This was a great idea for a post. I usually don't advise the authors I work with on book proposals to have it professionally designed. Maybe it's because they have already spend money hiring me! LOL.
I was gratified to see that of the 12 book proposals you sold in the past year, only 2 were professionally designed. That tells me the extra expense is not necessary to sell a book.
I don’t think it’s an investment to be made before working with an agent. I do think it can work wonders when the proposal is ready for submission. Most authors can’t afford it IMO so I think it’s helpful to the see the numbers. I should have noted that I wish more authors would design them though when they can!
Great post, Sally! It’s something I’ve been thinking about too — my book idea has a definite aesthetic yet I don’t want that to detract from interest in the concept itself. But first, of course, I need to tackle the proposal itself 😊
"Food bloggers with massive readership were landing high profile publishing deals" Anyone with a massive following will get a deal. The book part can be fixed. But a tepid online presence cannot
As someone who has designed some of my own books over the years (if the design was intrinsic to the content), I really have mixed feelings about this. While my last proposal had a visual vibe (InDesign!) I considered it far from a vision of how the book would actually look once the manuscript developed. Thankfully the publisher where it landed <3 has a design team. But what I'm gleaning is that publishers have increasingly lean staffs and are relying on authors to do it all, and I mean allllll. Writing a book is challenging enough without having to wear every single hat. Since authors are already basically doing most of the publicity and marketing.
I wonder if the next step will be publishers wanting fully edited and/or copy edited manuscripts and basically function as the printer and distributor. Or maybe that's already happening.
I would argue that design is one of the last things publishers will defer to authors on since it is very rarely a skill set or expertise an author can bring to the table. Many publishers outsource design to freelancers, but even those freelancers are professional designers. I hope this came across in the newsletter! It is an interesting hypothesis though Nava and I will be curious to see if you are on to something here!
I agree, Sally. I've been in the unique position of being an in-house CD as well as an independent designer—and most recently a publisher—and I can tell you with a high degree of confidence that publishers don't want authors to design their books (or copyedit them). If an author comes with a recommendation for a designer they trust, who has a great portfolio and a proven track record with other publishers, then that's considered a bonus—not a requirement. The only exception I can think of is books where the author is a creative professional with a strong brand and platform, who can execute to a high standard and whose design will resonate with their audience. Generally speaking, publishers want to have more control in the way a book looks, so they will always want to have a hand in guiding the creative process.
Thanks for weighing in here. My gut says this would be one of the last tasks a publisher would have an author take on. Unless, like you said, they have that cred.
My first cookbook proposal was done very informally over the phone with my now-agent. As soon as I mentioned eggs, he was in! When he mentioned a formal proposal to pitch to publishers, I had no idea what that entailed. Fortunately he held my hand the whole way, asking for a few sample recipes with photos (my own nonprofessional attempts were fine, he said), a one paragraph summary of my concept, a TOC (recipes didn't have to be finalized - and many did change by the end), a few headshots, links to my social, and comparable titles. He turned what I gave him into a 40-page proposal! I had no idea it would be that comprehensive. I did land a book deal, so it was effective! For my 2nd book, I basically replicated that proposal and got a 2nd deal. Same publisher. I'm potentially shopping other publishers for my 3rd cookbook, so I'm very interested in this topic- I would love to put together (or hire someone to put together) a kick-a$$ proposal! I look forward to this talk.
This was a great idea for a post. I usually don't advise the authors I work with on book proposals to have it professionally designed. Maybe it's because they have already spend money hiring me! LOL.
I was gratified to see that of the 12 book proposals you sold in the past year, only 2 were professionally designed. That tells me the extra expense is not necessary to sell a book.
I don’t think it’s an investment to be made before working with an agent. I do think it can work wonders when the proposal is ready for submission. Most authors can’t afford it IMO so I think it’s helpful to the see the numbers. I should have noted that I wish more authors would design them though when they can!
"This should be a notable observation for those of you keeping a bird’s eye view on the state of cookbook publishing."
As always.. sooo many helpful and important tips in your newsletter! thank you. Looking forward to the event.
Thank you, I try! :)
This was fascinating! Such an insightful and eye-opening post. Thanks Sally!
So glad it was helpful!
Brilliant information, as always! Can’t wait for the session 😍
Great post, Sally! It’s something I’ve been thinking about too — my book idea has a definite aesthetic yet I don’t want that to detract from interest in the concept itself. But first, of course, I need to tackle the proposal itself 😊
Thanks, hope we will see you at the skill building session to chat through this!
"Food bloggers with massive readership were landing high profile publishing deals" Anyone with a massive following will get a deal. The book part can be fixed. But a tepid online presence cannot
I’d argue a shotty book is hard to fix too. Or maybe it’s just about landing the deal. Not what happens after.
Thanks Sally you're the expert. And not sure what shotty is but can guess : )
Very excited about the October 20 event Sally. Do I need to do anything to secure my spot?
Nope you’re all set! You’ll get an email with zoom info on the Monday before.
As someone who has designed some of my own books over the years (if the design was intrinsic to the content), I really have mixed feelings about this. While my last proposal had a visual vibe (InDesign!) I considered it far from a vision of how the book would actually look once the manuscript developed. Thankfully the publisher where it landed <3 has a design team. But what I'm gleaning is that publishers have increasingly lean staffs and are relying on authors to do it all, and I mean allllll. Writing a book is challenging enough without having to wear every single hat. Since authors are already basically doing most of the publicity and marketing.
I wonder if the next step will be publishers wanting fully edited and/or copy edited manuscripts and basically function as the printer and distributor. Or maybe that's already happening.
I would argue that design is one of the last things publishers will defer to authors on since it is very rarely a skill set or expertise an author can bring to the table. Many publishers outsource design to freelancers, but even those freelancers are professional designers. I hope this came across in the newsletter! It is an interesting hypothesis though Nava and I will be curious to see if you are on to something here!
I agree, Sally. I've been in the unique position of being an in-house CD as well as an independent designer—and most recently a publisher—and I can tell you with a high degree of confidence that publishers don't want authors to design their books (or copyedit them). If an author comes with a recommendation for a designer they trust, who has a great portfolio and a proven track record with other publishers, then that's considered a bonus—not a requirement. The only exception I can think of is books where the author is a creative professional with a strong brand and platform, who can execute to a high standard and whose design will resonate with their audience. Generally speaking, publishers want to have more control in the way a book looks, so they will always want to have a hand in guiding the creative process.
Thanks for weighing in here. My gut says this would be one of the last tasks a publisher would have an author take on. Unless, like you said, they have that cred.
I really hope I'm wrong!
My first cookbook proposal was done very informally over the phone with my now-agent. As soon as I mentioned eggs, he was in! When he mentioned a formal proposal to pitch to publishers, I had no idea what that entailed. Fortunately he held my hand the whole way, asking for a few sample recipes with photos (my own nonprofessional attempts were fine, he said), a one paragraph summary of my concept, a TOC (recipes didn't have to be finalized - and many did change by the end), a few headshots, links to my social, and comparable titles. He turned what I gave him into a 40-page proposal! I had no idea it would be that comprehensive. I did land a book deal, so it was effective! For my 2nd book, I basically replicated that proposal and got a 2nd deal. Same publisher. I'm potentially shopping other publishers for my 3rd cookbook, so I'm very interested in this topic- I would love to put together (or hire someone to put together) a kick-a$$ proposal! I look forward to this talk.
What year was the first and second book sold?
So glad you’ll be joining this discussion !
2020 for my first and 2023 for my 2nd.
Looking forward to this session!