Edge, I was recently reading an annotated version of one of Brandon Sanderson's books. He said the key for him was to have a draft of a book that was good enough quality for him to find an AGENT, not a publisher. Then, the agent was able to shop around the book (or maybe it was a rewrite, or a different book) to different publishers. Since the agent had a relationship with the publishers already, he was able to convince them to take a look at Sanderson's book. You might want to think about doing something along those lines--shop for a good agent, rather than shop for a publisher at the next stage of your plan.