How old do you have to be to publish a book?

Answer 1

In order to have a publisher consider a book, you have to contact them and find out what their requirements are. It works faster if you have an agent to handle the manuscript. You can find the name of publishers by looking at similar books in the library.

Another way is to go to some book stores and ask them what they would advise. Be prepared to put a lot of work in trying to get it done. It is not an easy task.

I would also suggest you contact the book reviewer at your local newspaper and ask them for advice.

Answer 2

There is no set age requirement to publish a book. Anyone, regardless of age, can publish a book with the help of a parent or guardian if they are a minor. However, some publishing houses or platforms may have age restrictions for signing contracts.

Answer 3

Yup, there was a girl who is 13 and she made a best seller recently. She's working on her 2nd book now, I don't know what her name is, but I think how she did it was by contacting a publisher. Scholastics a good way to start.

Also, you need to get something like a parents' consent form or some such thing to indicate that the teenager has the approval from his parent or legal guardian. After that, the publishing process is pretty much the same with non-teenagers.

COMMENT ON ANSWER

Thank you so much. This is really helpful - I am a 13 year old girl and am planning to publish my book. I've let a lot of people read it, and their verdict is that it's far past good enough. It's 506 pages (I'm so proud), so I know it'll be long enough. Er - by the way, who was the 13 year old who published a best-seller recently? (Just curious).

ANOTHER ANSWER

The girl who wrote that novel was Nancy Yi Fan I think and the book is called Sword Bird. Its pretty good, though a bit predictable.

Answer 4

As a child, you cannot get it published. And adult representing you can sign agreements and contracts on your behalf.

The adult would have to find an publisher that wanted to publish the book. Getting a literary agent can be a good thing to help with that. You should start by talking with your parents.

Answer 5

How to get Published

• Write up a summary of your book to send to the publisher or editor. You may add a couple of sentences or so on why you wrote the book and why you think it will appeal to the public. This kind of thing is much more likely to be read than a long manuscript.
• A good first step is to copyright your work, especially if you search for publishers online. You do not have to file copyright with any government agency, although you may if you wish (it costs to do this). Your ideas are copyright the moment you save them into your computer or print them out onto paper. However, anytime you send your work out online or on paper, you do want to include a copyright notice (the symbol (c), date written, author's name).
• Next, find a list of publishers you are interested in submitting your piece(s) to, looking specifically for those who specialize or call for your genre of writing (e.g. poetry, short stories, fantasy, mystery, Science Fiction...). The best way to look for publishers is to check the books or magazines on your own shelf! You will usually write the same sort of thing you enjoy reading, so find out who published what you're reading. You can also buy a Writer's Market, which is a huge list of every publisher in existence - this is cross-referenced by category, genre, and tells whether or not they accept unsolicited manuscripts as well.
• When you have a list, send out a copy of your manuscript/poem collection/short story with a cover letter, which is a letter explaining the basic plot of your book/poem, etc., the genre it would be categorized in, and who it appeals to as an audience if necessary after it's been categorized. This letter is the first thing an editor will see; if it interests them as something the publisher might be interested in, they will screen the book, reading usually the first five pages or so. If at that point they still like it and are hooked by the opening, they'll read the whole book. That's when they finally decide yes or no, and they'll let you know with a reply letter or email. This letter can be included when submitting online, usually in a "description of your work" section.
• If you are looking to publish short stories or poems, magazines often call for types of them, so check into things like Reader's Digest, Writer's Market, etc. The only other thing I can think to say is DO NOT SUBMIT WORK ONLINE WITHOUT COPYRIGHTING OR CHECKING THE BACKGROUND OF A SITE CLAIMING TO PUBLISH WORK. Plagiarism is a constant problem online, and if you do not have your work protected or know who you're dealing with, hitting the send button can give someone else a completed work to market as their own.
• Make sure you know what kinds of books the various publishing houses actually publish. For example, it doesn't make sense to send the typescript of a novel to a publisher that specializes in law books.
• It is very important to be professional when submitting your work. Do not try to be cute or funny - don't send a Horror manuscript in a box with plastic Spiders, don't send a bar of chocolate along to bribe the editor, don't turn one page upside down to see if they really read it, and don't use weird type fonts that are hard to read! Check the guidelines that each publisher uses, and follow them.
• Before you get really far with writing a book, send a short outline (usually only about 800 words) to a publisher. Explain what sort of work you intend to write, make it clear what audience you are aiming at and say why you think the book would have appeal. Keep all this very short, as most publishers are deluged with requests for publication. Ask if the publisher would like you to send in a chapter - or send a it with your outline. Be polite and make sure everything you send is well written.
• Try to get some published works under your belt before submitting a book length manuscript to a publisher. Get a subscription to a couple of magazines for writers, like Writer's Digest or The Writer. Consider a little freelancing. Anything to pad your resume and get some practical experience. Have you had anyone evaluate your writing? No offense intended but there are a lot of 'wannabe' writers, actors, artists and musicians out there who just don't have what it takes. And there are a lot of the same who COULD have what it takes with the proper guidance. When I ask if you've had your work evaluated, I don't mean, 'do your family, friends or co-workers think it's good?' There are online groups, forums and workshops for writers that can be great places for support, advice, constructive criticism, etc. You may want to consider joining one or two. They aren't difficult to find but here are a couple of examples: writing.com and writersonlineworkshops.com. And no matter how good you are or how good you think you are, be prepared for disappointment. Every professional writer has gotten his or her share of rejection slips. Don't let it discourage you. Learn from your mistakes and keep trying.
• If you have written a book, you DO have book-writing experience. So now what? Study. Study the market. Read the magazines suggested above, read Publishers Weekly off the net, join some writers' forums and test it out there. Keep it away from family and friends - they'll only tell you what you want to hear, and unless they're writers themselves, what they have to say won't be of much help. Share it with a voracious reader. Consider carefully all suggestions, try things this way and then that. An excellent book to help with revision is GETTING THE WORDS RIGHT: How to Revise, Edit and Rewrite, by Theodore A. Rees Cheney. If a look at the table of contents fills you with dread, you're in the wrong field. Remember, "Writing is easy. All you have to do is sit in the tub and open a vein."
• It's tough to get a publisher to take on a project. Sad but true. How about considering self-publishing? If you believe there is a market for what you've written, consider getting the book printed yourself. You can do the marketing and promotion. It can actually be much more profitable that way. I would suggested steering clear of having your book printed by a "vanity press" company. It will be very expensive. Try www.morrisprint.com. They can give you a price for printing as few as 500 books. If you need less than 500 contact bookmobile.com. They do very short runs.. as few as 25 books.

If you are really talented, you can be an author at a young age quite easily , but if

you are not that good, you have to practise a lot, of course, but don't worry! There is a few ways you can be. Here are some.

1. There are some websites that you can write your stories. - Fanstory.com : you can get feedback on your stories.

2. There are some websites that help you be an author. - writer's digest is a good website. If your stories are good, they might get published.

3. There are some books that can help you like juicy writing by Brigid Lowry

Answer 6

I use lulu.com to publish my student's writing. They are a self-publishing, print-on-demand publisher.

Advantages are:

• inexpensive--the books I've published (and I've published 4 so far) have hovered between $7 and $15, depending on the number of pages and dimensions of the books
• quick--I have the books I ordered in my hand within two weeks, and that's with regular shipping
• excellent software--designing covers is easy, and I can use my own art or stock art

Disadvantages are:

• formatting--you format the book yourself into a digital file, and they print it exactly how you send it in; they don't edit or fix anything. So, if you put a wrong page number in your digital file, that's how the book comes out. Of course, for a fee, you can hire lulu to format for you, but that gets expensive
• editing--like with formatting, they just print what you send. Also like with formatting, you can pay to have a professional editor go over your stuff, but it's pricey

Overall, I've had great success with lulu when the market was small and specific (like the parents of my students). I don't think you'll get rich off selling books published by lulu, but you'll end up with a professional, official book that is sold on Amazon.com and other online dealer. Not bad for $7-$15 and a few hours of formatting work.

Answer 7

You publish a book the same way no matter how old you are: finish the book and have it professionally edited so it is the best book you can possibly make. Then send it to publishers who want that sort of book and see which publisher will buy it and publish it!

Of course, you can always pay to publish books yourself, but why do that when you can sell the book and get money for it?

Answer 8

You don't even HAVE to be old!Just send your book to a publishing company!

Answer 9

Indeed they can. Usually they do get a little help from an adult though - spell checking etc...

Answer 10

Yes