Trying to find an agent has become as tricky as trying to find a publisher, and a good query letter is essential. This means that writers have to find an intelligent and concise way to present their writing in a paragraph or two, and to do it in a way that is neither too filled with bravado (Oprah will adore this book!) nor too self-abnegating (I’m sure you’re much too busy to pay any attention to this, but…), sounds commercial and worthy of literary attention, and doesn’t go on for more than a paragraph or two. The best books can be ruined by a bad pitch; and a great pitch can make any agent read at least a few pages of something god-awful. Doing this well is a skill that is quite separate from writing a good book, and, luckily, it can be learned.

Victoria Skurnick is an agent at the Levine, Greenberg, Rostan Agency. Before that she was editor-in-chief of the Book-of-the-Month Club, senior editor at St. Martin’s Press, Advertising Director of Holt, Rinehart & Winston, and co-author of seven novels written under the pseudonym Cynthia Victor. She represents both nonfiction and fiction, and among her clients are Senator Tom Daschle, Alice LaPlante, Susan Elia MacNeal, Harry Dolan, and Kermit Roosevelt.

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The Writing Life events in 2015 are generously underwritten by Jenny Lawrence.