Getting a novel published is simple to describe but very difficult to accomplish. I should emphasize that I have not (yet) been successful, so you should feel free to laugh out loud at anything on this website. That said, getting published seems to involve three steps:
- Write a wonderful compelling novel.
- Get some writing credibility to distinguish yourself from every other unpublished writer hoping to sell their wonderful compelling first novel.
- Get the attention of an agent or publisher who is seriously interested in looking at the work of unpublished writers.
Getting writing credibility involves getting something - anything - published. I have some ideas how to do that which you can explore by going to the link called "...Contests" below.
Finding (i) an agent who will really consider the work of an unpublished author or (ii) a publisher who will consider the work of an unpublished and unagented author is primarily a matter of detective work. Many (perhaps most) agents and publishers will say in their profiles that they will consider unpublished authors; but in reality they are simply covering their bases: your query letter is not likely to be read with anything other than skepticism. I've got the start of such a list of publishers which you can find by going to the link labeled "Pubishers...." below. The list of agents will follow shortly.
I encourage feedback. My objective is to help others go up the learning curve faster than I did. There are so many of us out there that a cottage industy has grown up around our anxieties. "Twelve E-Z Steps to Getting Published" seems to be the attitude of many of the how-to books, magazines, and conferences that are marketed to unpublished writers. But like dieting fads and gimmicks, the secret is that there is no secret. You have to write a knockout book, you have to somehow bootstrap some credibility to get noticed, and you have to find the needle in the haystack: the agent or publisher who will love your work.
Good luck, and send me email telling me how to make this site as useful as it can be.