What if an agent wants to publish a book?

[Mia]

There are a number of agents who are also writers, and none the ones I know of act as their own agent. I'm sure there are some who do?

Two of the writer-agents I know of include:

Nathan Bransford
"Then I had to find an agent. And no, I couldn’t represent myself. I sent out my queries, got my share of rejections, stressed plenty, but found my way to the awesome Catherine Drayton at Inkwell, who, to my extreme delight, agreed to take it on."
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/09/...erbar.html

Mandy Hubbard
Answering the question "do you need your own agent."
"*technically*? No. But shes a sounding board, a fierce advocate...and I dont want to argue w/ my own pub on tuff issues"
http://twitter.com/MandyHubbard/status/18132595358

Because agents are the go-between, it allows the author to stay out of the tough negotiations about money and rights and things, and focus on working with their editor on the book. It keeps the relationship friendly and allows a more impersonal go-between with less emotional involvement in the book. So yes, technically they could act as their own agent, but from what I've seen, most don't.