I have been creating stories since I was a child and I finished writing my first chapter book when I was 11. I am currently a junior English major and I have had a short story selected for publication in my college’s annual anthology, Barney Street. I aspire to be a novelist along the lines of my favorite childhood authors, Meg Cabot and Caroline B. Cooney.
My first novel, His Eyes, was originally posted on the website fictionpress.com, which is an online writing community of 500,000 people. His Eyes was popular in the romance genre, receiving 2400 positive reviews and being bookmarked by over 1100 readers. If you're interested in getting published, I would suggest these websites:
A vital resource for any writer looking for an agent. Agent Query offers a Full Search feature which allows agents to be searched for by genre, as well as by which agents are accepting e-queries (a big money- and time-saver versus old fashioned paper) and which agents are actively seeking new clients.
Once you've found the agent you think may be the one of your dreams, be sure to check out their sales on Publishers' Markeplace. The site's search feature allows you to type in an agent's name and instantly see their reported sales. Also, be sure to sign up for the PublishersLunch free e-mail, which will keep you in the publishing loop.
Checking on a potential agent isn't complete without a look on P & E, a site on which authors report agents who are running scams. After all, the last thing that you want to do is "sell" your manuscript and end up being the one paying! NOTE: Any agent who charges a reading fee is ripping you off--run!
Knowing who you want to submit to is (obviously) very important. However, what does it matter that you've found The Agent if you can't get their attention? A strong query letter is, beyond a doubt, the one chance you have to crawl out of the slush pile of unpublished writers and grab that golden ticket. Read this article on Agent Query--they know what they're doing--and heed every word.