So Your Kid Says They Want to Write a Book?
I remember being in fifth grade, coming up to my parents and proclaiming my next big project: a book. A lot of my kids my age dreamt of writing a book, but few actually took up the gauntlet to try and do it. You're probably wondering how much help your teen needs if they're serious about publishing, how involved you need to be, and how much money it's going to cost. This guide is for parents who want clarity about the whole process.
I am a teen author myself. I understand both the hopeful but unorganized ambition of being a teen author and the cautious (and sometimes anxious) optimism from the parent side.
Also on this website is a page for everything your teen author should know.
Before we Start
Yes, writing a book is hard. Yes, it's not exactly free. Yes, it does make balancing school and other extracurriculars difficult. Writing a book is more than just putting words on the page (though that in it of itself is a feat), it also involves a lot of other stuff like marketing, paperwork, W4s, contracts, and things that will require your help as a parent. If your child is struggling in school, you are struggling financially, or both of your schedules are very busy, it may be better to hold off on publishing until both you and your child are in the right environment.
That doesn't mean your child can't write the book, if it doesn't interfere with their life. This is mostly a guide for publishing, and everything else separate from putting words on the page. Just remember that school and life are more important, and their manuscript will be waiting for them when life slows down again.
You may also be asking, and validly, so, is there a minimum age to publish? The answer is technically, no, but the sooner you publish, the sooner your child is thrown into the world of the internet, strangers' attention, both positive AND negative, and an environment that they might not developmentally be ready for. Publishing can be scary sometimes, and things like social media marketing, contracts, and harsh deadlines might not be something your kid is ready for. Doing all this can also distract your child from school and other things. Ultimately, as a parent, it is up to your discretion, but in my opinion, I do not believe that publishing younger than 14 is a good idea.
The Publishing Landscape
I'll try to make this as jargon-free as I can.
In the book publishing world, there are 2 (3, depending on who you ask) routes you can take to publish a book: Traditional and self-publishing (and small-press, but I'll briefly cover that later.)
Traditional
Traditional publishing (often called "trad" publishing) usually refers to the "Big 5" publishing houses: companies like Penguin Random House, MacMillan, and Simon & Schuster. These publisher don't accept direct submissions from authors. Instead, you'd have to follow a long, complicated process:
- Querying a literary agent
- Signing with that agent
-Having the agent pitch the book to publishers on your behalf
-Waiting months (or years) for responses
-And maaaaybe, if the stars align, getting a book deal.
For most authors going this route, this process takes 1-2 years before a book even enters production.
Then, the publishing house takes the rights and pays you an advance ($0-$1,000 for small press and $5,000-$10,000 for trad.) They don't pay you anything else until the royalties pay back their investment. The advance may be the only money you see from the book if marketing doesn't work out.
I kind of glossed over it, but it's really important: the publishing house takes the rights of your book. They can change the title, change the cover, cut chapters, alter characters, reject sequels, etc.
Trad publishing can also lock your teen into multi-book deals, non-compete clauses, strict deadlines, and limited control over foreign, film, and audio rights, often for years at a time. And as the parent and legal party responsible, you are also bound by this contract.
A quick note on reversion rights: this is a clause in contracts that determine when the author gets the rights of their book back. The language can vary, but usually rights revert if: sales fall below a certain threshold, by the publisher's discretion, after a certain number of years, or if the book is out of print (which in the digital age with eBooks, can mean that the book is never out of print.)
Of course, this is all assuming that the book gets accepted. Many publishers are hesitant to sign with teen authors and assume the risk. Even talented writers face dozens of agent rejections, deals falling through, and months/years of silence from agents and publishers.
I'll be honest: I don't really love this route. It works for some people, especially writers who write as a career, but most people don't have the time or the money to gamble on something like that. The royalties are very small compared to the amount of work involved, and the author still has to do a lot of their own marketing. Money isn't everything, but your kid's work has value. Not every family can invest thousands of dollars into a process that may not lead anywhere.
Self-Publishing
Self-publishing, often shortened to self-pub, is exactly what it sounds like: you skip the agents and the people in the publishing world and upload your book directly to platforms like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or IngramSpark. These platforms let authors upload a manuscript, upload a cover, set a price, and make the book available worldwide in both digital and print. For most teen authors (myself included), self-pub is the most accessible and empowering option. Here's why:
- There aren't any gatekeepers like in trad publishing. You don't need to wait years for an agent or publisher to say yes. When your teen finishes a book, they can publish it onto the platform. This is crucial as deadline management...isn't exactly teen's strong suits.
- You get waaaay higher royalties with self-publishing. I sell my book on Amazon for $13.99, a competitive price for debut novels. I make about 3-4 dollars in royalties for every copy sold. Had I gone trad, I would have made 5%-8% per copy.
- Your teen gets more creative control on the cover, formatting, release date, marketing, pricing, and the content of the book itself. It's no secret that trad publishers will sometimes edit the content of your books to make it more market friendly. This is helpful when your teen has a story they want to be told their way.
The two main publishers, KDP and IngramSpark, are free to publish onto, but they get your book on different places. You can do both, I did both, and so have many authors.
KDP: gets your hardcover, paperback, and ebook (as a kindle book) on Amazon.
IngramSpark: gets your book basically everywhere else, no exaggeration. I've found my book on obscure international book sites, Kobo, Barnes and Noble online, and so many more.
- The cost, if done correctly, is lower than trad publishing. The final ticket is ultimately based on how much you want to invest into it:
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Hiring a cover designer vs your teen doing it themselves (or collaboratively, if they have an artistic friend)
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Hiring a formatter vs doing the formatting themselves
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Hiring a professional editor vs having friends and family read it (NOT RECOMMENDED)
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Paying for ads/marketing vs doing grassroots social media marketing
Can you pay for all of this, and more, if you want to? Absolutely. But should you? Probably not. The beauty of self-publishing is that it can be scaled down to fit your budget.
Small-Press Publishing
I'm mostly writing this section to acknowledge that this is an option. Small-press publishing is the middle ground between trad and self publishing. Authors submit their work to smaller, independent publishing houses. Some small presses will accept submissions directly from authors, while others still require a literary agent. They move faster than their Big 5 counterparts, work closer with authors, take more creative risks, and publish more niche genres. But, they can still take years and have lower royalties, while still leaving you with having to do all the marketing yourself (unless you purchase more expensive packages.)
They still function with the advance system: they pay you a small advance, and until your book makes back the money in royalties, you don't see any additional money.
A VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT VANITY PRESSES!!!
The publishing industry is not immune to scams, unfortunately.
Some companies pretend to be small, indie presses but are actually vanity presses. The scam works by charging authors (or their parents, in this case, you) HUGE fees to "publish" books, while offering very little in return.
Some red flags to be aware of:
- Charging money to read or even consider a manuscript
- Offering exorbitant prices for marketing packages
- Promising bestseller status (as a publisher, marketer, or vendor of anything, you can't 100% guarantee any amount of sales.)
- giving you a lot of pressure to make a decision.
If you see this stuff, run. Or consult the internet. A small press, or any press, will pay you an advance, not turn you upside down and shake you for money.
Further Reading:
A more professional breakdown by professionals in the industry. Reedsy is a great site for information like this.
Self-Publishing vs Traditional Publishing: A Guide for Writers
Legal Responsibilities as a Parent
This is the section that matters most for parents, as being the legal proxy for a teen author is not something that's necessarily common in the industry. None of this is meant to scare you, its simply the reality of publishing as a minor, and knowing these things will help protect your teen as well as yourself.
Firstly, minors cannot sign their own contracts. Under US and most international laws, a parent is needed to sign it for them or cosign. Without your help, they can't
-Sign any publishing agreement
-Sign up for KDP, IngramSpark, or any publishing platform
-Sign tax documents
-Receive royalty payments
Secondly, let's talk royalties. Publishing platforms pay you money, and like any job, they require the author's (or your) legal name, SSN or EIN, bank account (preferably a new one solely for royalty payments, to later transfer to your child when they turn 18), and a W-9 or equivalent tax form.
Since your kid is well, a kid, you're responsible for receiving payments, reporting income, and keeping financial records for tax season. I encourage you to show your teen how to do this part, since they'll have to do it themselves eventually, and taxes for self-employed stuff can be a little different than for a regular job.
The only thing that doesn't need to be transferred to your teen once they turn 18 is the copyright. Automatically, at any age, your child has the copyright to their intellectual property from the moment they create it.
Online Safety
Publishing a book means that your teen's book, and by extension, your teen, is suddenly searchable, reviewable, reachable, and visible to strangers. Harsh reviews are a reality of writing a book, and those stink to get. There can also be a pressure to be active on social media, if that is where they do their marketing (it is not only the most common way to market a book these days, but sometimes, the only way to do so for free.) In more extreme cases, there can be unsolicited messages and parasocial behavior from readers/fans.
This is not meant to be alarmist. I am sure that you're aware of these realities if your child is on social media in any capacity. As a parent, you should just prepare your kid for potential criticism and how to respond to it in a healthy way (which often involves not responding to it at all.)
Your teen doesn't necessarily need to be a public figure to be an author. I, for example, run my Instagram account with very intermittent posting for updates about my book. I have my website to host information and advice, and my YouTube is where I do most of my day-to-day marketing and promotional content. This is what has worked for me to achieve my very modest level of success, and to be honest, having some kind of social media presence, even if not frequently updated, is sort of an expectation.
Publishing is, ultimately, a very vulnerable thing. It can lead to imposter syndrome, burnout, pressure to produce more, criticism, comparison, rejection and so on. You as a parent should help your teen by encouraging them to take breaks and celebrating effort over results. Publishing is hard, and it's so cool that they managed to do it! This is no small feat and should be celebrated in it of itself. Your support as a parent matters more than you realize.
As I mentioned before, copyright law in the US works like this: you create something, it's yours, regardless of your age. But, there's a catch when it comes to publishing.
If you self-publish, your teen keeps the rights to their IP (intellectual property) and nothing changes.
If you trad/small press publish, your rights are licensed or transferred, AKA, you let them borrow the rights or give it to them entirely until the reversal takes place. As said before, contracts may restrict sequels, adaptations, or revisions.
Scams
Vanity presses aren't the only kind of scam out there. There's also paid review/marketing accounts on social media that will ask for money to get a review. This is a scam. Here's a simple rule: if a company asks your teen to pay them to publish or get a review, it's not legit.
The internet is your friend when it comes to determining whether or not something is a scam. For further reading, check out Writer Beware. It's an entire website dedicated to comprehensive scam awareness in the writing industry.
Financials
This is how finances typically look if you're choosing to self publish.
As mentioned before, the beauty of self-publishing is that you can spend nothing (not recommended) or spend a fortune (not recommended either).
Here are what I consider to be the "mandatory costs:"
ISBNs: this is basically your book's ID, the barcode on the back. You need a separate one for paperback, hardcover, ebook, and audiobook (if desired.) If put in your child's name, they own the ISBNs.
KDP provides them for free, but it's exclusive to Amazon. IngramSpark requires you to buy your own. If you buy your own ISBNs from Bowker (the ISBN vendor), you can keep consistency with the ISBNs across both publishers.
Oh, and buy the 10-pack. It's more cost effective, and buying individuals is expensive and inefficient, especially since you need 3 (paperback, hardcover, and ebook). the other seven will come in handy when your kid writes the sequel, or other projects, since they keep the ISBNs for whenever they like.
Proof Copies: this is the only other "mandatory cost." They can range from $5-$15 plus shipping. The publisher sends you a physical proof so you can check the formatting, nd make sure everything looks right. Trust me, proofreading a physical book is SO much different compared to a digital copy.
Now onto the technically optional costs, where you can choose to invest to make the book better:
Professional editing: This is, in my opinion, the single most important investment. There are different kinds of editing, but for our purposes, I will be referring to copyediting: cleaning up the final version to make it free of both technical errors (punctuation inconsistencies, wrong quotation marks) and logical errors (character stands up, says something, and stand up again without having sat down). This can cost $600-$2,000+, and the rate is often a few cents per word. Longer book=more expensive, which is why self-editing and paring down the word count is generally advised before you take the plunge with a professional.
Getting professional editing matters because teens are still learning grammar, structure, pacing, clarity, and punctuation norms. A well-edited book earns better reviews and makes the book seem more legitimate. The editors often work with your teen, allowing them to ask the editor questions about writing and editing the right way. I advise you not to skip this step.
Next on the optional costs, cover design. A professional cover designer can cost $50-$300 for stock, premade covers and $200-$600+ for custom covers, and more if it requires specialized artwork like many fantasy covers have. Readers do judge books by covers. I made my own cover myself, investing about 118 hours, and if your teen is artsy or has an artsy friend, it makes for a fun project. With the right tools, a cover is very easy to do on their own.
Lastly, formatting. I formatted my book for free in Kindle Create for digital and LibreOffice for print. Your teen could very easily do this on their own, but some people prefer not to. Pricing is generally $50-$200.
Some smaller costs are author copies (buying copies of your teens own book to give away to family and friends or have for yourself, generally at a discount), and the cost that is yours and your teen's time. Having calculated it after my project, I've invested about 2,400 hours into my book (not counting marketing and such), which is equivalent to a master's degree. Your teen will invest bucketloads of time into their project, which also has value. Remind them to take stretch breaks and stay hydrated, though.
There is no "right" amount to invest into marketing, it's entirely what works for your family. Many teen authors like myself succeed on a smaller scale budget by learning how to do all those processes like formatting and cover design ourselves.
Conclusion
Your role is super important, and not just because you're the one signing the contracts, paying the money, and setting up the bank accounts, though that's important too. You're being the steady and trusted adult to help your teen writer navigate a world that's undoubtedly exciting and rewarding, but can also be confusing, overwhelming, and vague.
Your teen is learning how to express themselves, take creative risks, handle feedback, manage a massive project (which bodes well on college applications and resumes) and build confidence in their voice as a writer. Their story matters.
There are many resources online to help you navigate ISBNs, legal stuff, and writing. I also created the Teen Author Hotline, where you can directly ask me a question about any of these things. If there is something I do not feel comfortably experienced giving advice on, I will direct you to professional resources with answers.