Advice on getting a book published

I'm told a good agent helps.

I have one, though, and he has shopped a novel I wrote with a similar story to yours. I did it just because, without any hope of seeing it published and marketed. Until I decided to see if it could be published and marketed.

Without the agent, most publishing houses won't even look at your manuscript. You can be Faulkner and they will never know it. My agent hasn't been able to sell my book for me. And it has been a while. In fact, I am buried nowadays on his list of priorities. He did get it into some hands, though, and I even had an offer from a publisher that was rescinded. And then played off as a misunderstanding. The acquisitions editor made an offer, but the person above her wouldn't cut the check. The most depressing thing about it was that the advance was for peanuts. When they treat dollar amounts like that like the keys to Fort Knox, and you still couldn't get something that may be good published, even if you paid them, it really breaks your spirit.