You Don't Need an Agent to Make Money
Do a quick Google search about whether you as a novelist need a literary agent and you'll find all kinds of people tell you yes, absolutely, you definitely need one if you want to make anything of yourself as a writer. Without one, they seem to say, good luck!
The problem with all of this advice is that it is old. Most of it presumes that you want to send your book to traditional publishers and doesn't even mention the existence of ebooks, let alone the great success they've brought to many writers.
Let's settle this once and for all: you do not need a literary agent to make a lot of money as an author. Anyone with a great book, a moderate amount of computer know-how, and a willingness to sell the heck out of themselves and their brilliant book in every possible way can make a great living writing ebooks (or even self-publishing the traditional route) without a literary agent taking 10-15% of your money out of your pocket. You'll be able keep more of the money your books make, which can make a big difference in income for a writer who is just starting out.
Besides taking a sizable chunk out of the money you make, literary agents don't really have anything to do in the self-publishing world. Their job is to sell you to the publishers by making them think your manuscript is worth their valuable time. But if you don't want their valuable time, what's the point? Even if you absolutely must become the next Stephen King and want to see your book in every big store across the country, agents aren't necessarily the way to go. Make a big splash in the ebook world like John Locke or Amanda Hocking and the big publishers will seek you out.
Some people will tell you that agents are essential once you get to the point where you're talking about print deals and negotiating film rights, and that might be the case when you get to that stage. Of course, you could also find a trusted lawyer for specific deals and contracts for the same result and probably less money.
If you still want an agent, think about this: agents won't represent a self-published ebook unless you stop self-publishing it. Why? Because print publishers want e-rights too, and agents will want to sell all of your rights. You'd have to stop selling ebooks to get an agent to rep it, and then they'll just sell it to a print publisher who will give you far crappier royalty rates!
