looking for a publisher

Yikes!

NEVER pay to get published! That's not how it's done.

You're in the right place and among friends.

Go to a bookstore. Look inside the books similar to yours. You'll find the names of publishers there.

That's a start. You can check their websites for submission guidelines. Some want to only see books submitted by agents.

You can look SAFELY for publishers and agents here:

http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/

Yog's Law: Money flows TOWARD the writer. The only place you sign a check is on the back.

STAY AWAY FROM PUBLISH AMERICA. You'll learn why when you hang here long enough.

Try our Share Your Work forum. You can put up sample pages for constructive feedback. The password is "vista."

Now I'll get out of the way as I am sure 20 other AW members will have some help for you too!

Welcome!

While your checking out the books similar to yours, as Gillhoughly recommended, also check out the "Author's Thanks" page that some authors put either at the beginning or end of their novel -- sometimes they will thank their agent.

Do a quick Google search on that agent's name and you'll probably find the agency they work for.

cheers
Sam

From your post, it seems you haven't completed your novel yet. If this is so, I'd seriously consider putting lots of time in to get it finished. The reason is that there is so much work to do after the last word is written. There's days of re-reading, self editing, reading out loud, getting beta readers to give you feedback. If you contact a publisher and they say, 'show me the novel!' you'd better be ready to send the finished and polished work.

And welcome to AW.

psycho1971 said:

I am new to this and serious input would be helpful. I have submitted three chapters of my manuscript on a horror novel I am writing. I don't want to pay a publisher and could use some help on an excellent one for a new author as I have no books published at present.

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You've only completed three chapters?

You may have a misunderstanding of the most efficient arrangement of horse and cart.

The above posts pretty much cover it. All I can add is, put your energy into making your novel the best novel you can possibly write. Until you're absolutely, positively finished with it (yes that requires more than one draft) don't even think about what's going to happen afterwards. Remember, you write because you must, because it is the essence of your being, not because you're in a hurry to get published.

And read Slushkiller while you're at it.