FAQs from Teens about Publishing

As a YA author, I get lots of questions from teens about publishing and how to become an author. Here are some commonly asked questions, and my responses.

Could I become an author?

Of course! Anyone can become an author.

How do I become an author?

Becoming an author is a very long process, and finishing a manuscript is just the first step. Next, you usually follow a trajectory something along these lines:

1. Get feedback on your manuscript from peers, beta readers, and trusted advisors. Revise based on the feedback.
2. Do research on literary agents who are accepting manuscripts in your genre. Craft your query letter and proposal and begin sending them out. This will take a while. It usually takes months for agents to respond.
3. If you get lucky, an agent will accept your manuscript! More likely, you will not get an agent on your first try. Back to the drawing board, where you’ll either hire a professional editor to help you with your manuscript, or you might start the process over with a new manuscript.
4. Start sending out queries to agents again.
5. Once you sign with an agent (this can take months to years, so don’t get discouraged), your agent will probably want you to make more edits before sending your book out to publishers.
6. A publisher may offer you a contract for your book. Or, they might not, and your manuscript might “die on submission.” Your agent may ask you to write a different book to try.
7. Let’s say a publisher does make you an offer. Yay! You sign the contract, but this is just the beginning.
8. You will go through several more rounds of edits. You may change major plotlines and even your title. Meanwhile, the publisher will be having someone design your cover and will be preparing to market your book.
9. Your book will go out to ARC readers, who read and review the book before it officially comes out. You’ll need to work with book tour companies, speak on podcasts and radio shows, and post about your book all over social media. With most publishers, finding these publicity opportunities will be your responsibility, not the publisher’s. It’s good to learn a lot about marketing and PR before you become an author.
10. Usually about two years after signing the book contract with a publisher, your book will be published! Hurray! You are an author!

Of course, there are other ways to become an author. Some smaller publishers don’t require you to have an agent. If you have a lot of technical know-how (and a lot of money to hire professional editors, formatters, and cover designers), you can self-publish your book. The most important things to know are:

1. Becoming an author takes years. It may be tempting to put your first draft on Amazon, but that’s a bad idea. Without a quality product and marketing behind it, no one will find your book. Plus, you’ll probably be very embarrassed about the manuscript in a few years and wish you could scrub the internet of it. I know because I did this, and I will take the pen name I “published” under to my grave. No, I will not tell you what it was. You will not find it. I’m lucky I didn’t ruin my career before it began.
2. If an agent or publisher tries to get you to pay them, that’s a scam. There are lots of scammers out there trying to prey on your dreams. An agent only makes money when you do as a percentage of your royalties. A publisher pays YOU. Any other arrangement? Run away.
3. You don’t have to become an author just because you enjoy writing. It is perfectly okay to write stories that you just share with your friends, or fan fiction that you post on the internet. Some of the best writers I know have no interest in becoming authors, and that’s totally fine! Publishing is a difficult business, and there’s no reason to do it if you don’t personally enjoy it. If you want to be an author, do it for yourself—not for money or for anyone else.

Can you become an author as your job?

Technically, yes. Realistically, not really. Most “full-time” authors have a spouse who works and supports them, they live with family, or they are retired. Prepare to have another job that supports you for at least the first several years of your author career. As discussed in the previous question, just getting a book published often takes years, and it takes many months after that to receive your first royalties.

This shouldn’t discourage you from pursuing your dreams as an author! I work full-time in SEO marketing, and that job gives me the stability I need in order to write and publish books. Someday, I hope my royalties are great enough that I can write full time, but I’m ten books in and nowhere close to that yet. Becoming an author as your job is something that typically happens after decades, if at all, so if your measurement of success is whether you can write full time, you’re likely to be disappointed. Instead, enjoy writing as something that brings you joy, and, if you’re lucky, some extra pocket change, and you’ll be much happier.

What other jobs can I have that work with books?

Being an author might not be a viable job, but working with books totally is! You can be a librarian, you can work at a bookstore, or you can even work at a publishing company. Publishers need editors, marketers, artists, and graphic designers. There are so many ways you can make working with books your full-time job!