Go Jumbo or Go Home

This month, I’m sharing scoops about writing the proposal for Cookie Time (the cookbook I am presently working on), plus an exclusive recipe for Jumbo Vanilla Cherry Sour Cream Muffins — and what I’ve been reading, watching, eating, and wearing lately. 💜

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Hi peeps,

Last month, I spilled the tea as to how I landed on Cookie Time’s hook (and tea was actually involved, as it was over a cuppa that a friend suggested the book be organized by time (thank you again, Charlotte!). And although once I had the hook in hand, I felt a million times more excited and confident about digging into the proposal, there was still much work ahead.

Writing a cookbook proposal is a very singular experience. It’s like an advertisement for a nonexistent product, that you’re super convinced is going to be fabulous even though you don’t yet know if that is actually true.I mean I am relatively confident in my ability to write cookbooks (seeing as Cookie Time is my fifth) but that doesn’t mean my imposter complex, deep insecurities - you know, all the really fun stuff under the surface - etc. is completely in check. They all rear their ugly heads now and again. But, I have to say, this particular proposal kind of wrote itself (ish).

The components of a cookbook proposal typically include an overview of the concept (the hook!), the table of contents (the TOC), an explanation of the chapters, recipe titles, a breakdown of competing cookbooks (which is exactly what it sounds like: a deep dive into recent, popular, books that exist in the same category), a marketing section, and several fully developed sample recipes so editors can get a sense of the voice, style, and baking ethos of the book and its writer.