8-year-old Winter Garden boy writes, publishes book

ing video games and learning to play sports, Jacob Nethers is writing and publishing books. 

As a third-grader at Foundation Academy, Jacob is interested in dragons and cats. To him and his friends, they’re cool and interesting. 

And as an avid reader and book-lover, he decided to take that interest and curiosity and write a 24-page book called “The Dragons of Gargon.” 

“I wanted to be a writer for a long time,” he said. “I want (people) to learn more about me and dragons.” 

“The Dragons of Gargon” introduces two dragon clans, one good and one bad. Both clans want more territory to fly and hunt, but when a treasure is discovered in the middle of Gargon, a battle begins. 

“His first book was left off with a really good cliff-hanger,” said Paige Nethers, Jacob’s mother. “So all his friends at school are ready for a second book.” 

As an art teacher at Foundation Academy, Paige Nethers has had multiple students come up to her to tell her how much they loved her son’s book and how much he inspired them to write. 

 “A lot of the people we know who bought the book come to him or even mail (the book) to him and say, ‘Will you please sign the book? We need the author’s signature,’” she said.

Jacob said he wants to become a New York Times bestseller one day, and although he has just started his journey, he is eager to achieve that goal. 

“He just came to me one day and was like, ‘I wrote a book, and I want to publish it,’” Paige Nethers said. “I was like, “Oh wow, OK!’ I was just so excited.” 

Paige Nethers said her son was set on writing and editing by himself. 

“He had the whole thing written, and I typed it up,” she said. “If I made any suggestions, he would turn them down.” 

The whole writing and publishing process took about eight weeks. The book was published to Amazon Saturday, Sept. 6. 

Although the process was quick, it didn’t come without challenges. 

Jacob said he would encounter writer’s block during the writing process, but luckily, his mom taught him about thought bubbles, and that helped him move forward with his writing. 

Although he was confident in his writing abilities, he didn’t feel ready to do illustrations on his own, so his mom aided in creating AI images best suited for the book. 

However, this process taught him patience and an idea of what to expect as he ventures onto his second book. 

“Even though there were some hard parts, I was just excited to know that it was going to be a book one day,” Jacob said. 

He said he took inspiration to publish his book from his mom, who publishes art pieces and sends them to art galleries. 

“My grandmother was a published author, my mother is an excellent writer, so it is somewhere in the family,” Paige Nethers said. “I don’t enjoy it so much, but he’s really good at both. And his grandma loves talking to him about all of this.”

Now, Paige Nethers said her daughter also wants to write a book after seeing what her little brother has accomplished. 

“I’m very proud of him, especially hearing all the kids and how inspired they are,” she said. 

Jacob said he is 10 pages into his second book and hopes to have at least one or two more published — all sequels to “The Dragons of Gargon.”