I think one of the biggest things that confuses people interested in paganism, especially those coming from christian or other dogmatic faiths, is that we are a largely orthopraxic religion. "Praxis" means "practice." It means we don't focus on what people *believe,* we focus on what they *do.*
The pagan umbrella is huge and encompasses many different beliefs; some believe in many gods, or none; some believe in an afterlife and some don't, and everything in between. This is all right and correct. We don't really care what you believe, just don't be an asshole.
The most often-asked question I get is: "Where do I start?" Sometimes, what a person means by this is, "What should I believe?" and us pagans will not answer that. We'll answer by asking them what they want to do, which might seem like we're giving a confusing response.
It seems like it would be great if we had just one book or scripture to point at and go, "If you want to be a Pagan, just study this!" But unfortunately, the confusion is a feature not a bug.
We don't call our newcomers "followers" or "laity," they are Seekers. Part of the process is looking around and learning about paganism's many branches to see which one looks like what you want to be doing. Then, we can recommend an introductory text or practices for that specific branch. Keep in mind that we group ourselves by our actions, not our beliefs.
So where do you start? With praxis. Ask yourself what kind of religious practices you want to do. Do you want to pray or leave offerings? Brew balms and tinctures? Cook holiday feasts? Cast magick spells? Meditate? Seek out the people doing that thing and ask them about it, most of us love to talk about our practice! We also like to talk about our own personal beliefs, but it's not something we can teach, you'll have to figure that out for yourself.