There are many people who want to write a novel.
This is done as a personal goal or in hopes of becoming a published author that can sell work for others to read and enjoy.
If you have already written a novel, you might not know what the next steps are.
What exactly do you do with your novel at this point in time? There is a process that you are going to have to go through.
First of all, don't jump ahead of yourself.
Read your novel in it's entirety and make edits that you see are obvious problems.
Try to be very critical of your own work as this will help you make it better.
Join a local writing group.
Normally in these settings other writers in the group will critique the work there.
You will find those who have an eye for mistakes, issues, and problems in your novel.
You can take this feedback and make changes to get your book a little better.
Once you get this feedback, you need to go back and make all these changes.
You don't have to make every edit if you don't want to as some will change the meaning of your story.
Try to get published at this point.
Most of the time you won't really get a response.
When you do get a response you will hear one of two things.
Rarely, you will be told that your novel is great and ready to publish.
Most of the time you will be told that your novel needs some work and will be told what you need to edit or work on.
Make these changes and figure out where you stand.
If you can't get published, it's fine because you can still share your work in other ways.
Many are now self-publishing on formats like the Kindle or Lulu.
Just make sure you get a professional looking cover and start off with a very low price for best results.