how does one get published

A typical publisher will only accept the first 3 chapters of a manuscript. If they are interested, they'll send you an acceptance slip requesting the rest of the manuscript.

VERY IMPORTANT: Before you send your original work anywhere, you better be able to prove it's yours and when you wrote it. To do this, mail yourself a copy of it and don't ever open it! This will prove not only that it is your work but you will have an official date stamp on the envelope.

This will not cost you a thing and holds up in the court of law as long as the envelope has not been opened! Let the judge do it if you ever have your work stolen.

If you want to self-publish, check out my website on my profile. Good luck!

This isn't a subject people on mylot can help you with. There are forums that help writers and you can ask your questions there.

This is the one I belong to. It's small but your not likely to get lost in the crowd:

http://cher2.proboards.com/index.cgi?

If you'd rather get lost in the crowd, you can try this one.

absolutewrite.com

Either one will be helpful to you.

I'll answer your last question first. Publishers take care of finding the editors, proofreaders, copy editors, etc. once they've accepted your work. You don't have to worry about that.

Now, submitting it is the tricky part. First-time writers should have a good literary agent. Most publishing companies won't even open manuscripts unless they are submitted by an agent, not until you've been previously published and your name is one they recognize. I would suggest that you find a good literary agent. It will save you a lot of time, money and disappointment!

What you send to an agent is whatever they request. Sometimes, they only want a brief synopsis, or outline, of your book. Sometimes, it's a few chapters. They don't usually ask for the entire manuscript until they know what it is about and it has piqued their interest.

No publisher will want to read what you've written, no matter what, unless the entire book has been finished. It is the agents who don't normally ask for the entire manuscript. If you have the entire story in your head, write a brief outline about it and send that to various agents. They will want to know how the book starts, ends and what happens in the middle before asking to see more.

So, concentrate on finding a literary agent. Don't worry about grammar, punctuation or spelling. That is all handled by the publisher when they are ready to print your book.

Good luck to you!

kitten, I got so fed up with the fiction publishing industry that I stopped submitting work. I bought a program and put my books into ebook form. Now, I enjoy writing much more cuz I don't have to worry about the rejection process. But that was three months ago and I haven't sold an ebook yet. But I continue to write for myself and one day someone else will appreciate it. I'll send you a free book if you are interested.