Getting my novel out there?

Why would you want to limit your search (agent or publisher) to the West Coast? With email, location isn't a hurdle.

Most publishers won't accept materials from unagented writers. Get to Query Tracker, enter your genre criteria into the search engine there and get yourself a list of agents who represent what you write. Then vet that list with Preditors and Editors, or here on the Bewares and Background checks subforum. Once you're sure the agents are legit, and once you've polished up your query letter, send it out.

Good luck. It's really not as scary as it seems.

There's really no reason to limit yourself to Canadian agents, either. Additionally, it is possible that Cdn agents will have to charge you GST/HST. I don't know for sure, but Real Estate agents do. I don't know how you'd go about checking that.

I did an Australian regional suspense (wild south cost of Australia) and got a New York agent.

The place where region really pays off (she told me, because I was curious about that very same question) is in the local publisher branch/or the particular imprint that she might sell the manuscript to. But the parent company would market the book worldwide.

So yeah, don't limit yourself! If you cant sell big, work your way down the ladder.

I am a former Ink Stained Wretch myself. I was a general assignment reporter for a major metro newspaper when you were one years old. My first writing job. I know what you are going through.
Finding a publisher is like finding someone to marry. Where to look? Everywhere.
Have you thought writing an excerpt or an article about your story and seeing if you can get published in a local newspaper? Might just start things off for you. Good luck.

Hublocker,

Have you ever used Writer's Market or writersmarket.com? They have all kinds of book publishers and also agents. I published a non-fiction book 20 years ago and maybe things were different then or maybe I was just ignorant or both. I was able to find a publisher by contacting publishers of the types of book I had written. I think it is probably different for fiction from everything I have read and I think that seeking an agent is more likely to be successful. Writer's Digest (the magazine from the same people) often has lists of agents and discusses their needs.

I hope you don't mind if I ask you a question. I have been looking for beta readers to trade reading/critiquing with and so far, haven't been successful. I have had a couple who were looking for the same help as me, but they didn't follow through after the first few chapters. I thought that perhaps they didn't like my comments but they didn't respond when I inquired if that were an issue. I've been looking in various places but haven't found the right one obviously! Thanks!

Sherlock

I agree with the above posters who encourage you not to limit your search geographically. That would give you a much smaller pool, and there are too many agents not to wade all the way in. Try Manuscript Wishlist (http://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/) to search for agents interested in your genre. What I like about this site is that many agents have shared what they're currently hoping to see, which can give you a little more insight than reading the bio on their agency page.

Many folks are self-publishing these days as am I. I never disagree with pitching what you have because you never know, but I go with self-publishing. You can get your work out there in a hurry. I would definitely spend money on formatting and a good cover. You have to have a good cover to catch people's attention. Beyond that, I'd spend some money on advertising on Amazon as well and paid advertising really does work best. All the free ways are fine but don't often translate to sales.

I think you'll have to put on your business cap and do research on the publishing side of novel writing. It's not as easy to just pick a random local agent and hope for the best.