The blogosphere is littered with people shouting, 'I don't need an agent.' Well, up to a point, Lord Copper. Chances are that you do.
Having a good agent on your team takes a lot of the guesswork and learning by mistakes out of the process. Finding a good one with whom you just click isn't easy though. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I did have an agent (nope, still not telling you who it was, nor the name of the agency) but ended up asking to be released from my contract. I then got into discussions with another agent who wanted to add space aliens and/or a supernatural element to a conspiracy thriller. Now I'm all for editorial input, but that was just plain loopy, so I walked away and signed up direct with Mauve Square Publishing.
It's worked out well for me, but without an agent and a big publisher's marketing budget behind you, you end up having to do a lot of the grunt work; marketing, financial, editing etc yourself. And if you have a full-time day job like wot I do, then it kinda cuts into what little time you have for writing.
So, don't give up on the submissions just yet - I know many agents are worth their weight in birdsh*t, but there are some good ones out there.
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