Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: Authoring autobiography with sexual content as a minor

As you must realize yourself, your manuscript raises a number of legal issues. Even assuming that it does not contain illustrations or photographs, the text alone may run afoul of state obscenity laws. Although often not enforced, these are still on the books and carry criminal penalties. You clearly have First Amendment rights to express yourself, but should be mindful of the practical difficulty of finding a U.S. publisher who would be willing to release a book with strong sexual content. E-publishing carries additional legal concerns because of federal statutes relating to protection of minors as well as obscenity that specifically apply to Internet activities, such as the 1996 Communications Decency Act. Finally, simply changing names of the people you depict may not protect you completely from defamation, privacy or publicity-based claims if the characters can still be recognized as real people.

As a practical matter, you may also want to check with a publisher or two (especially smaller independent ones who might be more willing to take risks) to see if your manuscript is marketable in their experience. Commonly, publishers ask authors to represent to them in a contract that their works do not contain "infringing, illegal, libelous" material, so ultimately it is your responsibility to ensure legal compliance.

Please note that this reply is in the nature of general information only, is not legal advice and may not be relied upon as such.