Well, this isn’t really the next step, its a few steps out, but space is limited, first come, first served, and all that rot.
I just bought a membership to the World Fantasy Convention that is being held next November (yes, a year off) in Austin, TX.
If you’re a fantasy fan, the list of attendees should interest you. Mike Stackpole says that this is the place to go to meet editors and other authors who might help you to get a book published.
And no, I don’t really imagine I’ll have a book in publishable form by then, but I still want to start networking…