The first book Stephen King successfully wrote and published was Carrie.
Published by Doubleday on April 5, 1974, Carrie was King’s debut novel and introduced readers to the Maine setting, psychological tension, and supernatural horror that became central to his career. The story follows Carrie White, a socially isolated high-school student whose telekinetic powers erupt after years of bullying and abuse.
King initially doubted the idea and threw early pages into the trash, but his wife, Tabitha King, retrieved them and encouraged him to continue. Doubleday accepted the manuscript in 1973, allowing King to leave his teaching job and write full-time. Carrie became a major commercial success and was adapted into Brian De Palma’s influential 1976 film.
A common mix-up is confusing King’s first published novel with his first professional writing sale: that was the short story “The Glass Floor,” published in Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Other options are much later works: Thinner appeared in 1984, Under the Dome in 2009, and Doctor Sleep in 2013.