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You have recipes. You have a voice. You might have a blog, a following, a family tradition, a story that deserves to be a book. But somewhere between the idea and the bookshelf, it gets murky. How do you turn a concept into a proposal that agents actually want to read? What do publishers expect? What does a cookbook contract really look like: the advances, the royalties, the fine print nobody talks about? How do you write a recipe that works on paper, not just in your kitchen? And what happens after you sign a book deal?
This masterclass answers all of it.
Written by someone who’s done it nine times for W.W. Norton, Ten Speed Press, Clarkson Potter, Penguin Random House, Running Press, and Simon & Schuster, this is the guide that pulls back the curtain on the entire cookbook publishing process. Not the polished version. The real one. With real numbers, real timelines, and the kind of insider knowledge you’d normally only get from a writer, agent or an editor once you’ve already got your foot in the door, and by then you already understand the process.
10 modules covering the complete journey:
Module 1: Foundations: The cookbook landscape in 2026, what publishers are acquiring now, and where food influencers fit into the picture.
Module 2: Concept Development: How to find your unique angle, identify your reader, research the competition, and develop a concept that stands out in a crowded market. This section also covers how to work with a co-writer and the challenges and upsides to this kind of partnership.
Module 3: The Cookbook Proposal: The most comprehensive proposal breakdown available anywhere. Every section, explained. With a complete, detailed template built from proposals that sold to major publishers.
Module 4: Recipe Writing & Development: Anatomy of a professional recipe. Headnotes that hook. Testing protocols that ensure your recipes actually work. Common mistakes that sink otherwise good books. This section also covers organization, chapter introductions, sidebars and everything else that a cookbook requires.
Module 5: Finding Your Voice: What makes a cookbook feel like yours. How to write with personality, authority, and warmth, whether you’re a trained chef, a home cook, or a food creator building an audience online.
Module 6: Agents & Publishers: How to find the right agent, write a query letter that gets read, understand what agents and editors are actually looking for, and navigate traditional vs. self-publishing.
Module 7: Contracts & Negotiation: What a real cookbook contract looks like. Advances, royalty structures, subsidiary rights, foreign rights, payment schedules, and what to negotiate for. With real industry numbers… not theory.
Module 8: Photography & Design: Working with photographers, art directors, stylists, and designers. Mood boards, shot lists, and how to ensure your book looks as good as it reads.
Module 9: Platform Building: Building the audience that publishers want to see. Social media strategy, email lists, industry relationships, and how to build credibility before your book exists.
Module 10: Marketing & Launch: The pre-publication timeline. Launch strategies, media outreach, events, building an ecosystem beyond your cookbook and how to give your book its best chance in a competitive market.
This is for you if you’re a home cook with a story that belongs in a book. A food blogger or content creator ready to make the leap from posts to pages. A chef who’s never written a proposal and doesn’t know where to start. A food influencer wondering how to turn a following into a publishing deal. An experienced author who wants to understand the business side better. Or anyone who’s been told “you should write a cookbook” and thought… but how?
This is not another surface-level overview.
It’s 120+ pages of curriculum written by a James Beard-nominated, IACP Award-winning author who has sat on both sides of the table, as a writer, as an editor, as a recipe developer, and as someone who has signed contracts, negotiated advances, co-written cookbooks, and launched books into the world. The things in this guide are the things I wish someone had told me before I wrote my first book.
Want to go deeper? The full on-demand course includes everything in this ebook plus 22 professional worksheets and templates, including a complete cookbook proposal template, recipe template, agent research worksheet, contract terms glossary, negotiation checklist, agent, co-writer, photographer, and publisher contract examples, and more.
And if you want personalized guidance, 1:1 coaching sessions and proposal reviews are available separately.
By Jody Eddy: author of nine cookbooks including Elysian Kitchens (W.W. Norton), Chaat: Recipes From the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India (Clarkson Potter), and North: The New Nordic Cusine of Iceland (Ten Speed Press). James Beard-nominated. IACP Award-winning. Former Executive Editor of Art Culinaire Magazine. Professional kitchen experience at Jean-Georges and The Fat Duck. Graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan. Founder of Story Feast Collective.
This Cookbook Masterclass is available on April 1st and will be sent to your email address with a download link.
You have recipes. You have a voice. You might have a blog, a following, a family tradition, a story that deserves to be a book. But somewhere between the idea and the bookshelf, it gets murky. How do you turn a concept into a proposal that agents actually want to read? What do publishers expect? What does a cookbook contract really look like: the advances, the royalties, the fine print nobody talks about? How do you write a recipe that works on paper, not just in your kitchen? And what happens after you sign a book deal?
This masterclass answers all of it.
Written by someone who’s done it nine times for W.W. Norton, Ten Speed Press, Clarkson Potter, Penguin Random House, Running Press, and Simon & Schuster, this is the guide that pulls back the curtain on the entire cookbook publishing process. Not the polished version. The real one. With real numbers, real timelines, and the kind of insider knowledge you’d normally only get from a writer, agent or an editor once you’ve already got your foot in the door, and by then you already understand the process.
10 modules covering the complete journey:
Module 1: Foundations: The cookbook landscape in 2026, what publishers are acquiring now, and where food influencers fit into the picture.
Module 2: Concept Development: How to find your unique angle, identify your reader, research the competition, and develop a concept that stands out in a crowded market. This section also covers how to work with a co-writer and the challenges and upsides to this kind of partnership.
Module 3: The Cookbook Proposal: The most comprehensive proposal breakdown available anywhere. Every section, explained. With a complete, detailed template built from proposals that sold to major publishers.
Module 4: Recipe Writing & Development: Anatomy of a professional recipe. Headnotes that hook. Testing protocols that ensure your recipes actually work. Common mistakes that sink otherwise good books. This section also covers organization, chapter introductions, sidebars and everything else that a cookbook requires.
Module 5: Finding Your Voice: What makes a cookbook feel like yours. How to write with personality, authority, and warmth, whether you’re a trained chef, a home cook, or a food creator building an audience online.
Module 6: Agents & Publishers: How to find the right agent, write a query letter that gets read, understand what agents and editors are actually looking for, and navigate traditional vs. self-publishing.
Module 7: Contracts & Negotiation: What a real cookbook contract looks like. Advances, royalty structures, subsidiary rights, foreign rights, payment schedules, and what to negotiate for. With real industry numbers… not theory.
Module 8: Photography & Design: Working with photographers, art directors, stylists, and designers. Mood boards, shot lists, and how to ensure your book looks as good as it reads.
Module 9: Platform Building: Building the audience that publishers want to see. Social media strategy, email lists, industry relationships, and how to build credibility before your book exists.
Module 10: Marketing & Launch: The pre-publication timeline. Launch strategies, media outreach, events, building an ecosystem beyond your cookbook and how to give your book its best chance in a competitive market.
This is for you if you’re a home cook with a story that belongs in a book. A food blogger or content creator ready to make the leap from posts to pages. A chef who’s never written a proposal and doesn’t know where to start. A food influencer wondering how to turn a following into a publishing deal. An experienced author who wants to understand the business side better. Or anyone who’s been told “you should write a cookbook” and thought… but how?
This is not another surface-level overview.
It’s 120+ pages of curriculum written by a James Beard-nominated, IACP Award-winning author who has sat on both sides of the table, as a writer, as an editor, as a recipe developer, and as someone who has signed contracts, negotiated advances, co-written cookbooks, and launched books into the world. The things in this guide are the things I wish someone had told me before I wrote my first book.
Want to go deeper? The full on-demand course includes everything in this ebook plus 22 professional worksheets and templates, including a complete cookbook proposal template, recipe template, agent research worksheet, contract terms glossary, negotiation checklist, agent, co-writer, photographer, and publisher contract examples, and more.
And if you want personalized guidance, 1:1 coaching sessions and proposal reviews are available separately.
By Jody Eddy: author of nine cookbooks including Elysian Kitchens (W.W. Norton), Chaat: Recipes From the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India (Clarkson Potter), and North: The New Nordic Cusine of Iceland (Ten Speed Press). James Beard-nominated. IACP Award-winning. Former Executive Editor of Art Culinaire Magazine. Professional kitchen experience at Jean-Georges and The Fat Duck. Graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan. Founder of Story Feast Collective.
This Cookbook Masterclass is available on April 1st and will be sent to your email address with a download link.
