What Was Stephen King's First Published Novel?

Stephen king's first published novel was 'Carrie', which was printed April 5th, 1974. King sent the novel to the publisher Doubleday, and received an offer for a $2,500 advance on royalties, later followed by the paperback rights being sold for $400,000.

Initially, 'Carrie' had a print run of 30,000 copies for a cover price of $5.95 USD. The hardback only sold 13,000 copies, while the paperback, which was released a year later, sold over 1 million copies in its first year.

'Carrie' originally started out as a short story for Cavalier magazine, but King abandoned it and threw it in the trash, where it was later fished out by his wife, Tabitha, who persuaded him to continue writing it.

King based the character of Carrie on two girls. One attended the same school as him, the other was a student of his.

The film adaptation of 'Carrie' came in 1976, and was one of the few adaptations of a Stephen King novel that the author himself appreciated.