Publish or Perish

Professional writers don't sell the finished product - they sell the idea and will only write it when they're given the advance fee. But since I am not a pro, I can pretend that I'm a pro and hawk my idea to a major publishing house and see if they'll cut me a check or I can find an investor(s) who believes in my book and publish the book ourselves then when a major house picks it up, the investor also gets a share of the royalty.

Both suggestions are great and more so on the latter because it's from an investor himself who will cut me the check if I agreed to the terms. Well, when I told Chat today, she said, "Just hold your horses mom, I have investors lined up already." I have investors? I wanted to know who my investors are and she told me to just write the book and leave the rest to her because she is my "handler." Since when did I get a handler? "When you're not famous, you get a handler. If you get famous, then I'll be your manager." She said. Well, I thought I'd better shut up or she'll cut me loose instead of cutting me a check.