How do I get a literary agent?

 

Take the word agent out of your vocabulary. Nor your work or income is dependent on a person who calls themselves an agent. For too many years they have lived gloriously in the myth that they hold the lock and key to an artist's career.

They're only value is that they might be able to speak directly to a publisher but so can you. And your probably smart enough to read a contract. 

For too long writers have fallen into the agent trap. Let's flip the script. We hold the power and they are the little ants beating down our doors for crumbs.  Not vice versa.

Agent begone! Relics of the past, the writers bane.

The truth is, when you foolishly send your work to an agent an assistent reads it and if she finds your synopsis compelling enough will pass that on to her boss who will rolodex the writers she's worked with in the past and pitch your plotline. 

The agent submissions are a racket in a very profitable business that exists because only a myth that agents make writers. Submissions are merely a creative fishing expedition.