Your book has been your life for however long it took you to write it. Now what?
I am going to outline the process and some of the terms used. Firstly has anybody read your manuscript? The first person to read it will probably be a family member or friend. These people we call alpha readers. You may also be a writers group member or know an already published writer. You let them read your prized possession, your manuscript. They like it or say it needs improvement, whichever. Now you are ready to start thinking of getting your book published.
Where do you go from here? Do you pitch your manuscript to a publisher or self-publish? There are pros and cons to both. If you self-publish, you do all the work and make all the decisions. If your manuscript is accepted by a publisher then they do all the necessary work to produce your book.
Decision, decisions life is fraught with decisions.