Jaimi Jarvis smiles when she recalls the conversation she had with a publishing company representative in May 2008. The representative was calling her daughter, Kellah, to inform her that they wanted to publish her book.

 The representative appeared to be under the impression that Kellah was a professional writer and that she was reaching her at her office. She asked Jaimi Jarvis if she could speak to Kellah.

“She’s at school,” Jaimi Jarvis informed the representative.

“Oh, is she taking classes or something?” the representative asked.

“No, she’s in high school,” Jarvis said.

In fact, Kellah Jarvis was just a sophomore at the time. Still only a junior, Kellah Jarvis already has achieved a goal that some aspiring writers never achieve – she got her book published by an established publishing house.

Tate Publishing, an Oklahoma company, in August 2009 came out with “Miss Kathy Sailon,” a tale about a third-grader who can’t seem to stay out of trouble and learns an important lesson about life after experiencing some setbacks.

“I like making connections with people because I have learned stuff from books,” Kellah said. “I like writing stories that you can relate to and learn from.”

Tate Publishing may not be one of the major publishing houses, but they are treating the 17-year-old Knightdale High School student like a pro. Tate gave the book a page on its web site, complete with a video trailer. The publisher set up a book signing for Kellah at Barnes & Noble Books at Triangle Town Center in North Raleigh. Dozens of people came to that Sept 26 event, and Kellah sold about 60 books. Kellah even has a “team,” including an illustrator and a marketer.

All this is not bad for someone who didn’t even have a full manuscript when she contacted Tate. Kellah sent a few partial manuscripts.

“I was only expecting feedback,” she recalls. “When they said they wanted to publish it, I was really surprised.”

Kellah’s success may seem effortless, but it really was a case of opportunity meeting preparation. Kellah began writing in the second grade, according to her mother. “Typical second grade stuff,” Jaimi Jarvis recalls. Kellah recalls writing about a talking hamster, unicorns and fairies.

By the fourth grade, Kellah was starting to get more serious about her writing, her mother said. Kellah would go to the library and get science books and do research to make her plots seem more lifelike. She went to Wal-Mart to get binders and printed out her stories on bookleaf-sized pages. She developed a series of her own stories, lining them up on a shelf.

“At that point I started saying to other parents, ‘Is this normal? Do your kids do this?’ ” Jarvis recalled. “I said to myself, ‘How can I help her to get this in front of people?’ because I’m thinking this is something she could do with her life.”

Jarvis got on the Internet and searched for children’s book publishers. She found Tate and dutifully followed the instructions for sending in a manuscript. She sent in a few stories for the publisher to choose from – none of them complete books – in February of 2008, and a few months later came the fateful phone call.

Jarvis bought her daughter’s favorite lunch – Bojangle’s chicken – and rushed to Knightdale High School to give her the good news.

Kellah then had to turn one of the stories into a full book. “I mostly did it on the weekends because during the week I had homework and stuff,” she explained.

But she managed to meet the deadline. At the ripe old age of 16, she became a published author.

Kellah and her mom have big plans for the book. They are trying to get it accepted into a Wake County public schools reading program and, of course, they’re trying to get Oprah’s attention.

Kellah plans to ride this wave “however far it takes me.” And she doesn’t plan to be a one-hit wonder.

“I have several manuscripts – I still have to finish them – but I think maybe I’d like to get published in the future,” she said.