Check if input value is empty and display an alert

Also you can try this, if you want to focus on same text after error.

If you wants to show this error message in a paragraph then you can use this one:

 $(document).ready(function () {
    $("#submit").click(function () {
        if($('#selBooks').val() === '') {
            $("#Paragraph_id").text("Please select a book and then proceed.").show();
            $('#selBooks').focus();
            return false;
        }
    });
 });

Better one is here.

$('#submit').click(function()
{
    if( !$('#myMessage').val() ) {
       alert('warning');
    }
});

And you don't necessarily need .length or see if its >0 since an empty string evaluates to false anyway but if you'd like to for readability purposes:

$('#submit').on('click',function()
{
    if( $('#myMessage').val().length === 0 ) {
        alert('warning');
    }
});

If you're sure it will always operate on a textfield element then you can just use this.value.

$('#submit').click(function()
{
      if( !document.getElementById('myMessage').value ) {
          alert('warning');
      }
});

Also you should take note that $('input:text') grabs multiple elements, specify a context or use the this keyword if you just want a reference to a lone element ( provided theres one textfield in the context's descendants/children ).

$('#submit').click(function(){
   if($('#myMessage').val() == ''){
      alert('Input can not be left blank');
   }
});

Update

If you don't want whitespace also u can remove them using jQuery.trim()

Description: Remove the whitespace from the beginning and end of a string.

$('#submit').click(function(){
   if($.trim($('#myMessage').val()) == ''){
      alert('Input can not be left blank');
   }
});