There are plenty of blogs with advice on getting published, many written by people who know more about it.  This is my perspective, as a recently-published author.  There are five steps or decisions to make.

1. Write something.  No publisher will publish a new author who has only the concept for a book, unless you've got a real hook (say, you're the daughter of dictator Salvator Allende, or you shot JFK).  You've got to write the best thing you can, up front.  Publishers are busy.  If your manuscript looks like it's got buried potential but will take too much work to dig it out, they won't bother.  I should add that Ronsdale, once they took me on, took a lot of care polishing and cleaning up my manuscript.

2. Submit it to the right publishers.  When you hear about an author who was turned down forty-three times before getting published, chances are they were submitting to the wrong places.  Most publishers do only certain types of books: westerns, say, or books about the east coast.  Figure out your genre and submit only to publishers who actually do it.

3. If you're Canadian, as I am, try Canadian publishers first.  Canada Council grants are available to publishers who do Canadian authors, which means that if you submit your manuscript to Canadian publishers, they'll look more favourably at it.  It still has to be good, mind you.

4. Should you get an agent?  Gosh, that's a toughie.  Wouldn't you rather know the meaning of life?  But seriously: it's hard to say.  Nowadays, interesting an agent is just about as hard as interesting a publisher, and for the same reason: neither wants to waste their time on something unpublishable.  On the other hand, if you can interest an agent, you'll find doors open to you that wouldn't be otherwise.  Many larger publishers only take stuff that comes through an agent, using the agents to filter out the dross.  But agents – or so I'm told – can be even more hardnosed than publishers, who may occasionally take a risk on something offbeat that strikes their fancy.  And while you have an agent, you can't bypass him and go to publishers directly.  Big no-no.

5. Manuscripts or query letters?  Publishers invariably put their submission guidelines on their web sites.  Obey them.  If they say they want three sample chapters, don't send them the whole MS.  On the other hand, I sent query letters to several publishers who said they didn't take unagented manuscripts.  Okay, it didn't work, but it was worth a shot.  And Random House sent me the very nicest rejection letter I've ever received, which was very sustaining.  Besides, they often say they don't take unsolicited manuscripts, in which case a query letter is technically permissible, even though they usually mean they only work through agents.  Oh, that's right: a query letter is just what it sounds like: "Dear Mr Publisher: I've written this butt-kicking book about kicking butt.  Would you like to see the manuscript?"

I went almost entirely with query letters.  Why waste my time and money mailing manuscripts to people who won't read them?  A query letter is much faster for them and me.  Keep it down to a single page, preferably half, that makes the best possible case for why your book is a perfect fit for that publisher.  Look at what else they've published – their titles will all be on their web site – and point out what's similar to yours.  Publishers tend to want something that is both utterly fresh and unique, on the one hand, and identical to everything they've ever published, on the other.  Not the easiest requirements, but your query letter should explain why your MS meets them.

6. Can I send my manuscript to multiple publishers at once (multiple submissions)?  Short answer: sure, but tell them.  Publishers are busy and slow.  If they don't take multiple submissions and you still want to go with them, set a timeframe – perhaps a month or six weeks – for them to get back to you.  They can't reasonably demand that you submit only to them, and then sit on your MS for three months, especially when the odds are they'll reject it.

You will get rejection letters.  Don't get discouraged.  The worst one I ever got made me laugh out loud.  It was a badly photocopied sheet with a checklist of possible rejection reasons.  They had checked off Your subject and/or main character does not hold our interest. Ingrates.  No vision.

And sometimes you won't hear back at all, although most publishers are good about that.  I still have one major Canadian publisher who I submitted a manuscript to through their "friends and family" channel but have never heard back from, despite four follow-up letters, five emails, and numerous phone messages.  Since it's been 3 1/2 years, I'm pretty sure I won't hear from them now.  No, I won't say who they are.

If you've written something good, it will eventually get published.  Now, making money off it … that's a different question.