer to the level of the reader.
6.) Have it read and edited again.
7.) Put it away for awhile, again.
8.) Rinse and repeat until you're out of college.

I gaurantee you by the time you're out of college, if you haven't abandoned the plot, your story will be a good one. Sometimes the breaks don't even have to be years, but months. I put mine down for three months and then picked it up again and was surprised--it was horrible and hard to follow! You can't tell that kind of thing when you're writing it because you know all the hidden secrets of the story, that's why leaving it go makes you forget some of them. There's no substitute for good old fashioned critique, though, and make sure to encourage it. Don't look for praise for your writing. Ask people to critique it as hard as they can, because the more screwups you find, the better it'll get.

So you can, but it's smart not to bother. See, you're not only more likely to get published as a college graduate and adult (because you've had written theses by then and so on; you'd have experience in writing), but you'd have enough time to revise it. Start by getting people acquainted with the plot of your story to see if they'd like it, though, and accept critique on that before you start seriously writing it out. But only tell them about as much as you'd find on the back cover of a book, so it doesn't ruin it when they read it.

Answer 4

When I was a kid, about 7 years old, a young author came and visited our school. He was only 12 years old, and showed us his book. Knowing that a kid can publish a book was the biggest inspiration for me to start writing. Anyone can do it.

Answer 5

Have you ever heard of a book called Eragon? He got the idea and began writing it at 15 and finished it at 19.

Edgar Rice Burroughs----Tarzan and John Carter of Mars---19

Rober E. Howard---Conan----15 first published story--18 (finished it when he was 17)

So far I have 33 rejection slips. I wish I had started at your age. Someday I will be published and if you work at it---so will you.

Answer 6

it is most definitely possible
at 15 i started writing books and although i never published them; people have commented on how well they are. So no, you are never to young!

Answer 7

The writer of "The Outsiders" was 16 when she published her book, and it is quite famous. You can publish, but it probably won't be that good due to such young experience.

Answer 8

Absolutely! In fact, a couple of years ago, there was a young man age 14 who wrote a book, and he was very successful. Do a search for Young Authors and you'll come up with various resources. Here's one: http://www.aaronshep.com/youngauthor/

I wish you the very best....you can do it!

Answer 9

Get Writers Market and read how to submit your book to a publisher.

Answer 10

Christopher Paolini, the author of Eragon and Eldest, started writing his book when he was your age
now his book is a movie
need I say more?