Ask yourself, "Why do I want to become an author?"

Answer: "I want to be a famous author, getting paid to write while having the support of a large publishing house." 

The best path for you is to find a Literary Agent

If you aspire to have a career as an author that it published by one of the large publishing houses, then the process of writing a book proposal (non-fiction) is your first step. If your goal is to do this with a novel or any form of fiction your first steps are to write the novel AND then write the book proposal. 

Once you have this first step(s) managed, then the process of shopping your proposal around to literary agents begins. You do this until you find one that wants to enter into a contract with you. In turn, they begin to shop your book to the larger publishing houses. 

This is the most traditional path into the widespread distribution that only large publishing houses can provide. 

PROS: 

• Because it's the traditional path, there are a oodles of resources* available to those aspiring to be authors.
• This path can open doors to wider distribution opportunities than the other two paths. 
• If a large publishing house buys your book, they pay you in advance against future royalties (typically half at the signing of the contract with the publisher and the other half when the book is complete and ready for print). If your book does so-so in sales you'll still have made some money in the process. The advances vary based on the notoriety of the author, previous book sales, and how much of a following an author has in traditional and social media.
• If there is enough traction and a customer base for your first book, it can lead to ongoing royalty payments, multiple language editions, and options for television/movies, not to mention more contracts for writing a second, a third, or more books. Decent sales lead to an ongoing, established, symbiotic, beneficial relationship between author, agent, and publisher. 

CONS: The literary agent path takes by far the most time

• Traditional book proposals are between 50-150 pages long (and that's before you write your non-fiction book, or in addition to writing your fiction book). 
• The proposal needs to be edited and polished to a level that usually requires hiring editors and consultants to help make it the best product possible before shopping it around to prospective agents. 
• While there are always exceptions to the rule, the typical author should expect to spend an average of $2000-$5000 to produce a book proposal that catches the attention of an agent. 
• The time from writing your proposal to having a physical book in your hand can be years (many many years) and maybe never if you can't find an agent interested in you as a client or the agent can't find a publishing house interested in buying your book.  

* If you are interested in the Literary Agent route, here are some recommended RESOURCES

Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents: Who They Are, What They Want, How to Win Them Over edited by Jeff Herman

Writer's Market edited by Robert Lee Brewer

Guide to Literary Agents: The Most Trusted Guide to Getting Published edited by Robert Lee Brewer

How to Write a Book Proposal by Michael Larsen

Answer: "I have always wanted to write a book, and want to know I am capable of doing so."

The best path for you is self-publishing

Self-publishing has come a long way! No longer a flimsy, low-quality stepchild of the publishing world, the ability to write and print physical books or print-on-demand using Amazon or other platforms has brought some of the tools of large publishing houses to the little guy. Even vanity publishers are abundant and can be hired to help an individual from start to finish. 

You just need to sit down and start writing your book. 

PROS:

• You have 100% creative control.*  From the cover to the layout, to what you want to write about, to marching to the beat of your own drum when it comes to marketing and sales
• You don't need to be an already-established person with notoriety, you just need to have the time, discipline, and resources to get it written and across the finish line. 
• Your margin of profit when you sell a book to a customer is the highest with this path.

CONS: The self-publish path requires the most discipline, the thickest emotional armor, and (probably) will cost you the most money

• Self-publishing can be a can of worms. You open the lid, and out spills wormy questions like, "What font should I use?" "Should I buy my own barcodes, or should I buy them from whoever is printing my book?" "Should I find a bulk printer and have inventory with a higher margin or should I print-on-demand and have a lower margin of profit?"
• Self-publishing can be full of surprises and surprise costs. To ensure high quality, your book will need to be professionally edited at least three times (once for content, but preferably twice), once for copy editing to catch grammar and spelling errors, and at least one last read-through before printing. This is the bare minimum amount of editing you'll need, and will cost you money to get it done right. 

NOTE from Kristi: "I wrote and self-published my first book in 2010, and from start to finish it cost me $5000 and change, and I think I sold ten copies. I'm incredibly proud of going through that entire process and learned a ton, but the lessons learned were costly."

• It's emotionally challenging to publish your own book. From the tear-filled rewrite that happens after the first content edits come back. NOTE: you will probably rewrite your entire book at least once, and won't look anything like the first draft. It's a journey to become willing to strike words from a page that you worked so hard to formulate, or formulate the addition of words you didn't know you needed, or to change ideas, structure, and course of the narrative when you already mapped out ideas, structure, and the course of your book. If your book is 20,000 words this is painful. If it's 40,000 it's even more painful, and the pain of the rewriting continues to grow exponentially. Editing and rewrites must be done, but it's going to hurt.
• Unless sales and marketing is your jam and/or you already have a gazillion followers on social media or your business email list, it can be a heavy lift to market a self-published book all by your lonesome (take note of Kristi's note above LOL). 
• If you want to make any money with this book, you'll need to treat it like any other business by making decisions on who your audience is, what they want, and how you can meet their needs before you even sit down to write a single word. 

* If you are interested in this route, here are some recommended RESOURCES

Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print, and Sell Your Own Book by Dan Poynter (many editions of this book have been around for a long time, and pre-date the existence of social media. Be sure to get the latest edition for the most up-to-date information about print on demand, social media, etc.) 

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Answer: "I want the credibility of having a book with my name on it, with the least amount of time from start to finish and least amount of emotional and entrepreneurial pain. 

The best path for you is to contribute to a collaborative, co-authored book. 

PROS:

• You're responsible for one chapter, not an entire book, with as little or as much guidance, coaching, and support as needed. This significantly minimizes the emotional pain of the editing and rewriting process. It's still necessary, but there's a world of difference in the effort of tackling a few thousand words vs. tens of thousands of words
• The publishing company manages all the details like fonts, layout, editing, barcodes, and all the worms in the can that you will no longer have to deal with. You're paying for ease, and ease you shall get.
• Many hands make light work. From a collective group each contributing their chapter, to a collective group co-launching the book, and every time one person goes out and shares the book, stands on a stage and talks about the book, or sells a copy of the book, everybody gets to benefit from that. 

CONS: 

• There are little to no royalties. Instead, each author can obtain copies of the book at cost, and can mark up the price as little or as much as they want. This means the margins can be on par with self-publishing. 
• There will be collective deadlines for first drafts, edits, and the like so you won't have as much creative control or the ability to procrastinate as the self-publishing method (this might be a PRO for some folks). 
• All paths to a published book will cost time and money, and collaborative books are no different. 

For reference here are two collaborative books: 

It cost the authors $3000+ for the opportunity to contribute a chapter in this book

Here's one that cost the authors $10,000+ for the opportunity to contribute a chapter

*RESOURCES: 

Learn about Koi Pond Publishing's current collaborative book opportunities