novellas are notoriously hard to get published (or at least thats what they told me in the publishing and editing class afew years back). But even if they weren´t I would still recommend that you self-publish your whatever-it-is. USe the internet, make a site and post some free chapters and the book for sale. You´ll learn a lot about layout, design, everything, get the immediate gratification of connecting with your readers.
You should definitely send your manuscript around too, but rather than sitting around waiting for someone else to decide when you get to start diy that bad boy.
Plus, if you get a good response, it is common for publisher´s to take note and hook you up.
There is a lot of good indy publishing info at
www.nomediakings.org
one of my fav self-published writers is Joey Comeau at
www.asofterworld.com
and last but not least, my friend Juan self-published his books and then recently one got picked up and he´s hitting the slightly bigger time
http://acrobatoftheroad.com/
www.acrobatadelcamino.com