Brandon Sanderson
Sanderson wrote regularly throughout his undergraduate and graduate studies, and by 2003 he had written twelve novels, all unpublished. While in the middle of a graduate program at BYU, Tor Books editor Moshe Feder contacted him to say that he wanted to get one of his books. Sanderson had sent the manuscript of his sixth novel, Elantris, a year and a half earlier. Elantris was published by Tor Books on April 21, 2005, to generally positive reviews. This was followed in 2006 by Mistborn: The Final Empire, the first book in his Mistborn fantasy trilogy.