This goes for everyone who has ever published the traditional way with an agent!?

Most local libraries have a section on publishing. In that section is almost always a guide with the names and contact information for various agents. If you still want to go the internet route, check out http://www.agentquery.com/ They are a free searchable database of literary agents. You can plug keywords and genre info into their search engine and get the contact info and submission guidelines for an agent that represents your type of work.

My other advice is to work on your query letter. Never talk about what isn't in your story, and always keep your idea clear and understandable. I half-assed mine and didn't know that was why I was being rejected until months later when one of the agents actually told me to fix it.

One more thing. Agents hate it when they are given a good story with a terrible manuscript. You need to go over it with a fine toothed comb and get some others to do so as well. Poor copy-editing is one of the greatest downfalls of young writers.

Start by losing half the adjectives you use to describe the novel. You never mention what your novel isn't.

Is it post-apocalypse science fiction or is is gothic horror? If it has magic in it, including supernatural monsters, it's horror or fantasy, not science fiction.

Then ask is this an adult book or children's literature? It matters, because some publishers do one or the other. If this is an adult book, you'll need to add another 40K words to it. If it's a children's book, you won't.

Here are two professional writer's walk throughs of the process

http://www.sfwriter.com/agent.htm

http://www.hatrack.com/writingclass/lessons/1999-0...

First, write the e book. end the finished e book and edit it. make it as ideal as conceivable. Then, once you get to the poublishing state: various techniques to pass: conceitedness publishing. You pay them to pubish your e book. various web content attempt this. classic publishing. locate an agent who handles newborn's books (look at Literary brokers market or newborn's Writers market) and initiate sending your e book to them. it truly is the most appropriate thanks to pass - in case you deliver on to a writer - even if the writer DOES take unsolicited manuscripts - that is going to land up in a slush pile that some intern reads. The agent route is often a thanks to pass. that is lengthy, and tedious, yet maximum acceptable way.