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Hurrah :-)
I only wish I had reached this stage. Oh well back to work.
No doubt other talkbackers will have good advice to offer.
Meantime, start canvassing a few agents with the first chapter and synopsis, which will give you something to do while you wait. Don't rush to send the whole thing anywhere until asked. Check out the 'query letter' thread and read the ebook before writing your letter, to get it right first time.
Very few publishers these days will look at unagented work and very few agents will take on unpublished writers. It's going to be a slog but if your work is good, it will get there.
I wish you luck!
Marc.
First of many? Naming them is always so hard, but not really as important to me as other people seem to find it is for themselves. Mine always seem to choose their own name.
If you have, or were to name it, what would it be called?
I began my writing career by writng for small press, readers letters, short stories, short articles, building up a CV, so that when the inspiration came along for the children's books, I already had a CV of a kind, saying yes, people like my writing.
Secondly, maybe you should try getting it professionally critiqued?. I am in the process of my last draft of my crime novel so I am thinking about launching it on youwriteon.com now. I see how that does, and if it looks hopeful (I'm not expecting to win the professional critique) I am going to submit it to Cornerstones for an indepth critique before I even go anywhere near an agent or publisher.
If you have a read through W&A Yearbook you will find a handful of new writer friendly agents (including our friend James Barrington's!). As for publishers, I'm not certain, but I would probably say try the independent publishers. If it is a crime thriller I recommend Creme de la Crime, they are very interested in new talent, and if you are a bit of an entrapeneur why not try Jay's publisher Bewrite Books (their books are only POD - but not self/vanity published)?.
Are you going to start on your next book now? Or are you having a rest first?
Let me echo what other people have said and suggest you do nothing for a week or so, to put some distance between you and your work. Then take the MS out of the drawer and read it aloud. That's the best way I know of identifying clumsy or inaccurate writing, and I often find I'll pick up errors or omissions in the plot.
While you're reading it, try to imagine that it's a book you've picked up in Smiths or somewhere. Does the first sentence, and the first page, and the first chapter, grab you and want to make you read on? If not, change something so that it does. Only when you're completely satisfied should you think about sending it anywhere.
Then think about having the book professionally critiqued. Friends and colleagues saying it's good is one thing - when a professional writer says it is, you know you're on the right lines.
Agent or publisher? My view is find an agent first, if you can. If you haven't already got a copy, email me and I'll send you my article 'Inspiration, perspiration, publication' which covers this. When you submit the book, spend a long time getting the covering letter right because that's the first thing the agent or publisher will see, and it has to sell you as well as the MS.
Robert Hale will accept unagented writers. A friend in Andorra is now on, I think, her third book with them, but so far hasn't found an agent prepared to take her on.
Hope some of this helps!
James
Wish you all the best with your latest novel.
The webpage is:
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Have you thought about the CWA's Debut Dagger Award?. The entrance fee is a bit costly (£20), but it would be worth it even if you were a runner up.