One of the reasons I set up Countertalk was to pass on transparent career advice and knowledge to as many people as we can. I want to reiterate and reinforce the fact that I was able to secure a cookbook deal without any special connections in the industry and with a small online presence. Knowing this I hope will help inspire you to go off and not let anything hold you back. Anything is possible. I wrote ‘The Pastry Chef’s Guide’ in just a few months, after spending years collecting and writing recipes of my own with the hope that I would one day publish them.

To start this piece on cookbooks I wanted to dive in and start from THE PROPOSAL.  This is how I got my deal, and this is what I put into that proposal. Happy reading!

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The story of how I got my first cookbook deal is an interesting one. I should make it clear that I didn’t have any comparisons or anything to base my proposal on, I just wrote my idea of what I thought a cookbook proposal should be.

 

I wrote it in a hurry because Ben, a friend of mine, thought I would write quite a good book and asked me whether I had a proposal. I hurriedly put one together and sent it off. I had a very clear vision of what I wanted it to be from the outset, which was as follows:

 

What:

A pastry handbook, theory focused, limited pictures

Size:

An A5 book, I wanted people to be able to take it with them on the tube and keep it in their bag

Who is it for:

Anyone who wants to learn about pastry (without going to cookery school).

Pastry chefs who need a guide book to refer back to for reliable recipes.

Chefs who want to up skill in the pastry department.

 

I put this information into a word document and expanded on those points.

 

I also put in an introduction of who I am and why I wanted to write a book: One of my biggest driving forces for writing my first book was the need to pass on recipes that I had spent years collecting. I took this massive orange folder with me everywhere I went and chefs, colleagues and friends would always ask me to put it in book format. My pathway into pastry was via Le Cordon Bleu and, whilst I learnt a lot, it cost me a lot too. My biggest drive was to publish a book that would pass on all of this knowledge and information to anyone who wanted it – this would be a guidebook or handbook for education. I wanted to say that if you can’t afford to go to pastry school then READ THIS from start to finish and you’ll have a really good foundation to flourish.

On top of this I wanted the book to teach the whys of pastry and provide the building blocks to give the reader the confidence to make creations of their own.

 

To summarise my proposal included:

 

• An introduction to me and who I am. When you are writing your own proposal, you should include information about yourself. Do you have a social media presence? If so include the stats. Where do you work? What’s your experience? Remember – you are selling yourself here. So don’t be shy.

 

• A sample introduction, showing how I would introduce the book. This gives the publisher a good insight into the way you write.

 

• A sample chapter list: This is a good way of showing the publisher the type of content you want to include in your book and help you to figure out what you want to write.

 

• Sample recipes: 3 to 4 is a good starting point, with accompanying imagery

 

I then sent this to Ben. He sent it to a publisher who said no, on the grounds that I didn’t have enough of a social media presence (3k at the time on Instagram), no one knew who I was and that no one would buy this book. I took the L, shrugged my shoulders and moved on. Even getting that ‘no’ was positive, because the lead up to that first ‘no’ was the sole reason that I wrote a cookbook proposal. It gave me that push.

 

Months later a previous loyal customer from the restaurant I worked at (Llewelyns in Herne Hill) contacted me on instagram and asked if I had ever considered writing a cookbook. This customer missed my desserts. I had worked to make the pastry offering quite a thing in this restaurant – it was such a dreamy, beautiful place. Because of my first NO I had that proposal ready, so I tweaked it slightly and sent it over to her not thinking anything of it.

This customer then forwarded it on to Helen, the head of a publishing company.

In September 2018 I ran my first official Countertalk event and it was all about BREAD! I got together some of the biggest bread heads in the industry for a night of eating, networking and learning. Little did I know Stephanie Milner who worked at Pavillion Publishers (the same ones that had my proposal in their inbox) was at the event…

 

’04/09/2018

 

Dear Ravneet,

 

I wanted to write to say how much I enjoyed the Countertalk event last night. So much delicious bread and chat!

 

Helen Lewis passed me your pastry book proposal for review when I mentioned I was going last week. Is this an idea you’d still like to pursue? Would love to have a chat about what book ideas you might have and how I might help bring them to life.

 

Hope to speak soon,

 

Steph’

 

I remember receiving this email and dancing down the street. It turns out that the two customers from Llewellyn’s (Joy and another Helen), Helen Lewis and Stephanie Milner were incremental in getting me my first cookbook deal.

 

Steph then worked with me to refine my proposal, and there was a lot of back and forth. We spoke about who I was inspired by, the tone of the book, how many recipes I wanted to include etc.

 

I was then approached by a book agent who said they liked my style of explaining recipes on my Instagram page. I want to reiterate that this agent approached me through my instagram page at the time. I had a small following, roughly 3k, I would post once a week and story post a lot for fun for friends and have a laugh with it. The intention was to keep a portfolio of my work for future projects as opposed to growing Instagram for a bigger purpose.

 

I met with the book agents (Godwin Associates) via Sebastian Godwin and loved his father David Godwin. I really go off personality in a lot of the things I do and really enjoyed David’s approach, so that’s how I made my decision to go with him. I then worked with David to refine the idea even more along with Stephanie and signed my deal. I didn’t end up signing my deal until May 2019 and the book was due in August 2019. It would be published in Spring 2020.

 

If you are looking for an agent, Lemara Lindsay-Prince of #Merky Books suggests that you look in the back of your favourite cookbooks. Does the author mention an agent? If so get in touch, twitter is a great platform to connect with agents. Also don’t be shy to ask your friends or look on people you admire’s social media pages, often they will list a contact detail for their agent!

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So there we have it, that’s the first part of how to write a proposal with the hope that you will be inspired to go off and get yours! Stay tuned for the following parts of this piece including, ‘the money bit’ and lots more.

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Words by Ravneet Gill

Book: The Pastry Chef’s Guide

Photo credits: Pavillion Publishers, Jessica Griffiths