A Bad Agent Is Worse Than No Agent

On one of my author's loops we are telling stories about agents again. The above is true, and I have experienced it. I had a bad agent for a couple of years. I would make contacts with editors through contests or conferences and send her the information so she could forward my work. I got little feedback, but I thought she was doing her job. Hindsight tells me she wasn't.

This is what you need from an agent:

1) Enthusiasm for you and your work
2) Knowledge of the genre you're writing in
3) Good negotiator and good communicator

May you forget about the business of publishing today.
Robin