What is the best way to go about publishing a book?

Question:

What is the best way to go about publishing a book?

Is it worth sending a manuscript to a publishing house or to try and find a Literary Agent ?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: These days fewer and fewer publishers will even look at an unsolicited manuscript, that is a book they didn't ask for and doesn't come via an accepted agency. It's a sad state of affairs but considering the frankly vast numbers of MS that are sent in every day, it isn't surprising that most prefer to use agents as a kind of clearing house. A good agent has contacts in publishing houses; often they used to work in the industry themselves and know people who would look at work for them.
In the UK, the Writer's and Artists yearbook contains a list of publishers and agents for the UK and also for the US. getting an agent is a tough business too; you really have to hope that they bother reading what you sent. In either route, merit is no longer a guarantee of success; it is often a matter of something landing on the right desk, or catching the eye of the right person. Agents will not rip you off but they do ask between 10 and 20 % of your earnings as recompense for the work they put in finding you a publisher and subsequently handling matters for you; any agent who asks for money up front is a conman, and any agent who does rip off clients will soon find himself without clients and possibly being sued for breach of contract.