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Hi, Cara,

Thanks for posting. I’ll try to be helpful, although I’m some 40-odd years removed from being the 12-year-old author.

The first thing you can do is tell him to prepare his manuscript, white paper, 8-1/2″x11″, double-spaced, one side of the page only. Then I think you should read it to determine if it really is a book, in both length and content. The next step is to get a library book on writers’ markets. It will list all publishers, including the type of book they’re looking for, and whether or not they accept unagented material. Pick one (one at a time) and design a pleasantly concise covering letter which will introduce the author, and tell a little bit about the book. 

I chose Scholastic, and got lucky. If I had it to do today, I would use an agent, which is sometimes harder to get than a publisher! The library book will list all the literary agents too. Your choice to go directly or through an agent.

Send it in. If you want it back (it might very well be rejected for any number of reasons) supply an envelope and postage for its return. Send it out again.

It goes without saying that the grammar and spelling must be flawless. It really doesn’t take much for a preliminary reader to toss a book aside for spelling errors and the like. Be careful.

And if all this sounds discouraging, I don’t mean it to be. Please tell your student that I look forward to writing him a fan letter one day!

Thanks for choosing me for my “expertise and experience.”                         —–Gordon Korman—–