I keep meaning to mention author Robyn Schneider's "Correspondences with young-adult agents" because she posts all the e-mails she exchanged in the past few years trying to get her young-adult novels published, and the agents' responses. It's a good look at how people make it in publishing, after lots of rejections. She finally got an agent last fall and just sold her first novel (this isn't a secret, as she mentions it on the site). So if you want to learn more about submitting your work, especially to agents, take a look here. If you never read my much less-well-laid-out advice, it's there.