CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI

When best-selling author Carl Hiaasen purchased Eragon at a Montana grocery store, it had already sold more than 10,000 copies a remarkable achievement for a self-published novel and its author, Christopher Paolini, who was just a teenager at the time.

After earning his high school diploma through a correspondence program, 15-year-old Paolini spent a year writing Eragon and another year revising it.

The project became a family enterprise his sister and his parents edited the book, and his father's company published it.

Since earning a major book contract with Hiaasen's publisher, Paolini has become a best-selling author in his own right, with Eragon and the sequels that followed attracting fans of all ages across the globe.

Read about this remarkable success story of a teenager who found international publishing success in the new biography Christopher Paolini.