: Re: As a young author, how do you make people listen? I am an extremely young author. I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging, but I think I am very good. They say the best readers are

@Candy753

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It's certainly possible to be published as a very young author. Nancy Yi Fan published her Swordbird series at eleven years old, and Christopher Paolini wrote Eragon in his teens. I loved both of those books as a kid.
However, if you are calling agents and have gotten negative responses, here are things to consider.

Are you calling them out of the blue? Most literary agents get lots of calls, emails and unsolicited submissions in a day, and they don't always like to get calls from people without a recommendation, a platform, or an introductory email. Instead of calling, try reaching out with a short, courteous email. If they don't respond, don't push it and leave them alone, but if they do, that's the time to give them a call. Make your age clear in the message right away so they know that up front.

Are you just too young for the publishing houses you're contacting? Some publishing houses simply don't accept submissions from any authors below a certain age - I've heard 13, 16 and 18 quoted at me before when I was going through the publishing circuit. That's not your fault at all! It's just a policy sometimes, since most publishing houses only specifically focus on fiction and nonfiction written by adults.

Are you thinking too highly of yourself? It's wonderful to have dreams and it's great to reach high, but you are an unpublished author and unproven. You haven't shown anybody that you are a really good author yet, so a lot of people are going to question your prowess, and they might be mean to you if you come across as bragging or too full of yourself. Be careful not to brag about being a good reader or good writer when you talk to agents. You have to keep yourself in perspective, and remember that you are talking to somebody with a lot of experience - they probably know more than you do.

Have people looked over your novel? Do you have beta readers? You should always run your work past multiple people before presenting it to publishers, and in all likelihood, editors will want to modify it further. Give it to literary people, your English teacher, and anyone who expresses interest in reading it (but don't push it on them, of course!) to see what they think. Listen carefully to all feedback and try to improve it. Critique is a very important part of the process, and a lack of it might be a reason for the lack of interest.

I hope this gives you some help. Publishing is really hard, especially when you are young, and you will have to deal with a lot of people who might talk down to you for your age. Try not to let it get to you, and make sure you are taking the right approach and being respectful to everyone you talk to. Someday the right door will open. I wish you luck!

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