You asked, I cried.

AMA recap + highlights

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Not So Secret Agent is an email newsletter all about the inside scoop on cookbook publishing from senior literary agent, Sally Ekus (that’s me!). Make sure we never miss the chance to connect. Subscribe!

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Dear Not So Secret Agent readers,

April 30^th marked the Not So Secret Agent newsletter’s one-year anniversary!

I have always wanted to give insight into the often-opaque publishing industry and offer resources to help demystify the cookbook publishing process.

In starting this newsletter, I envisioned sharing my day-to-day thoughts and writing about what I have noticed from over a decade of agenting. Truly, I adore what I do, and I value the mentorship and resources that have been shared with me since the moment I stepped into this career. I figured I would aim to give back by passing along the same generosity that has been (and continually is!) bestowed upon me.

It might sound naïve or arbitrary, but I feel a bit like a walking and typing cliché. I mean, I am not a writer. I am the agent! I represent authors. I have no problem endlessly cheering them on during their moments self-doubt. But when I meet people at conferences who say things like “Omg, I have learned so much from your newsletter”, or “I love your voice!”, my first instinct is to look over my shoulder to check and see who they are talking to.

I have heard from readers who are just starting their cookbook writing journey and are unsure where to begin. I’ve also heard from readers who are about to publish their third book and are finding gems as they prepare for launch. One of my clients who reads every newsletter emails me after each post to say she has learned something new. And she has written over a dozen cookbooks!

To reach such a wide swath of people interested in cookbook publishing is absolutely thrilling.

Cultivating this newsletter and community has been more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. Thank you.

As I’ve said from the start, the content of this newsletter will never be paywalled. Additionally, focusing on accessibility and cultivating community is at the core of each post. I read every comment, notice every restack in the Substack platform, and respond to all the emails you send.

That said, last week’s AMA was reserved for paying subscribers as well as those who opted into an equity spot. As a reminder, equity spots for paid subscriber benefits are available to anyone, no questions asked. Yes, people take me up on this and yes, those of you who have the means to pay help make this possible – so thank you!

Last week’s AMA was a freaking blast! Thank you to everyone who showed up with such thought-provoking questions. We laughed, we cried (okay, only I cried and it was just a little bit at the top), and we discussed all sorts of cookbook industry things such as platform size, book packagers, launch party planning, and so much more. I even managed to sneak in the first ever live Not So Secret Agent Side Note!

If you would like to access this recording, upgrade your subscription to paid here and then email me (by replying to this email or commenting below in the Substack app) APRIL AMA. I will make sure you get a copy of the recording to watch.

While the magic energy in our live Zoom room may never be recreated, there were a few questions that I wanted to share with the wider NSSA readership community.

The following is a gently polished transcript of a few of the many questions we discussed. Please note that as someone who likes to explain as much context to information as possible, it is excruciating to offer you a lightly edited transcript and not a verbose explanation for each question. Limited by the confines of an hour for the AMA, I had to move through each question rather quickly.

Question #1 – Tera asks:

I have a proposal and query letter drafted for a cookbook, and now I’m searching for an agent. Any recommendations to help me with that process?

Absolutely! Here are some tips on where to find an agent:

• You can often find agents in the acknowledgements section of cookbooks. Read through a few of the titles that are comps to your idea/proposal and take note of which agents are thanked. One of those just might be a fit for you!

• You can buy a 1-day pass to Publisher’s Marketplace, where you’ll find agents searchable by category. As this is a very trade-specific resource, I don’t recommend this route for everyone. As Lisa Ekus would say, it depends on how much you want to learn about how the clock is made versus just knowing what time it is.

• In pub day social media posts, people are naming everyone from the editor to the publishing house, photographer, stylist, and the agent. Keep an eye out for those as they can be a great place to do research.

• Talk to colleagues or people in your area of expertise. Ask them who their agent is, if they like them, whether they’re taking new clients, can they set up an introduction, etc.

• My absolute GO TO is Kristin Donnelly, one of the four hosts of the Everything Cookbooks podcast. She offers a self-paced virtual class for $67 called Operation Find an Agent. At the end, you get a list of cookbook agents. And it’s long. Wow, there’re a lot of us now! So awesome!

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: It’s about finding the right fit, not just any fit.

For more info and a deeper dive on this topic, click the link to take a look at my early NSSA post all about agent representation and how cookbook authors secure literary agents. You may also want to check out this post.

Question #2 – Luciana asks:

For a first book, if you already have interest from a publisher, do you still suggest pursuing an agent first? If that publisher recommends an agent they usually work with, would you trust their recommendation or look for an agent independently?

I will answer the first part first. What are your goals? Is an agent the right decision for you and your career beyond the potential opportunity on the table? Because, in the grand scheme of things, the actual deal negotiation is a very small percentage of how I spend my time working for a client.

If you want someone in your corner – a sounding board, a career strategist, a cheerleader, a person to commiserate with, an expert who is outside of the vacuum in which you work – then an agent might be the right call for you.

An agent’s job is to know the best possible terms and the industry norms. A publisher’s job is to make an offer that is in their best interest financially, not to make the most amazing offer to you, an unrepresented author.

There are scenarios in which someone is approached by a publisher and then they reach out to me. They know they want to work with an agent on that project, so they ask me if I might be interested in stepping in and representing them. If I choose to move forward, I’m not signing them for just that one deal; I am bringing them into the portfolio of my client roster, and all that entails.

Second part: If the publisher recommends a certain agent, I think it’s completely appropriate to talk to that one agent and see how it feels. Then potentially shop around as well. It depends on who you are and what you’re looking for in the agent relationship. You could also ask to speak with another client that the agent represents, to get a more outside perspective.

I cannot underscore this enough: I know it is very hard to get a literary agent, but it should not be only about landing any agent. It is about signing with the right one.

Go with your gut. It has to be the right fit. Ask about communication and working styles. What is their response time? It is hard when you’re in a position of wanting to be represented, but it is more important that you sign with someone that you feel wholeheartedly comfortable with and that you trust from the jump.

***Not So Secret Agent Side Note: To offer a point of reference, last year I signed a client who had been approached directly by a publisher. I was able to improve the original offer, though this is never a guarantee, and I made that clear from the get-go. This year, I have already signed and sold one project that originated from pre-existing publisher interest. And I am in conversation with three potential new clients who were sent from editors I work with regularly that know my style and think I could be a good match. I have also recently signed another new client with pre-existing interest from a number of publishers – they were introduced to me through a current client. And TBD on how their deal shakes out because there is already so much enthusiasm around their project! Of course, I have had conversations with a handful of other authors in similar situations and we were not the right fit.***

Question #3 – Shelley asks:

Do you need to have all 100-150 recipes developed and ready to go before you sign the deal?

No. We sell cookbooks from book proposals, not a finished manuscript. The proposal will have a working table of contents that is proposing the recipes you think you’re going to develop.

When I go through your proposal, I’m looking to see if there is a balance among all the chapters. What are the recipe ideas? What are their titles?

Once you start developing your recipes, they will inevitably evolve. This one may not work so it’ll get thrown out. That one might need to be modified. Another is perfect (ha, if only!). Etc.

To go a step further, you usually have about a year to write and develop and test the recipes, and then deliver the manuscript. Add another year of production for the material to go into editing, copyediting, layout, design, and distribution. So generally speaking, it is about a 2-year process. There are exceptions of course.

***Not So Secret Agent Side Note: Another recipe writing question that came up on the AMA was whether or not recipes need to be tested by outside entities. I am finding more and more (in the past 5+ years) that many publishers (think the big 5) are requiring formal recipe testing of their authors’ recipes. It’s written into many contracts, though not all. Formal recipe testing can cost between $120-$200 per recipe plus ingredients. Depending on the contractual expectations, recipe testing can also be a non-financially compensated process where an author taps their community and offers testers credit in the acknowledgement section of their book and even a few free copies.***

Question #4 – Kevin asks:

Can you explain the role of book packagers?

Ooh, Kevin with a curveball!

There are a couple of different roles and responsibilities that a book packager takes on, and it depends on when and how they get involved.

A book packager is a team or a person that curates a team of experts to package a book. Sometimes a book packager is hired by a publisher once they’ve acquired a title or developed a title in house.

Like if a publisher wants to do a book on spicy canapés, they’ll hire a book packager to find an author to develop the recipes, bring in a photographer, construct a layout and design, and then deliver printer-ready files.

Or sometimes, a book packager will pull all of that together and then pitch it to a publisher and say, Hey, we’ve developed this idea and here are all the printer-ready files.

Because I know you’re an amazing photographer, Kevin, I’d say that to network with book packagers would make sense so that your work is on their radar. That is not an appropriate recommendation for probably the majority of readers, but for food photographers or recipe developers that do a scope of work for hire, you could network with book packagers.

I don’t have a perfect answer for how to find and network with book packagers, but here are two thoughts:

1) Check LinkedIn. It’s not often my recommended social media place of choice for cookbook publishing, but it could be useful for this particular scenario.

2) Find a specialty store near you that sells quirky, gifty, single-subject, thematic driven cookbooks. Take a look at the copyright page. I’d guess that some of those titles are put together by book packagers.

Post AMA note:

What is a Book Packager?

Kate McKean who writes the Agents and Books newsletter goes in depth about book packagers. This is also generally one of the must-read newsletters for those looking to learn more about book publishing.

The last 30 minutes of the AMA were what I called an OFFER & ASK session, during which I facilitated people making an offer to the group or an ask for career support in some way. Truth be told, I had never done this before, and jeez, people are truly awesome and willing to trust the flow! I will absolutely be doing this again because it was a huge hit!

It’s wild to think that this mighty lil newsletter didn’t exist just a year ago. There is no way to know exactly what is to come in the next year, but I do have some super exciting programming cooking up. I am also excited to hear your ideas. Feel free to leave a comment below!

As we pass the one-year mile marker, I want to shout out the NSSA Founding Members, aka the Secret Agent Ambassadors. These are paid subscribers who opt for the highest level of annual support to this newsletter. During my AMA, I realized that I have done a terrible job of highlighting one of their key added benefits:

All Secret Agent Ambassadors receive full access to How to Write a Cookbook, my online (self-paced) class.

This came up when someone asked about the benefits of self-publishing versus traditional publishing, which happens to be the focus of the first module. You can read more about the class here. If you want to enroll, just upgrade your reader subscription to the Ambassador level and a link to access the class will be emailed to you. Plus you’ll also get the following additional cool perks:

1) Yours truly will also send you a personally chosen cookbook after we exchange an email about your culinary interests/preferences!

2) Also, starting now, all Ambassadors will get a dedicated Huff & Puff session, also with yours truly. If you are a current Ambassador, keep an eye out for a special email.

***NOT SO SECRET AGENT SIDE NOTE: Wait, what the heck is a Huff & Puff chat?? Well, I’ve been randomly picking one new person (via the Substack app’s chat feature) to call and talk with as I take a brisk walk. These chats are great because while I am outside getting fresh air, I am also getting all fired up, offering personalized insights to one random reader. This is not a time to formally pitch me, but it is a way to get insights on your platform, book idea, or just generally to have a chance to ask me questions that pertain to your specific work.

While Secret Agent Ambassadors are guaranteed their own dedicated Huff & Puff session, please note that both paid and unpaid subscribers are eligible for the random ones!

CLICK HERE to join the Chat forum and then keep an eye out for new threads that, moving forward, will be titled HUFF & PUFF.***

Lastly, on May 21^st from 7-9pmET, The Everything Cookbooks Podcast crew is welcoming me back (we did this last year) for a Pitch Slam event!

In this quick-paced workshop, attendees can pitch a cookbook idea and get instant feedback from me and the four Everything Cookbooks hosts. Don’t have a book idea right now? Join in to learn valuable tips about what goes into crafting a pitch when your brilliant idea hits. There are two ticket tiers, one for pitching and one for listening/learning.

Info and tickets can be found here and are already going fast!

*There are also 2 equity slots available for individuals who want to pitch but may not have the resources available.

That’s a wrap on today’s Not So Secret Agent newsletter. Thank you for helping to cultivate this special corner of the internet all about cookbooks and community. May we continue to make our table longer!

~Sally~