How to get your book published

Oh, you should definitely go through the exercise of trying to get published by a real publisher. Find an agent, or at least query them. Start with Jeff Herman's book, "Book Publishers, editors, & Literary Agents". He publishes a new one every year. Then, buy and read a book on writing book proposals and query letters.

The main thing agents and publishers are looking for is your platform. Since they only publish about 4% of the manuscripts they read, you must look like an author who will return at least 8,000 sales in the first printing. Read up on all the aspects of making an attractive platform.

Write the book. Edit the book. It must be PERFECT grammatically and structurally. So must your queries and proposals be perfect.

Send out your queries and proposals and see what happens. Keep a 3 x 5 card for each agent, agency or publisher you contact. Be sure to scan websites for particular agents specific to your topic and subject.

When you've collected your first 100 rejections, begin looking for a way to self-publish. There are several avenues, some more expensive than others. Be sure you tell everyone you know that your new book is on the way. If you are one of the lucky ones (John Grisham had "A Time to Kill" rejected 150 times before somebody published "The Firm".), be prepared to do book tours and signings - mostly at your own expense.

FIRST: Write the damned book.

Good luck.

Before thinking about publishing your book, it's best to write your story first and make sure it's edited a lot. If you have not written a story down, how can you publish it right? Then once you wrote and edited your story, look around and do A LOT OF research and ask a lot of questions. Many people are self-publishing now these days because of the regular publishing process. So, if you are interested in that, I would say do some research about that too and choose your options wisely.

My recommendation is complete the first draft of your manuscript before considering self publishing or the traditional publishing option. Work on your book every day until you have a draft manuscript. Once the first draft is complete put the manuscript aside and don't look at it for 30 days. During these 30 days research the pros and cons of self publishing and traditional publishing.  
Take the first step on a rewarding journey.