Second, you must ask yourself what you want in an agent. Most agents handle all these aspects of an author's career, but some are better at certain segments than others. Know what you're getting before you commit to anything. Without a doubt, knowing which publishers will look at unagented material and in what form, as well as what publishers are currently seeking. It behooves every author to keep in touch with the writing community, find out what lines are going down, which are just getting started, if any are truly hungry.
New lines are great places for unpublished authors to break in.
But a savvy agent can really speed things up and put you ahead of the information curve. For me, the decision to get an agent came when I began contracting for multiple books at once and the contracts themselves seemed too lengthy and full of contingencies worded in legalese. I began to realize a smart agent knows what to ask for-not an author's specialty generally. They're an editor or publisher or perhaps a book reviewer. I judge contests and critique manuscripts by chapter members regularly, but find that I'm happier leaving the other stuff to the professionals.