I have never submitted a story of mine to any publisher, book company, etc. is there a specific way to do this? How do I even start? Is there a specific way my material needs to be packaged/presented? Do I single space it, double space it? Where would the best place be to legitimately send it and have a real chance of being read and published? Thank you.

Many famous authors have written books on their experiences in the publishing world: Ben Bova, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, to name a few. I would recommend reading as many of them as you can, as their advice spans genres.

Also, the Writer's and Artist's Yearbook is a very good book to have, if you are a budding author - it deals with all the issues you may come across, as well as listing many of the publishers, sorted by genre, and explains how to present your information to them. The 2008 edition can be found:

Amazon.co.uk: Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2008 (Writers' and Artists'): Alexander McCall Smith: Books (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writers-Artists-Yearbook-2008/dp/0713683716)

And there's also a related site, though I can't vouch for it:

Writers' and Artists' Yearbook (http://www.writersandartists.co.uk/)


And, as always, Google is your friend. Good luck.