What is the best way to go about getting a book published when you've never been published before?

You can send your manuscript to an agent/publisher or choose to self-publish. Keep in mind that when you send your work to a traditional publisher, it can take you a long time for your work to be recognized. More often than not, your work gets rejected. If you dont have the patience, you may end up getting frustrated.

When you self-publish, you pay to get your book out. This can be a tradeoff, but the gains may be more than you expect. Many authors nowadays turn to self-publishing for many good reasons - they have complete creative control of their book / retain ownership rights of their work / their book never runs out of print / use it to jumpstart their publishing career, etc. Most importantly, with self-publishing, you only have yourself to convince.

Self-publishing is also a smarter option especially that you are planning to publish a book on a specific niche, because you can actually cater to your target readers. You also get to control the number of books you want to have printed. Usually, your POD publisher only prints your book depending on demand. This way, you wont end up with a garage full of unsold books.

Whatever publishing route you choose, make sure that you understand how publishing really works. Publishing is never easy, so you have to know how to play the field, at the very least.

For more information on publishing a book:
http://selfpublishingjourney.wordpress.com/

Your FREE publishing guide:
http://bit.ly/14y3YA

get an agent .! most wont give you the time of day without one . but if you try on your own , dont send the book . send a cover letter on what the book is about . they have no time to read 1000's of books a day .

If you have the money, you might consider having your book published by what is known as a "vanity" publisher.

Here is one such place that will help you with that, and they have an outstanding professional reputation, with many years of experience:

http://www.vantagepress.com/

+5

Please feel free to read my article on "How to self-publish a Book with little or no money"
http://bit.ly/hosannapublishing5508383

Best Wishes,

Crystal Watts
http://bit.ly/crystalwatts