Martin began selling science fiction short stories professionally in 1970, at age 21.

His first sale was

"The Hero", sold to Galaxy magazine and published in its February 1971 issue; other sales soon
followed. His first story to be nominated for the Hugo Award[29] and Nebula Awards was "With
Morning Comes Mistfall", published in 1973 in Analog magazine. In 1975 his story "...for a single
yesterday" about a post-apocalyptic timetripper was selected for inclusion in Epoch, a science fiction
anthology edited by Roger Elwood and Robert Silverberg. His first novel, Dying of the Light, was
completed in 1976 right before he moved to Dubuque and published in 1977. That same year the
enormous success of Star Wars had a huge impact on the publishing industry and science fiction,
and he sold the novel for the same amount he would make in three years of teaching. [30]
The short stories he was able to sell in his early 20s gave him some profit, but not enough to pay his
bills, which prevented him from becoming the full-time writer he wanted to be