I want to become a literary agent eventually, but I need to know this. If so, I have a publishing firm picked out close by that I might intern at. If anyone has any information about /becoming/ a literary agent, please tell me! A great plus would be if anyone knows of a website that deals with becoming a literary agent. I see. Thank you very much. And by self-employed I'm guessing you mean they put ads out and then wait for people to contanct them, but have really no building to go to?

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No, agents are either self-employed or work for the agent who owns the agency. They are the go-between for the author and any potential publisher. Their main job is to sell the book manuscript to the best publisher for the best price, and to manage the negotiations once the sale's agreed on. If you want to be an agent, then you should be interning at a literary agency rather than at a publishing house, I suppose. Many agents, though, were once publishing house employees, so obviously there's some skills cross-over. Edit: By self-employed, I mean they are running a business with an office, usually in New York or another publishing center (London, maybe), with office support staff like an administrative assistant and/or receptionist, and possibly with other "junior" agents working for them. They join professional organizations like the AAR, submit listings to Literary Marketplace and Writer's Market, have a website, and most of all, have great connections with publishers because they know what's selling.

Oh my... You need to do a lot more research before you're ready to go into that. Pick up a copy of the Writers and Artists' Yearbook to begin with. It lists agents among other things. Read any book you can pick up on getting published and getting an agent. I don't think there are any books about becoming an agent but these will let you have a look at what agents are and are not. Only when you are sure you know what it is exactly and that it really is what you want to do, very politely approach agents. By this I mean, send them a very polite email or letter explaining that you are a young person who's interested in what they do and want to do a _free_ internship with them. You're more likely to get one if you don't ask for any sort of payment. Get a part-time job to live off if you have to. Ask them if they would be so kind as to look at your CV. They might not call you back any time soon though. It could be months before they have a place and the needs for extra help. Also, you'd be starting out from the very bottom. I'm talking photocopies and coffee and the occasional work of sticking labels on envelopes. Also, all publishing is a badly paid industry. Chances are you'll never be rich. Heck, you'll probably struggle for most of your career but it can be very rewarding too.