Writers group. Find one.
You read their stuff and critique it. They read yours and critique it.
Jeez, I would have loved to be able to grovel for eight bucks. I had to grovel for 6.93. Oh, but wait… I didn’t grovel. Yes, I worked at McDonald’s. But I went in there on time, every time, with a clean uniform and a smile on my face. And I got promoted. And I got a raise. And I was on a management track, for what it’s worth.
If you go in there expecting these low-wage jobs to be hell, they will be. That’s all I can tell you.
I don’t think you got greedy, I think you got stung by your lack of experience. It looks like a lot of the people upthread have solid professional advice for you, which is good. The authors who get their first book off the ground without much hassle are few and far between. I once met a frequently published author who had papered his bathroom with rejection slips. It happens.
As I mentioned to ProjectOmega in an email, his stuff is good. If the first 5 pages are an indication of the other 200+, he will become a published author some day.
Writing groups: I recommend giving them a shot, but you may find they aren’t for you. I quit going to mine (DFW Writer’s Workshop) about halfway through the year because I just wasn’t getting anything out of it or enjoying it. It definitely helps to be with a group that writes/reads a similar genre to what you write. My current writing workshop class is great in that respect. All six of us writes sci-fi or fantasy of some form or fashion.