How old do you have to be for a book contract?

[ಠ_à²]

One of my author followers on Twitter gave me an email to an editor that helped him publish his books and make a living out of it. I emailed her and she said she would love to help me get my book published. I have a few questions though, and I know this may sound really stupid but I need answers badly and I'm totally confused. I've also never done this before.
She's asking me for a manuscript so she can review it. What exactly is a "manuscript" ? Is it like the document where you wrote your book ?
She said she wants to send me a contract in the meantime. What does she mean by "contract" ? Is there a certain age I have to be? please help

[Cameron]

There's no age limit when it comes to any sorts of media. But you may or may not have to get your parent to sign the contract on your behalf, I'm not sure though. When she means manuscript, I'm pretty sure she wants you to write your story by hand and send it to her. But I may be wrong, just ask her!

[Julian]

Well, the manuscript is the novel itself. Everytihng you wrote, every piece of dialogue, the story, the book itself is the manuscript. And no, you don't have to be a specific age, some 6 year olds write poetry books. The contract is just the negotiations for the book and your publisher/agent. You can find overviews of contracts online. I think you have to have a parent or legal guardian grant permission for the book if your 'underage' if that's the term you want to use. You're never underaged to write. Never.

[Christin K]

A manuscript is the document that you wrote. There's a specific way they are supposed to be typed out: double spaced, one inch margins, title page, your name and the book title in a header at the top, and the number of words total in that header as well. The pages should be numbered also, centered, at the bottom of each page, in a footer.

BUT--do NOT send a manuscript to anyone except a publisher or agent. If you do, you are opening yourself up to intellectual property theft.

And please DO NOT sign any contracts for publishers until you see an attorney. Your age doesn't matter. Anyone of any age may be a published author.

Do you know this person who asked you for your work? Do you know if she is an agent? A publisher? Has she given you a proposition for publishing? If not, DON'T SEND ANYTHING.

Ask for credentials. Ask for the past books this person has handled or published. Any REPUTABLE agent or publisher will give you this information. And ask for the guidelines for manuscript submission. All publishers will tell you exactly how you need to submit your work.

If you need further information, go to your local library and go to the reference section and find a book called "Writer's Market". In the front of the book are some guidelines for finding publishers, submitting manuscripts and dealing with agents.

[arstart2000]

DANGER ---- DANGER --- DANGER.

Before you send your manuscript to anyone, make a printed copy of it, put it in a large envelope, address it to yourself, take it to the post office and mail it to yourself, with the form that you have to sign to get the package. When it comes in the mail DO NOT OPEN IT! Keep it in a safe place along with the form you signed to get the package. In the future, if someone tries to steal your work, take the package STILL UNOPENED to a lawyer.

[Joss]

Firstly, you can't sign anything unless you're 18. Until then, your parents have to sign on your behalf. This is what I think: she doesn't know you're underage yet, and when she figures out, she's going to cease all contact with you because there's no way you can sign a legally binding contract. So, either way, you're going to have to tell her how old you are unless you can get your parents to sign the contract for you.

Secondly, it sounds like she's a freelance editor. Are you ready to pay to have this person edit your manuscript? And her editing it doesn't guarantee it's going to be published; editors get paid whether or not your manuscript gets published - you pay them upfront.

Your manuscript is your the book you wrote. Literary theft is rare, so I wouldn't worry about her stealing it. Frankly, regardless of how highly you think of your manuscript, it's worthless while it's unpublished. And you have an automatic copyright as long as it's in complete, fixed form. Scammers aren't interested in stealing a manuscript that most likely won't be good enough to get published unless they put a lot of work into rewriting it, so the way scammers their money is by charging the author a fee. I'm not saying this editor is a scam, she's most likely a freelance editor.

The fact that you're 'totally confused' is the reason why minors can't enter into legally binding contracts. It's best to have an adult deal with this instead of trying to handle it yourself, but like I said earlier, once this editor finds out your age, she's not going to want to deal with you unless you bring your parents to the table.

Poor man's copyright of mailing your manuscript to yourself in a sealed envelope isnt' recognized under the law. All you have to do is read the official US copyright website to learn this, and I'm betting the many people who spread this myth don't do that.