It’s been said your first novel is often best seen as practice. Thus, you might want to set it aside and start your next one before trying to publish it. This, of course, is hard. It’s your baby and you think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Unless you were born with incredible talent, had plenty of training, a top notch mentor, and an outstanding editor, sorry, but it’s probably not. If nothing else, rest assured your next one will be better. Same with the one after that and the one after that.

However, any readers who pick up your first book will judge you by what they see there. If it’s not so hot, they won’t be back, regardless of how much your subsequent books may actually be the best thing since sliced bread.

If you can’t bear to throw that first novel in the trash, at least set it aside to rework later. If nothing else, you’ll be able to see it with fresh, more objective eyes. You’ll probably be glad you didn’t put it out there. If you still care enough about it, you can now rewrite/edit it with your newly honed skills.