Your child will become a published author.In a single day.
The Spark Author Program gives every young writer the full experience of writing and publishing a real book — culminating in a live book signing event that solidifies their spark forever.
Led by bestselling author David Viergutz
Teamwork. Confidence. Creativity. And lifelong achievement.
A day that ends with a spark that will last a lifetime.
They Write
Led by bestselling author David Viergutz, he and his publishing team at Epistolary.com guide the young author on how to publish a book, and by the end of the course, they will make their very first book sale at their very own author signing.
We Publish
Every book is professionally edited, designed, and printed through Epistolary — a traditional publishing house founded by bestselling author David Viergutz. Books are available for preorder before signing day, and all proceeds are divided amongst the students — Author Academy takes zero money from the authors during or after the event. At the launch, your child reads aloud, signs copies, and sells their book to family, friends and attendees at a local bookshop or venue.
The World Reads
Sponsors, family, and friends gather to hear the authors read their books aloud, get presented with their certificate of achievement, sign their first books, and make their first sale. Their name appears as a credited author on a book the whole family can buy, gift, and shelf forever.
Why we built this.
Every child who has a story deserves to tell it. Our mission is to teach them how to write it, publish it, and prove to themselves that nothing can stop a kid with a dream.
A generation of young writers who finish the draft, hold the book, and sign their name on the cover — before the world has a chance to tell them they can't.
From an idea to a book.
The Field Kit
A pre-workshop welcome packet arrives in the mail giving the new author all the tools they'll need before class. Then, every minute of the workshop is filled with games and instruction that help the author write their story without realizing they're learning.
The Workshop
Timed writing sprints with music and snack breaks, interactive story-telling games to learn the structure of good stories, a guest author appearance, voting on the cover during The Cover Council, professional author photos, bio writing, and a walk-through of the publishing process. Every story is then professionally edited, designed, and printed through Epistolary — the traditional publishing house founded by bestselling author David Viergutz.
Editor's Desk
Three weeks after the workshop, each young author is contacted personally to walk through the edits on their story in preparation for publishing. They see how a real editor works a manuscript — every change explained, every choice still theirs. It's their first taste of being treated like a professional author preparing a book for print.
The Author Signing
When the printed anthology arrives, the class reunites at a local bookshop or approved venue for a published author signing. Books are available for preorder ahead of signing day, and every dollar of book sales is divided amongst the students. Author Academy takes zero money from the authors during or after the event. Authors will read their story aloud, sign copies, take family photos and enjoy the limelight.
The Graduate Class
Publishing one book is just the beginning. Every graduate is inducted into a lifetime class membership that keeps their author journey going — including access to the Spark Author Foundation publishing scholarship, which covers the publishing expenses for their next books, and the Spark Author Community, a guided space for parents helping shape their child's ongoing publishing career.
What happens in a workshop day.
A Saturday morning built around momentum, breaks, and breakthroughs — every minute designed to take a child from blank page to published author.
Name tags, snacks, and settling in with the Field Kit ideas.
Timed writing with music. Get the first draft on the page.
Refuel and share what's unfolding.
Professional headshots and writing the author bio.
Push toward the finish line. Momentum and word goals.
The class votes on the anthology title and cover art.
A break to refuel and connect with fellow authors. Guest appearances from an author working in the business.
Interactive games to learn the bones of a good story.
Craft the back-cover blurb that sells the story.
Each author reads their finished story aloud and receives their Certificate of Authorship.
Final photos, a celebratory close, and pickup.
Each child plans it, writes it, publishes it, and sells it.A published book. A published author.
Every child in the program gets the full experience, from start to finish — planning the story, writing the manuscript, seeing it through professional editing and design, and finally selling their own book at a live signing. They are credited as a published author with rights to their story forever.
- A real paperback with their name on the cover
- Credited as a published author, forever
- Professionally printed and available for purchase online
- Sold by the author at their own signing event
- The author will learn how to present their story through a read aloud and then make their first sale through the author signing event.
Years from now, their name will still be on the cover of a book they wrote themselves.
Be the first nameson the spine.
Three founding classes are open — ten seats each. Reserve a seat and your child walks out a published author, with their name on the cover of the very first volumes of Voices of Tomorrow.
Tomorrow
Class I
Enrolling0 of 10 seats reserved · Saturday, July 25, 2026 · Central Texas
Tomorrow
Class II
EnrollingVoices of Tomorrow, Vol. II
0 of 10 seats reserved · Saturday, August 29, 2026
Tomorrow
Class III
EnrollingVoices of Tomorrow, Vol. III
0 of 10 seats reserved · Saturday, September 26, 2026
More than uploading a file.
Anyone can publish a book on Amazon. This is more than that. This is expert instruction by a publisher through the process from start to finish, culminating in something nobody can ever take from the young author: the feeling of holding a finished book in their hands, with their name on the cover, signing it, and selling it — igniting a spark that will last a lifetime.
Expert instruction
Led by a published author and an MFA-credentialed independent publishing leader in the industry. Kids learn real storywriting — character, conflict, voice, revision — the same fundamentals taught in graduate writing programs, scaled for young minds.
They write the words. Every one.
No ghostwriting. No AI-generated filler. Each story is the author's own — guided, drafted, and peer-reviewed, then lightly edited for print without changing their voice.
The full publishing process
From manuscript to ISBN to cover design to distribution, graduates walk through every stage a professional author navigates. They leave understanding how a published book gets made and sold.
A class
Small groups of young writers build genuine friendships through shared creative risk. They critique each other's work, cheer each other on, and walk into the signing event as a team.
A real signing. Real readers. Real sales.
Graduates host a private event at a local bookshop, sign copies for family and community, and experience the moment a stranger hands them money for something they wrote. That memory rewires what they believe is possible.
Confidence that compounds
Kids leave knowing they can begin something hard, finish it, and stand behind it in public — a foundation that carries into school, work, and life.
A complete author experience.
Their name on the cover of a published anthology — a published book, forever
A live book signing at a local bookshop, selling to real readers
The experience of reading their story aloud to family, friends, and fans
Expert story instruction from a published, MFA-credentialed author
A professional editorial pass that makes their story print-ready
Rights to their story forever — they own every word they wrote
Three official paperback copies to keep, gift, or share with family
A professional author photo
A certificate of achievement signed by the instructor
Confidence built by finishing something hard and standing behind it in public
Friendships forged through shared creative work and camaraderie
A memory the whole family will keep forever — and a story that outlasts the day
One Day. A lifetime achievement.
Junior Author Tuition
The full Spark Author Program — workshop day, anthology, and signing.
- Their name on the cover of a published anthology — forever
- Private bookshop signing event with their first book sale
- Reading their story aloud to family and friends
- Expert story instruction from a published author and industry leader
- A professional editorial pass that makes their story print-ready
- Professional author photo
- Three official paperback copies included
- Certificate of achievement
- Rights to their story forever
- One-day workshop (5 hours + lunch)
- Pre-workshop Field Kit mailed home
- Official invitation to the Scholarship Program
David Viergutz
I built this for the kid I used to be.
I built this for the kid that lost his spark. Nearly 25 years ago, I lost my spark to write. For a long stretch I told myself I was the kind of person who used to write, and made my peace with that.
Then my wife sat me down one night and told me to stop talking about writing books and start writing them. I remembered the kid that was told writing and publishing a book was impossible, and that fueled me to write one, and then another, and then twenty more after that.
Now, I am the head of a major publishing company, and still I remember that kid that lost his spark — because he was told it was impossible for a kid to make money from his writing, and that writing for a living was impossible.
The Spark Author Program was created so that no child would ever lose their spark if they wanted to become a writer. The world needs more storytellers.
I built this for the kid I used to be. I hope yours loves it.
— David Viergutz, Founder
Bestselling horror & thriller author·30+ published novels and short stories·Disabled U.S. Army veteran·Former law enforcement·MFA in Creative Writing·Staff writer at Indie Author Magazine·Featured in Writer's Digest·Creator of ScareMail·Texas-based, teaching nationally
Put your name behind a child's first book.
Sponsorship turns a blank page into a published book — and a kid who wasn't sure they had a story into an author with their name on the cover. You're helping raise a generation of storytellers and readers, of dreamers and entrepreneurs, of kids who learn, often for the first time, that they can begin something hard and finish it.
Author Academy takes nothing from the students — sponsors are the reason a child can walk in with an idea and walk out a published author. When you sponsor a class, you're not buying a logo; you're the name behind ten first books that sit on shelves and in family homes forever. And your brand is woven through every class and our local outreach along the way.
Founding Sponsor
Put your name on the class itself.
The headline partner of a founding class. Your brand names the class — in the book's title, in every press mention, and at the signing — forever. Everything in Platinum, plus legacy positioning as the partner who launched the program.
- The class is named after you — e.g. the [Your Brand] Voices Class
- Presented-by credit on the anthology cover
- Full inside-cover page in the published book
- Speaking role and reserved seating at the signing
- 15 anthology copies + full CSR impact report
- Industry exclusivity + right of first refusal on future classes
Platinum
1 per class · industry exclusive
Presented by your brand.
- Presented-by credit on the anthology cover
- Full inside-cover page in the published book
- Speaking role at the signing + reserved seating
- 15 anthology copies
- Full CSR impact report for your board deck
- Industry exclusivity + right of first refusal
Gold
1–2 per class
Front and center with the class.
- Half-page recognition in the anthology
- Attend the signing + group photo with the class
- 15 anthology copies
- Impact summary + social co-tagging
- Sponsor Advisory Council seat
Silver
2–3 per class
Support a class of young authors.
- Sponsor page in the published anthology
- Invitation to the signing + photo op
- 7 anthology copies
- Impact summary + social recognition
Bronze
3–4 per class
Help light the spark.
- Sponsor listing in the back of the anthology
- Logo on event signage
- 4 anthology copies + impact summary
One sponsor per industry at Platinum and above — exclusivity is enforced. Multi-class and annual packages available at reduced rates.
Scholarship Sponsor
Cover one child's full participation. Their family gets the complete experience plus extra books, and your name appears on all print collateral. The simplest way to put a kid on a bookshelf.
Host the Workshop
Offer your space for workshop day — a bookstore, library, or studio with tables and restrooms.
Host the Signing
Provide your bookshop for the 90-minute signing event.
Feed the Class
Cater lunch for ten young authors on workshop day — your restaurant or food truck featured by name.
Cover the Photography
Shoot workshop and signing day; deliver an edited gallery the families keep.
Design the Cover
Create the anthology's cover art — credited inside the published book.
Send the Field Kit
Mail the pre-workshop notebooks, pens, and prompt cards to every author.
In-kind partners are acknowledged in the anthology and on event signage. Cover placement, industry exclusivity, and the CSR impact report are reserved for cash sponsors.
Questions or a custom partnership? hello@authoracademy.com
The things parents ask first.
Yes — a real, finished book: professionally edited, typeset, printed with a professional cover design, and listed for sale on Amazon, with your child credited by name as a co-author and their photo and bio inside. What sets this apart is that it's an experience, not a pay-to-publish service: your child isn't paying to have a manuscript printed — they're learning the craft of storytelling and walking through every real step an author takes, from revision to cover design to a live signing where they make their very first sale. The book is the reward at the end of the journey they earn, and every dollar of book sales goes to the young authors themselves.
David Viergutz — bestselling author, disabled U.S. Army veteran, author of 30+ published novels and short stories, and an MFA-credentialed creative-writing instructor. He leads every class personally, alongside his publishing team at Epistolary.
Ages as young as 8 — the program is designed for children 8 to 17, and every student benefits. The curriculum meets each writer where they are: young enough that publishing still feels magical, old enough to draft a real story.
Most haven't. The mailed Field Kit and the in-workshop prompts are built for first-time authors. Every child finishes a 1,000-word piece by the end of the day.
Always. Workshops are held in a public venue — a library, bookstore, or martial-arts studio, for example — never a private space. At least three adults are present at all times, the program owner is on site for every class, and all presenters are background-checked.
Kids write in whatever genre excites them — adventure, fantasy, mystery, humor. Every story is guided to be age-appropriate, and the instruction stays focused on the craft of storytelling: character, conflict, and voice.
One workshop day (a Saturday, about 4 hours plus lunch), followed by a 90-minute author signing at a local bookshop once the printed anthology arrives — approximately 4 weeks later.
Junior Author tuition is a one-time $99 fee covering the workshop day, the published anthology, and the signing (see Pricing for combos and add-ons). We don't offer refunds, but if something comes up we're glad to reschedule your child into a later class.
We host in the Central Texas area. Our three founding classes meet on Saturday, July 25 (Class I), Saturday, August 29 (Class II), and Saturday, September 26, 2026 (Class III) — ten seats each. Reserve a seat and we'll confirm the exact venue with you.
Absolutely. Reach out and we'll coordinate seats in the same class.
A working professional editor reviews every story after the workshop and makes a light editing pass — spelling, grammar, and clarity — keeping each child's voice and words intact, so the anthology is print-ready. It's their story, polished, not rewritten.
Reserve your seat in the next class.
Central Texas · venue confirmed on reservation
Central Texas · venue confirmed on reservation
Central Texas · venue confirmed on reservation
Hold your child's place.
Turning dreams into words,words into books,and books into sparks that burn forever.
Sparking lifelong storytellers.
Reserve Your Author's Seat — $99