Novel Series Help

Okay, so I am REALLY close to finishing my novel. If I don't get it done by the end of next week, I will go crazy (not really but you know what I mean). Until then, I've been researching some possible publishers. My mom says I shouldn't get an agent; she says I can do it on my own, and agents get part of your book sales. And I hear you can become a professional writer without one (though they do help)!

What do you think? P.S. I think part of my book proceeds will be given to a charity.

Lastly, I'm trying to find some big name publishers, but most that take unsolicited books are small company. Should that make a difference? I don't really care about my fame or the money. I just want to teach a super important lesson and get my ideas out there. (Hint: Ecological dystopian story.)

And I totally do not want to make any major changes in my novel. And I've got plots for 3 more books to the series.

From everything I've ever heard I don't think you can be picky about which publishers to approach - large or small. There are a lot of novelists out there submitting their work to publishers for consideration every day.

(I've known two writers. Both spent several years submitting their work for publication to a very large number of companies. One eventually published his own work through Amazon.)

Perhaps it might be more sensible to make a list of reputable publishers who accept unsolicited submissions - whether large or small - and work your way down the list

If you feel the novel is really good then maybe try some of the larger publishers who don't accept submissions.

I'm guessing you already know that writers usually receive a whole heap of "Thanks, but no thanks" letters from publishers (if they receive any response at all...). Good Luck

How you get your work published is like a huge tree with branches and, truth be told, there's no exact way to get something published.

I once interviewed a small scale Puerto Rican author, and starting without an agent and no background can be extremely difficult if you want to become a successful writer. Not impossible, nothing is impossible, but very hard.

Have you considered submitting your work to writing contests from journals and such? Many of these are a lot less harsher than publishing companies and can be great places to expose yourself and let the world see your potential. Many authors start their writing careers this way. As for people looking at publishing companies of a book, it's mostly snobby people that are picky about who they buy and read their books from. Not a lot of people pay attention to those details.

By any means, I wish you success in your endeavors!! Cheers to a fellow writer, and happy new year.

Agents are costly, and it's perfectly possible to publish a novel without one, so you don't need to worry about one for now. Remember to proofread your novel to make sure it's properly formatted with accurate grammar and spelling, and divided into chapters.