As a child and then a teenager, Frank began several newspapers and magazines. In his late teens, he began showing an interest in the theatre and his father eventually gives him several theatres and operas in New York and Pennsylvania to manage.

He wrote and published his first musical play, The Maid of Arran in 1881. He married Maud Gage in 1882. Maud was a leading figure in the Women's Rights Movement. They moved to Aberdeen SD in the late 1880s, after Frank's father died. Frank ran a store, Baum's Bazaar, until it fell victim to hard timesin 1890, after which he ran the local newspaper, "The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer".

In 1891, after the newspaper failed, the family moved to Chicago, where Frank became a reporter for the "Evening Post" and also took a job as a travelling china salesman.

He published his first children's book, Mother Goose in Prose in 1897, which is successful enough to allow him to quit his travelling job. Two years later, he published Father Goose, His Book which became an instant success and a best-selling children's book.

In 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published and Frank's status as a writer is firmly established.

From 1902-1908 he wrote several children's books, and in 1904 began the Oz series, by publishing a sequel, The Marvelous Land of Oz.

He and his family moved to California in 1910, where their home was called "Ozcot". In 1914, he and several associates formed The Oz Film Manufacturing Company, which made several films based on the Oz books. The films don't succeed, mainly because the audiences believe them to be only for children. At this time, movies for children had not even been considered. Eventually, the OFM Company was sold to Universal.

From 1915-1919, Frank continued to write children's books, including one Oz book a year. He passed away on May 5, 1919. His last book, Glinda of Oz was published after his death, in 1920.

• 1900 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
• 1904 The Marvelous Land of Oz
• 1907 Ozma of Oz
• 1908 Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
• 1909 The Road to Oz
• 1910 The Emerald City of Oz
• 1913 The Patchwork Girl of Oz
• 1914 Little Wizard Stories of Oz
• 1914 Tik-Tok of Oz
• 1915 The Scarecrow of Oz
• 1916 Rinkitink in Oz
• 1917 The Lost Princess of Oz
• 1918 The Tin Woodman of Oz
• 1919 The Magic of Oz
• 1920 Glinda of Oz

• 1900 A New Wonderland
• 1901 Dot and Tot of Merryland
• 1902 The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
• 1903 The Magical Monarch of Mo
• 1905 Queen Zixi of Ix
• 1905 The Wogglebug Book
• 1906 John Dough and the Cherub
• 1911 The Sea Fairies
• 1912 Sky Island
• 1920 Oz-Man Tales

• 1897 Mother Goose in Prose
• 1899 Father Goose: His Book
• 1900 The Army Alphabet
• 1900 The Navy Alphabet
• 1900 A New Wonderland
• 1900 The Songs of Father Goose
• 1901 American Fairy Tales
• 1901 The Master Key
• 1903 The Enchanted Island of Yew
• 1907 Father Goose's Year Book
• 1910 Juvenile Speaker
• 1911 Baum's Own Book for Children
• 1911 The Daring Twins
• 1912 Phoebe Daring
• 1916 The Snuggle Tales
• 1917 Babes in Birdland (republish of 1911 Laura Bancroft book)