At least once a week I get an email asking for advice on getting a book deal, and getting a book published.
I'll talk about how I got my book deal, and give some suggestions, but first let me clarify a major point:
Publishing a book is a lot of work for very little pay. Most books aren't successful and many authors never see money for their work outside of the little something they get when they sign their contract. If your book IS successful, you still don't make much money. If an author makes $2/book, they're making out like a bandit. So let's say you sell 30,000 copies (which is a TON!) you make $60,000 but the IRS takes half, and if you have an agent, they take another 30% post-IRS (I don't have an agent) -- you get my drift. Oh! and you usually don't see any money until two years (or more) after you've written and turned the book in to a publisher....
So like I mentioned in my post about blogging success it has to be about passion, not fame or money.