How to Write a Cookbook Proposal
The path to publishing varies quite a bit depending on what you’re writing. Getting published in the fiction world hinges on completing a great manuscript and then crafting a solid query letter to pique an agent’s or publisher’s interest. In nonfiction, you need a proposal that outlines each chapter and includes a completed sample chapter. (Paul Kix goes into the details of how he writes nonfiction proposals in the second season of his podcast.)
It’s a different process for cookbooks. (Here I’m talking about cookbook deals with US-based publishers, since it’s likely different in the UK and Australia.) Instead of finishing an entire manuscript or creating a lengthy outline, you need to draft a document that will convince an editor of two things. First, that you are a compelling person and/or have recipes that a good number of people will want to cook. (And you know how write a recipe!) Second, you have an answer to this question: Who’s going to buy this book?
It’s one part art, one part business plan.
In this post, I cover:
The editorial components of a cookbook proposal
The business and marketing components of a cookbook proposal
A sample outline
Have more questions after reading this post? Read these cookbook proposals FAQs. If you don’t see your question answered, leave a comment and I’ll answer it. If you have a proposal that you want advice on, look up the services of a writing coach, like Dianne Jacob. And check out these posts: 5 cookbook writing and publishing resources + more cookbook writing and publishing resources.
Editorial
This part of the proposal is where you demonstrate that your idea is compelling and you can get people excited to cook. Never forget that a cookbook has to be about cooking! If you don’t have this part sorted out, then pause and work through it before moving forward.
TITLE: Give your proposed book a title and a subtitle, something that you could envision on the cover and spine of a book. Look at other cookbooks for ideas if you’re stumped. Don’t worry about having a perfect title; it’s common for it to change a few times before publication. But keep in mind that the right title can help focus a book. When my co-authors and I were working on a proposal for a cookbook based on Armenia, we called it “Bread, Bones, and Barbecue” in a very early draft. We were really fortunate that our agent suggested we call the book Lavash.
ANGLE: An angle is how your book will stand apart from all the others on the shelves. Say you want to write a book about koji-fermented ice cream, but there are already 5 books on the market covering the subject (heck, you never know). Dig deeper. What if you used to work at NASA and your book is really about how to make koji-fermented “space” ice cream at home? Or what if you are everyone’s favorite koji specialist, with a YouTube channel to prove it, and ice cream is your most popular topic. Having a clear angle will make writing the proposal (and the book) easier. I’ve worked on a couple of proposals where the angle was too broad—the book promised to cover too many subjects—or the angle was too muddy and it wasn’t clear why the authors wanted to tell this particular story. A targeted angle weeds out wishy-washy ideas.
The angle is really to help you. You don’t have to state in a proposal “This is my angle!” Instead, you can make sure that everything you’re doing to describe the book supports that angle.
Where you can show your angle is in a short concept summary at the beginning of a proposal. Again, you don’t have to write “My angle is koji-fermented ice cream from space.” Think of it as your elevator pitch—the way you’d describe your book to an editor if you only had a couple of minutes in an elevator with them. You don’t have to tell them everything that the book will cover, but give a few breadcrumbs that will hook them into wanting to hear more.
Example:
“Imagine the ice cream maker’s guide to the galaxy: this book takes readers on an adventure in koji-fermented frozen desserts, with recipes and real lessons in science that make dairy-free ice cream accessible to all.”
Even if you don’t include a concept summary in the proposal, it’s a good idea to write one for yourself. It will help you frame your thoughts and get an even better grip on understanding what your book is all about.
OPENING STORY: Imagine the opening pages of your book. Craft a story that makes a reader want to keep turning the page. If the proposal is on space-age ice cream, you could start with a dream you about eating ice cream on the set of Battlestar Galactica or how you started making ice cream in zero gravity to the delight (or dismay?) of your NASA coworkers. Or how you’re lactose intolerant and never dreamed you could love ice cream again until you discovered koji and fell in love with its potential. Write something you’d want to read, and show your voice. Will this book be serious, fun, nerdy, nostalgic, or practical? Here’s where you set the tone.
BOOK OVERVIEW: Provide a summary of what the rest of the book will cover, including any special sections (how to cultivate koji spores; how to work with dry ice). While the opening story provides a glimpse into how the proposed book will read, the overview summarizes the contents of the entire book.
CONTENTS, RECIPE LIST, RECIPES: Once there’s a strong angle and story, it’s time to lay out the actual blueprint of the book. Create a sample table of contents and then a separate list of recipes broken down by chapter. If you know you want a special section that will be separate from the chapter opener text and the recipes (like “How to Cultivate Koji in a Dehydrator” or “My Grandmother’s Koji Culture Tradition”), you can add it to contents.
Ensure the recipe list is balanced and reflects your angle. If the book is about California cooking, it’s great to have salads, but listing 20 salad dressings is overkill. If they are variations of the same recipe, simply say Dijon Vinaigrette 5 ways and move on. If the book is about chocolate desserts and half of them are chocolate peanut butter, it will make an editor question whether “chocolate” is really what this book is all about.
Then highlight about 5 recipes out of that list and write them out as they would appear in a cookbook, complete with a headnote (the story that goes above a recipe). I’ll go into details about the importance of headnotes and recipe writing in later posts, but if you are new to writing recipes and headnotes, read through your favorite cookbooks and make a note on what you love about them. It will give you guidance on length and recipe structures. Keep in mind that long headnotes are not necessarily better than short headnotes; it can be harder to write short than long. For the purposes of a proposal, make the headnotes consistent in length. Count how many words are used in the headnotes of recent favorite cookbooks to get a word count if you want specifics.
EXTRAS: In addition to the overview story, the contents and recipe list, and a handful of completed recipes, some editors and agents like to see a sample chapter introduction, which precedes the recipes in each chapter. A sample chapter opener makes it even easier to imagine what this book would look like when it’s finished.
You can also describe the kind of photography you envision for the book. This can be important if you are a talented photographer and plan on taking the photos (actually, if this is the case, mention it early in the proposal!). If you envision travel photography for the book, you may want to consider a plan for how you can do the travel photography on a budget (a tourism board is covering the costs of accommodations while you visit Tasmania for your potential cookbook about Australian cheese, say). In other words, don’t include a photography description that envisions lavish (a.k.a expensive) photo shoots unless you have connections to make it happen without an astronomical budget. If you’re not sure about photography, you don’t have to bring it up in the proposal.
You can also hire a graphic designer to design you proposal. This is especially a good idea if you are a photographer or illustrator and want to highlight your work or if you creating a proposal as part of a company or organization and want to establish a visual identity and look polished. I have never had one of my proposals professionally designed, but I did work with an organization who chose to design their proposal. If you do not have your proposal professionally designed, then have it in a double-spaced Word document with a standard font (like Times New Roman). Book manuscripts are submitted in Word, so it’s good practice to get used to using it.
Business
The second side of a book proposal is proving that people will buy your book. Say you wanted to convince me that Is there a market for a book on koji-fermented ice cream. Ok, I’d say, how big is this market and why are you the person to tell the koji-fermented ice cream story?
I usually label the business section of the proposal “Market Analysis and Sales Strategies” or something business-y like that. For this part, think like a the publisher. Is this book something that would sell based on the subject matter? (Maybe koji-fermented ice cream is the new boba tea!) Will your book be attractive to publishers because you’ve amassed a large and engaged following? (Your social media community can’t wait for you to release your newest ice cream flavor!) In this section, you prove to publishers that they will make money on the sales of your book. Publishers use their own secret formulas to determine potential sales figures of a book, but these formulas aren’t perfect. So make a strong, rational argument for why this book has a market. Lay it all out there so publishers don’t overlook key aspects of your market position.
WHY NOW: Do you have data that Google searches for koji ice cream have increased 1000% this year? Are there other indicators that space-age ice cream going to be the next boba tea? Then you can go into statistics about the size of the boba tea market and suggest there is a correlation. If this is less about a trend and more about a perennial subject (say, baking bread), offer a reason why the world needs another bread book—specifically one coming from you. If you feel you will cover the “why now” question in the categories below, you can skip this section, but keep in mind that it’s a good idea to answer this question directly or indirectly somewhere in the proposal.
BIO: Include a brief bio that encapsulates why you’re the right person to write this book. A bio is a good place to include notable media mentions. Now it’s time detail who you are and how you’ve built (or plan to build) your author platform. Include your social media accounts, newsletter subscribers, podcast, website, YouTube channel—anything you have that shows if you have a following. If the New York Times wrote about your koji-fermented ice cream, that’s awesome! Be sure to mention it. If you have been mentioned in several publications, make it a bulleted list. If you are a freelance food writer, mention the publications you’ve written for. If you have special skills or access to important people, share that here, too. If you are a photographer, this is a good place to emphasize you will be taking your own photos and share a link to your portfolio if you haven’t done it yet in the proposal.
AUDIENCE: Create a sketch of your potential readers. Are they super fans of yours who buy t-shirts and other merch at all your koji ice cream pop-ups? Will the book appeal to the large lactose-intolerant population who has given up ice cream until now? Describe your audience and add numbers whenever possible. If you haven’t included it in your bio, get specific with your social media statistics, such as followers on Instagram and subscribers to your newsletter. If your following is small, don’t get discouraged. Instead, emphasize the subject matter you propose to write about and how it appeals to a specific audience.
When I was working with co-authors on writing the proposal for Lavash: The bread that launched 1000 meals, we got specific on the size of the Armenian diaspora. So if an editor thought a market for a book named after an Armenian bread was too niche and would only sell to Armenians (which isn’t the case, but just for the thought exercise), we could say that, well — if 1% of the Armenian diaspora showed interest, we’d make you money. We also had evidence from preliminary research that we would have support in marketing the book from key Armenian organizations. That helps strengthen the argument that we had an audience for the book.
COMP TITLES: In this section, talk about how your book either adds to the conversation started by existing books and/or surpasses it. Shoot for about 5 competitive titles and include a brief summary of why your book will be similar and/or different to this one. For more on comp titles, read this post.
PROMOTION PLAN: Are you friends with the illustrators from Pixar and will they help promote your space-age ice cream book? Are you friends with the owners of a restaurant that sells books and wants to sell yours? Are you connected to a well-known person who has offered to do a giveaway of the book on her social media platform? Here’s where you add all those bits of tantalizing information. Lay out all the connections you have that will help spread the word. This can be a mix of virtual and in-person events as well as social media giveaways and partnerships. Think creatively and don’t be afraid to think big. You don’t have to have things already lined up at this point, but just show that you’re willing to work to get people to pay attention to the book.
Sample Proposal Outline
In this outline, I’ve sandwiched the business side (why now, audience, competitive titles, promotional plan, and bio) in between the editorial components (story, overview, contents, recipe list, and recipes). It’s not the only way to do it, but it is a common format.
The title page will have the name of the book, the author name, and the agent name and contact info (if you have an agent). The next page can be an outline of everything in the proposal, and the pages after that follow the order laid out in the outline.
TItle/Subtitle
Author Name
Represented by [agent name here] (if applicable)
Part I: Overview
Concept Summary (your elevator pitch, optional)
Opening Story (think of it as the intro to the book)
Book Overview (summary of what the book will cover)
Part II: Market Analysis and Sales Strategies
Why Now (optional)
Bio
Audience
Comp Titles
Promotion Plan
Part III: Book Outline
Table of Contents (abbreviate to “Contents”)
Recipe List (aim for about 80 recipes, though this varies depending on the the book’s focus)
Sample Chapter Introduction (optional)
Sample Recipes (choose 5)
PS: While my posts have typos (no excuses there-sorry!) strive for a typo-free proposal. Have someone read it with fresh eyes.