F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and William Faulkner have fewer published novels combined than any number of contemporary novelists-Roberts, King, Koontz, Steel, etc.
I fully understand the Catch-22 with getting an agent: Agents want someone who's published before, but how can a person get published without an agent? As hard as it is, it happens all the time. All successful writers were once in the same boat you are, but they found a way to do it.