Not sure this helps but I have decided to try getting an agent for my fiction work as I feel they know the publishers better than I do but getting an agent seems almost as hard. I also think publishers will take more notice if an agent they know of submits to them as opposed to an unknown author like me. Good luck.
Sort of what Victoria said; If you want to get published by someone big, an agent is who you want to go to first.
Not sure this helps but I have decided to try getting an agent for my fiction work as I feel they know the publishers better than I do but getting an agent seems almost as hard. I also think publishers will take more notice if an agent they know of submits to them as opposed to an unknown author like me. Good luck.
Thanks Victoria, I'm very new in this writer's world...