How do you get a book published? with advice from successful author.

I went to an author’s presentation at Ely Library last Sunday 8th August 2010. Alison Bruce gave a talk on her writing experiences. I had heard about her already from the title of one of her books: “Cambridge Blue”. She described her fascinating adventures in Cambridge while researching for one of her nonfiction books about the area. I had been to the restaurant previously so was interested in what she had to say.
When asked what advice she had to give to aspiring writers she said you should be persistent. She found the right agent for herself and persisted with the agent until she was taken on. She also advised studying the market and looking at what is being published now – for example most books are 90-105,000 words. She went on conferences and found her agent by asking around there. But, which conferences are there for me to go to? How would I know whether which agent should take me on? Can I write a book of 90,000 words worth reading? My current efforts are much shorter although it was difficult keeping my PhD thesis down to 70.000 words. At least the thesis has been published – a paperback copy arrived in the post today – retailing for 79 euros from LAP Lambert Academic Publishing AG and Co Kg in Saarbrucken, Germany. The trouble is, they contacted me, I did not contact them. I had made an effort to contact the most likely publishers from the Handbook but hardly any of them replied and those that did were not interested. It is the recession? Or is it just striking at the right time? The company that has published my thesis found it on the university website. So I still don’t really know, how do you get a publisher to take you on? Maybe all you have to do is to try to write a good book and put it on the net. All suggestions gratefully received.