Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food
Useful Tips, Interviews, and Stories to Inspire Food Writers and Bloggers
When there’s a one percent acceptance rate, it’s kind of important not to make mistakes in cookbook proposals. But if you’ve never written one before, how would you know what’s right?
Sure, you can read books on writing proposals and use them as a guide. But somehow, errors in judgement creep in.
Having read dozens of cookbook proposals, I can spot where [Read more…] about 5 Rookie Mistakes in Cookbook Proposals
How did two prolific food writers start their book writing careers? By enduring rejection and persevering anyway.
Rux Martin in her kitchen with some of the books she’s edited. (Photo by Barry Estabrook.)
I met cookbook editor Rux Martin years ago, before she got an imprint in her own name. Now she is Editorial Director of Rux Martin Books at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
She specializes in cookbooks, narrative nonfiction on food, and diet books. She has worked with Dorie Greenspan, Mollie Katzen, Jacques Pépin, and Ruth Reichl, to name just a few, and has edited New York Times bestsellers including The Gourmet Cookbook; Hello, Cupcake!; [Read more…] about If You Can’t Write Truly Great Recipes, be Honest, says Veteran Editor
Looks boring, right? But this is what you might see on the desk of an agent or book editor: a stack of book proposals.
Most people don’t think much about the appearance of a book proposal. They think that what’s important is the content.
Well yes, but believe it or not, agents and editors want your non-fiction book proposal to look a certain way. If you present something else, you run the risk of appearing unprofessional. Folders, binders, ribbons, and [Read more…] about A Book Proposal You’ll be Proud to Present
Want to interest a literary agent in your book idea?
Often, agents want a query letter first. The query sells them on the book idea and introduces you. It’s your chance to make an indelible impression.
Queries have to be short. Here’s the formula for this three-paragraph letter:
Paragraph 1: You need an evocative opening that intrigues the agent enough to keep reading. It includes the book’s hook: a concise sentence meant to pique interest about why the book is needed now and how it’s different. Include the book’s working title and subtitle.
To create a connection, the paragraph should also include why you chose this agent, based on the agent’s website, books represented, or a [Read more…] about 3 Keys to a Killer Query Letter
Culinary mysteries sport some of my favorite food-based titles of all time, full of puns and double entendres.
Yesterday my agent said she’d just told someone how my book, Will Will Write for Food, got its title. She suggested I tell you as well.
I hadn’t thought about that story for a while, and it’s a good one. Should you be faced with coming up with a witty book title one day, you might be able to use it. And I give a few suggestions for coming up with good titles at the end of this post.
(Isn’t it ironic? As a freelance editor, I can come up with great titles for others, but I had so much trouble with my own.)
Back when I turned in my manuscript for the first edition, I had a loser working title. My agent (who does not like to be named), my publisher (who no longer works at the publishing house and the publishing house no longer exists) and I went around and around for two months, trying to find a better one.
Ready to know the name of the working [Read more…] about Crafting A Book Title That Rocks
Kirsty Melville, president and publisher of the book division of Andrews-McMeel Publishing, based in Kansas City, MO.
When you submit a cookbook proposal to a publisher, what are your chances?
At Andrews-McMeel in Kansas City, MO, only 10 percent of the books its publishes are cookbooks. That’s 20 cookbooks a year.
Of those 20, perhaps half the books spring from ideas generated internally.
How many proposals compete for the remaining 10 spots? About 5,000 per year, estimates president and publisher of Andrews-McMeel’s book division, Kirsty Melville, who started the cookbook division in 2007.
That makes your chances about one in 500.
Wait, don’t give up. Melville is always looking for new authors. If you’ve been to the International Food Blogger Conference (IFBC), or the Greenbrier Symposium for Professional Food Writers in the past year, you might have met her.
“I’m proactive, more entrepreneurial,” she explains. “I like to meet and talk to people.” Her attendance at the first IFBC conference in 2009 led to publishing the Foodista Best of the Food Blogs Cookbook earlier this year.
The cookbook department may be new, but it’s already launched best-sellers (Cake Wrecks and Bon Appetit Desserts) and national award-winners (My New Orleans: The Cookbookby chef John Besh; and The Art and Soul of Baking, a Sur Le Table book by Cindy Mushet). Recently Melville won an auction for Top Chef star Kevin Gillespie’s next two cookbooks, showing the publisher’s new clout in attracting star power.
What does it take to be published by Andrews-McMeel? “Being a good writer and [Read more…] about Let Your Story and Identity Shine Through, says Cookbook Publisher