Pie Perfection: Adventures in baking with the perfect cookbook for the holiday season

By Elizabeth Evans

Of the many milestones in a book’s publication, my favorite is opening the delivery box and picking up a finished copy of my client’s book for the first time. I recently opened the delivery box to find Linda Hundt’s charming retro cookbook, Sweetie-licious Pies, published last month by Skirt! Books.

Sweetie-licious Pies is the first cookbook I’ve represented, and I couldn’t wait to see how the photographs, text and recipes had come together. The final product exceeded my expectations--I am so proud of this beautiful package!

Featuring fifty-two original recipes, accompanied by gorgeous photos of Linda’s farm in Michigan and mouth-watering images of the pies themselves, Sweetie-licious Pies is the most heavily designed book I’ve worked with yet. I spent a solid hour pouring over the images and re-reading the heart-warming stories behind the creation of each pie. I was so inspired that by the time I set the book down, I vowed to do something I’d never attempted before--bake.

I do not exaggerate when I tell you I don’t have a sweet tooth. In the epic battle of sweet vs. savory, savory always wins in my book. As a kid, I’d turn over my Halloween candy to my brother and sister with a nonchalant shrug and watch them fight over the spoils. To this day, I’ll take a bag of potato chips over chocolate every time. All of which might make you wonder--why does someone who doesn’t like dessert have a pie cookbook on her list? I’ll tell you--it’s all about the crust. I love pie crust. It’s the perfect savory balance to a sugary dessert, the salty yin to fruit’s sweet yang. On a restaurant menu, pie is the one dessert that tempts me, but I’d never tried to bake my own--until the other Sunday.

With sixteen-time national pie-baking champion Linda Hundt’s beautiful cookbook to guide me, I figured I had a good shot at success. I enlisted the help of my in-house photographer/husband to document my baking adventure.

Here’s a little photo show of how it all went down:

To take advantage of the autumn’s delicious apples, I decided to make “Mom Hundt’s Apple Almond Pie” (p88). I lined up all my ingredients and set to work.

This pie calls for a homemade cream cheese crust. Following Linda’s easy recipe (p2), I used my standing mixer for the first time ever and later shaped the dough into a disk to cool in the fridge.

After the dough cooled in the fridge, I rolled it out and carefully placed it over the pie pan. Then into the freezer it went! Linda always recommends working with a frozen crust.

Next step was preparing the apple almond filling. The smells of cinnamon-apple goodness coming from this pot were incredible! After I assembled the pie and popped it in the oven, my trusty sidekick Finn helped me by licking some of the measuring utensils clean.

Voila--Mom Hundt’s Apple Almond Pie!

Baking this pie was a blast, but the final result didn’t last long. Between a little slice here and a tiny bite there, we polished off the pie in just a few days. Luckily, we had extra apples from our trip to the farmer’s market and most of the ingredients needed to bake another.

Behold Round Two: Grandma Ferrell’s Caramel Apple pie (p146)!

Apparently I’m not the only one who’s had apple pies on the brain. Food and Wine Magazine just named Linda’s “Laura’s Sticky Toffee Pudding Caramel Apple Pie” as one of America’s Best Apple Pies. Check out the mouth-watering slide show in which Linda’s pie has top billing here.

Midwest Living also recently featured Linda and Sweetie-licious Pies. The cookbook is featured as a Midwest favorite in the magazine's Holiday Gift Guide.

So this holiday season, whether you're planning what to give for holiday gifts or what to make for holiday dessert, look no further than Sweetie-licious Pies!

Below are some of the great things people have been saying about Sweetie-licious Pies:

“Linda Hundt brings you the sweetness of pie and blends it with tradition, family, nostalgia, and fabulous recipes into one thoroughly all-American pie cookbook.” --Debbie Macomber, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Starting Now and The Inn At Rose Harbor

“Linda Hundt is like the world's greatest pie librarian and Sweetie-licious is a colorful, approachable, pie-lover's dream. It's as if Linda collected the best possible pie recipes from the world's coolest grandmothers, vintage church supper cookbooks, and route 66 diners, then sprinkled them with her own unique and talented voodoo. Get ready to put this book in your 'most frequently used' part of your kitchen library.” --Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, authors of Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients

“With the glide of a rolling pin, Sweeti-Licious Pies transports you to Small Town America, where pies cool on the windowsill, there's a watering can in the garden, and everyone gathers for family dinner. Linda Hundt is truly changing the world, one pie at a time. Make mine a slice of The Farmette's Blueberry Basil Cream Pie!” --Judith Fertig, author of Heartland: The Cookbook

5 industry insights for nonfiction writers: From flying money-makers to mountains of book success

Ever wonder what exactly happens to your proposal once your agent sends it on submission?  The answer is it gets shared around, A LOT.  If your proposal manages to intrigue an editor, he or she will likely show it to their colleagues for their opinions, and if those opinions are positive your project will get brought up at an editorial board meeting, and from there the proposal might be shared with Sales and Marketing—the list goes on.

With so many eyes scrutinizing one document, it's helpful to understand who is looking for what information within your proposal.  Make sure you're creating a proposal that will satisfy everyone by keeping these five industry insights in mind.

#1: A proposal is a sales document. We book lovers can be a sentimental lot. It’s not our fault—we’ve experienced firsthand the extraordinary magic a great book contains. Our favorite reads hold value far beyond the $25 or $14 we shell out at a bookstore. However, when it comes to crafting your own proposal, it’s important to remember that you’re now entering the business of publishing (shudder!). Your brilliant ideas and dazzling prose won’t get you a book deal unless your proposal convinces a publisher that your book will make them money. To do this, treat your proposal as though it is an argument for why a publisher can’t afford NOT to take you on.

Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

"You simply can't NOT take me on, 
because clearly I will make you tons of money!"

#2: Platform is king. New writers occasionally misunderstand the importance of “platform” by treating it with a chicken or the egg mentality. Rather than seeing a strong platform as a necessary element to securing a book deal, they believe that securing a book deal is a necessary element to building their platform. Sadly, it’s rare for a publisher to take a chance on an unknown writer these days. With the exception of some memoirs, nonfiction publishers aren’t interested in breaking out new voices. Instead, they want to acquire books from authors who have a built in audience already eager to buy their work. Try to connect with your target audience and build a strong following before you approach a publisher. Being recognized as an expert in your field is half the battle.

Image courtesy of Dumbledorefan on Harry Potter Wiki

"Oh, don't worry, I have the ultimate platform."

#3: Even in a digital world, shelving matters. Know thy genre! If a publisher doesn’t understand where to shelve your book, or can’t identify similar books that have performed well, they likely won’t be making you an offer. Ask yourself, is my book narrative nonfiction or prescriptive nonfiction? What kind of information is my target audience seeking? This is part of what makes the comps section of your proposal so important. Choose successful books with strong sales records against which to compare your own. Create the impression that while your book is unique, and likely to outperform the others, there is a demonstrated track record of success for publishing this type of book.

Image courtesy of Noel Joyeux on Flickr.com

"I think I'd like to be shelved right here."

#4: For proposal perfection, find an irresistible title. Occasionally a proposal has a title that is so good, so catchy, it almost sells itself. Or, if it doesn’t sell itself, it definitely gives the project some heat. Perhaps it speaks directly to its audience and strikes a chord, such as YOU: On a Diet. Or it intrigues, such as The Secret. It might convey humor or edginess or simply trigger a smile. Whatever the reason, publishers know that a good title will capture public attention and distinguish your book from its competition. A strong title creates buzz. Before you submit your proposal, brainstorm several different titles to see if you strike phrasing gold. Consider some of the well‐known titles below:

Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant

The Shock Doctrine

Sh*t My Dad Says

My Horizontal Life

Skinny Bitch

Freakonomics

Who Moved My Cheese?

Assassination Vacation

Julie and Julia

He’s Just Not That Into You

What’s the Matter with Kansas?

Eat, Pray, Love

Image courtesy of Micahmedia at en.wikipedia

"Can't I just use a symbol, à la Prince?" Answer: No.

#5: Editors also face rejection. So you’ve perfected your proposal, wooed a smart and savvy agent, and your work is now in the hands of a brilliant editor. All you need to do is have that editor fall in love with your work and you’re in, right? Not just yet! Most editors won’t be able to acquire a book without convincing the rest of their team to get onboard. First, they will “get reads,” or second opinions, from other editors at their imprint. If they are successful in drumming up enthusiasm in‐house, the project must then be approved by Sales and Marketing. This is often when heartbreak strikes. If Sales and Marketing crunches the numbers and doesn’t feel your book will be profitable, your deal may be dead in the water. Help an editor out by including strong comp titles and a savvy promotion plan.

Image courtesy of watcharakun at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Turn upset editors unable to take on your project 

("Say it isn't so!") into....

Image courtesy of pakorn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

mountains of book success!

As NaNoWriMo ends, we've got advice: Avoid the 7 deadly sins of bad fiction!

For all of you out there participating in National Novel Writing Month, go go go! You're almost done!  As agents, we are so glad you're writing.  But before you immediately submit your new novel to agents on December 1, we have some suggestions :)  First, once you've made it to the finish line, jump for joy, eat celebratory chocolate, or whatever else floats your boat.  Second, take a good look at that manuscript you've been working on and delve right back into it with revision!

Below are some revision tips put together by our fabulous agent Elizabeth Evans:

Writers often ask me what agents look for in a submission.  How can they get their work through the gates and onto an agent's list?  The short and oft-quoted answer to that question is that agents want to "fall in love."  But what does that mean, really?  Is the writing riveting or suspenseful in a way that makes our pulse race?  Maybe.  Does a character reach out and grab us with a voice that commands attention?  Perhaps.  Or is the prose so achingly beautiful we just can't help but admire it?  Couldn't hurt.

Maybe it's one of these, maybe it's none of them.  The point is, it's hard to define, and it usually leads to other exasperating, oft-quoted agent phrases such as, "I don't know what I'm looking for until I see it."  Well, here's a little secret—we agents hear this from editors as well, and it drives us a little crazy, too. Fact is, it's true.

So it's not a science, and there's no proper equation to get your work through the door.  But to increase the chances of finding representation, what writers can do is avoid common mistakes and agent pet peeves that make it easy for us to turn down submissions.

When I was working as a tutor in my college writing center, the director created a handy sheet for students outlining "The Seven Deadly Sins of Bad Grammar."  The sheet identified such no-no's as Passive Voice and Misplaced Modifiers, and it provided a helpful list students could check their work against before turning in papers to professors.  When I started agenting, I thought there ought to be a list like this for aspiring authors.  Hence, "The Seven Deadly Sins of Bad Fiction."

Avoiding these common pitfalls will eliminate pesky mistakes that can distract agents from the story at hand.  By taking heed of them, your writing might shine just a bit more brightly and bring you one step closer to publication.

“The Seven Deadly Sins of Bad Fiction” is available as a convenient, downloadable pdf file.  Click here to access it.  And to whet your appetite, below is a quick list of what the seven deadly sins are.  Download the pdf for explanations!

1. General Sloppiness

2. Ignoring the Setting

3. Wordiness

4. Bloated Diction

 5. Passive Voice/Overuse of "To Be"

6. Too Much Telling. Too Much Showing.

7. Pedestrian Narrative Eye

In his memoir Speak, Memory, Vladimir Nabokov said, “I have rewritten—often several times—every word I have ever written.  My pencils outlast their erasers.” Now, don't get stressed out by this statement, like the guy below.

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Do, however, take the time to rewrite and revise, because doing so will not only make your novel more polished and attractive to all the publishing people out there, it will also, most importantly, make your novel more rewarding for your readers and yourself.