For those of you who stumble across this site and are wondering what a literary agent is and does, let me offer a brief explanation.
1. A literary agent attempts to sell your work to a legitimate publisher, at no cost to you.
2. A literary agent help negotiate contract and deals that you may receive.
3. A literary agent helps manage your rights, representing not just you English language rights, but also your foreign language rights, and your film rights.
4. A literary agent is awesome.
Submissions may be difficult to put together, but it is all worth it in the end.