Agent Representation:

How cookbook authors secure literary agents

This is the beginning of the email I send when I am officially welcoming a new client to the agency. I didn’t intend to follow up last week’s rejection template post with my welcome email, but here we are. It just felt wildly negative to show what happens when I pass on a proposal without also outlining a few examples of ways I sign authors.

I recently signed four new clients, meaning I have offered representation and they have accepted. We are in various stages of the onboarding process while they are working on their book proposals, which are in different stages of development.

I like to stagger how far along projects are so I can stagger submissions to publishers.

New clients come about in three main ways:

1.      Via proposals that are pitched to me for representation. Hopefully they follow our submission guidelines!

2.      Via networking:

a.      current clients refer them to me

b.      colleagues make intros (editors, book coaches, etc.)

c.      events such as conferences

3.      Via my own proactive scouting

By the time I offer representation to someone, we have already had multiple email exchanges and likely a number of Zoom or phone calls to make sure we are the right fit for one another.

Writing a book is a long and hard process. Your editor may move houses, get laid off, have the entire publishing house acquired or close, or leave the industry entirely (all things that have happened to my authors).

Your literary agent is one of the most consistent relationships you will have in your authorship career. Make sure you feel confident in the work you will do together.

Once I send our author agent agreement it means we are a go! Some agents send AA (author agent agreements) before the client has accepted representation. I do not.

I am an agent that specializes in working with first-time authors, explaining the process along the way. I tend to attract clients that like to learn about the industry while participating in it too. I don’t tend to work with clients who only write one book and most of our clients have been with us for years.

Sure, some clients move on to other work, leave the agency, or only ever write one book. Frankly, that’s okay. With the way I pace projects, submissions and development, it’s important for me to roll with changes in my list.  

Shout out to any clients reading this who haven’t sent me a draft proposal since signing! I see you and yes, it’s totally okay. I am not going to unsign you I promise. But keep that work train going! 😉

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Here are a few ways clients have recently come my way:

Client 1: Classic Proposal Submission:

This client sent me a full proposal to review for representation. I was immediately sucked in and got lost in the detailed proposal. When a project distracts me from my email inbox, incoming client text messages, and daily dumpster fires (I hate to break it to you but not all cookbook publishing is a walk in the park), I am HOOKED!

Sometimes I even get super-excited and draft an email to the author before I have finished the proposal because I am so damn excited. In this particular case, the author gets extra credit for their thoughtfulness in querying me ahead of their full proposal submission.

They outreached to say they would be sending the proposal, which is a helpful flag so as not to get lost in my inbox. Additionally, since timing coincided with a holiday, they asked if I would prefer to get this ahead or after the holiday to respect my time away. Is this required? No. Did it stand out as a taste of the level of thoughtfulness and professionalism this author would bring to the table? Heck yes.

***Pro tip*** Make sure you are checking an agent’s submission guideline. These are often found on their website or a place like Query Tracker. If you are querying multiple agents at a time, TELL US it is a multiple submission. The last thing we want is to spend time on work that has already been signed elsewhere.

Client 2: The Network, aka the editor intro:  

This client was introduced to me through an editor. This editor knows me, my working style, and our agency list. They also know that I am a very hands-on agent when it comes to guiding first time authors through the book proposal process. 

***Translation: I will save this editor time by helping the author pull together what I know they need in order to get their project approved by the editorial board. Editors don’t have time to walk authors through the nuts and bolts of how to write a cookbook. Not all agents have the time either, but when it is the right fit for me, I do. ***

Once my client’s proposal is complete, it will be an exclusive submission to the referring editor for a limited time period.

Client 3 & 4: The Scout:

I scout in several ways. Here are two examples that illustrate the range of how new clients come to join our agency:

#3 conceptual scout:

I brainstormed an idea in-house and needed an author. I scouted an expert in the topic, and they constructed the proposal with my specific guidance. While they worked, I pitched the concept to editors to build anticipation for submission.

#4 traditional scout:

As a fan of this author’s work, I outreached asking if they had representation. They did not, so we met and hit it off. Then I made intros to a few of my other clients so they could speak to them to gain a sense of my author care, working style, and success as an agent. They signed on and here we go!

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Behind the Book: Deal insights to educate, enable, and empower your publishing journey:

The most untraditional way I ever signed a client was on the spot at a conference. I heard this author talk and was so floored by their presence that I knew if they ever wrote a book, I wanted the honor of being their agent. After signing them we went to NY to meet with editors and interested publishers. I held an auction for their book, and it was sold to one of the big 5 traditional publishers. Sadly, the book was a pandemic publish and the launch plan was very event-heavy, so sales didn’t follow as everyone had hoped. The book continues to find a modest audience however, and as the author writes more books, their first one should see an uptick!

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Where to find Cookbook Agents:

Kristin Donnelly’s Operation Find an Agent class walks you through the querying process and hands you a list cookbook agents at the end. It is $67.

Publisher’s Marketplace has a one-day limited subscription and you can search any book deals that have been announced. You can see who the agent was, click their profile for contact info, and get a sense of all the books they have announced. You can buy the $10 quick pass here.

Events and Networking: Too many to list in this post but I will be writing about various cookbook-focused events and communities in future newsletters. If you want to make sure your event is on my radar, DM me!

Check the Back of the Book! Almost all authors thank their agents in their acknowledgement section. So, reverse engineer by Googling and learning about how that agent likes to be queried. Or ask that author (if you actually know them) to see if their agent is open for queries and would be willing to make an intro.

Shout out to Julia Dzafic for the shout out in her recently released Garden Grown cookbook! My authors are the absolute best!

Where else can you find cookbook agents?

How did you find yours?

Where are you in the querying process?

Leave a comment so other Not So Secret Agent readers can learn from one another!

Not So Secret Agent Shout Out:

Rob Eckstein who writes The Bob substack is the perfect combination of humor, writing, and cartoons. Go check him out! You already know his work.

Thanks for reading!

~Sally~