How to Write a Cookbook: Proposals

Tips for Writing a Book Proposal That Grabs an Editor's Attention

Apr 24, 2008

A pasta cookbook by the author., Courtesy of Contemporary Books.

A successful cookbook proposal features key information including a clear book concept statement, market and competitive analysis, and representative sample text.

Once you've come up with a great cookbook idea (see "How to Write a Cookbook: Ideas") and have begun to develop the recipes that make up the bulk of your cookbook (see "How to Write a Cookbook: Recipes"), you should have enough material to tempt an editor. And "tempt" is the operative word.

No editor at a publishing house wants to receive your entire cookbook manuscript—or any complete book manuscript, for that matter—on spec. That would be too much of an imposition for already-overworked publishing professionals. For that matter, neither should you have to go through the Herculean effort of writing a complete book without knowing whether or not any publisher might want it.

Elements of a Book Proposal

That's where the book proposal comes in. Proposals are meant to whet editors' appetites with a representative taste of your book idea. With that in mind, they should provide anyone reading them with a good, clear idea of what your book is about, and enough of a sample of the actual text to demonstrate how the book will actually work, what the experience of reading and cooking from it will be like, and whether or not you're actually capable of delivering the goods you promise.

Overall, a cookbook proposal, like any good nonfiction book proposal, should be no more than 20 to 30 pages long and include the following elements:

Brief cover letter. Start with a concise paragraph or two excitingly summarizing what your book is about. Then, just as concisely, explain what kinds of people might be hungry to have this book, and why you are the ideal person to write it. The entire letter should be no more than one page.
Title page. Include your name, address, email address, and phone number on the title page.
Concept synopsis. In one or two pages, describe your concept, capturing why it's unique and what needs it fulfills. Want an example of good book synopsis writing? Read jacket flap copy, which is written expressly to make readers want to buy the book just like your synopsis should make editors want to buy it.
Market/competitive research. In no more than 3 to 5 pages, present compelling research demonstrating that a clearly defined audience exists that is hungry for your book idea. Google is an excellent place to start the search for such information.

Include facts, figures, and compelling quotes from publications of note on the societal or cultural trends that your book is responding too. If, for just one example, your book celebrates Hispanic heritage cooking in America, cite some of the many articles that have been written and statistics that have appeared about the growing strength and numbers of the Hispanic community.

Also, include concise mention of published books that might be competitors, using their success to support the existence of a market for your book, and their specific drawbacks as evidence that your book will do an even better job.

Table of contents/recipe list. This simple chapter-by-chapter, section-by-section outline, just like we all learned to do back in grade school, should demonstrate the structure of the book. Include in it representative descriptive recipe titles.
Sample recipes/text. Include enough to represent the book's concept and how the actual text will work. A dozen should be more than enough for most concepts. If your book will be organized into menus, including several complete menus. If instructive text or narrative text is a feature of how your concept works, include a representative sample of that, too.
Biographical note. This "About the Author" statement is where you sell yourself as the only person who could write this cookbook. Think about your own personal food history, and play up the details that led you to this idea.
SASE. Always include with your proposal a self-addressed stamped envelope with sufficient postage for your entire proposal to be returned to you. Otherwise, most publishers won't return it.

Nail down all the above elements, and you'll be more likely to have a book proposal that grabs the attention of an editor and could well lead you to a book contract from an actual cookbook publisher! (Want some guidance on where to send that proposal? See "Writing a Cookbook: Publishers.")

The copyright of the article How to Write a Cookbook: Proposals in Book Publishing is owned by Norman Kolpas. Permission to republish How to Write a Cookbook: Proposals in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.