How do you go about publishing a urban-fiction book?

Question

Do you hire a lawyer or a agent to shop the book?

Answer 1

First, you write the book. I know it sounds like an obvious first step but many aspiring authors forget that no one will buy fiction from an unproven author unless the manuscript is complete. And, by complete, I mean written and repeatedly editted until it is as good as you can make it.

Then, yes, you do want an agent to shop the book. A lawyer would not be any help, because most of them have few to no contacts in the publishing industry.

Pick up a copy of "Writer's Market" or "Guide to Literary Agents", hunt through Agent Query, and put your Google skills to use to dig up as much information as you can on agents who represent the kinds of things that you write. There is tons of information out there! Read these two sites thoroughly (especially Miss Snark-- wonderful site):
http://www.agentquery.com/
http://misssnark.blogspot.com/

Answer 2

You publish it the same way you would publish any other book. This question is asked all the time. I suggest using the search function at YA to see some of the wonderful discussions that have already took place. I'm sure you will find the information you need if you bother to actually look for it.