Expert Interview: Sally Ekus the Not So Secret Agent

"Don’t wait, start yesterday, but since we can’t go back in time start now." says Sally

This interview with a food-writing expert was conducted by Rachel Ciordas. She writes Next Level Gluten Free newsletter and works to make gluten free living more delicious every day. You can see more of her work and subscribe at

Hello friends,

Today the wonderful Sally Ekus, Senior Literary Agent at JVNLA and author of the Not So Secret Agent newsletter is in the Foodstack Library for our expert interview series!

I’ve known Sally for some time and I’m constantly blown away by her generosity of spirit and kind guidance in the food writing industry. She shares insider food publishing information that can be a really helpful guide for food writers.

Her newsletter is full of great actionable items but one of my favorites has to be her step by step guide for book proposals, what a gem.

Non-Fiction Proposal Guidelines

I had a blast chatting with Sally, please enjoy her interview below!

Happy Reading,

Rachel

Rachel:
Thank you for joining me today. Will you start by giving us a little bit of your background? Who are you and how did you become an agent?

Sally:
Thank you for hosting this conversation. I’m a senior literary agent at JVNLA. I oversee The Ekus Group which is a boutique culinary and lifestyle division. My clients are almost exclusively cookbook authors. On a select basis, I will represent other nonfiction genres like parenting, health and wellness, or gardening, but for the most part, cookbooks are my jam.

I have been agenting for 16 years. The Ekus Group was originally an agency started by my mom, Lisa Ekus over 40 years ago. It began as a PR agency, and we’ve had many iterations over decades in the food space. Our core expertise, our point of differentiation, and our focus for the entirety of our agency and now as part of JVNLA is in the cookbook space. Working with food writers, journalists, chefs, cookbook authors, content creators, social media people, and everything in between.

I did not intend to work as a literary agent. I was about to go to grad school to get my master’s in social work and I was working in the mental health field. I moved home after a classic breakup and started helping at the agency and realized I’d been informally training for this my whole life.

I absolutely loved it. I can apply my professional training in crisis counseling, active listening, and negotiation as a literary agent in a slightly lower-stakes environment.

Rachel:
You found that your perfect job was already there for you.

Sally:
I think because it was not intentional. That’s why it feels so right.

Rachel:
A lot of the people who read the Foodstack Library Newsletter are either cookbook authors or hopeful cookbook authors. What do you think makes a cookbook author successful in 2025?

Sally:
I’m sure everyone’s wondering about platform and what that means in the cookbook space.

To be successful as a cookbook author, you need to have three ingredients in the recipe for making your book:

1. A really strong voice.

2. A clear platform/community/built-in audience.

3. A clear point of differentiation.

Rachel:
That’s what makes someone stand out to you?

Sally:
Yes. The concept needs to be there. The writing falls into that voice bucket. The platform and community are a requirement in nonfiction publishing.

If you try to shortchange defining that you have a community of readers ready for your book or fast-track the requirement for the platform, you’re doing a disservice to yourself as an author. You might find a small book deal somewhere, but if you want to build authorship as part of your career you should not skip forming a direct line to your readers because it will only serve the success of your book when it comes out.

Rachel:
How many people are enough in an author’s platform?

Sally:
It depends on you, the concept, and the publishers that you want to work with.

For the big five publishers, you’re looking at hundreds of thousands if not over a million in terms of social reach. You might be looking at tens of thousands as a newsletter subscriber base.

That doesn’t mean I’m not working with people who have 1,000 readers on Substack versus 20,000 but it is harder to define that community as so robust that you are ready to write a book.

The quality of that community is essential. Quality can outweigh and frankly should outweigh quantity. We are seeing an evolution around what cookbook publishers are looking for in a platform. Engagement is something that gets thrown around.

A Substack newsletter for example, where it’s email-based based would be a part of that. How many of those are paid readers? When did you turn paid on? What’s the success in marketing your content to this readership?

One of the most obvious Substack examples is Caroline Chambers. She writes the most popular food newsletter. The first time she pitched the proposal for her most recent book, she was rejected across the board because she had “no platform” so she built one.

It’s a good example of building an audience and an infrastructure to reach them. For being ready for that next step of a book, but the book shouldn’t be the end goal.

I’m looking for somebody who’s writing a proposal where the book is part of a bigger trajectory that they’re thinking through.

Rachel:
This kind of information that you are sharing with us, and the content in your newsletter is very generous. Why do you want to pull back the curtain and lead people in the right direction in cookbook publishing?

Sally:
Thank you. I really appreciate my readers.

Years ago, I started hashtagging on Instagram #notsosecretagent when I was sharing little vignettes or random things here and there. I’ve always prioritized the sharing of information about this genre because it’s my expertise. A newsletter was the natural evolution of that.

Agents are the gatekeepers to the industry. I’ve heard someone else call them gate openers, which I also really loved the reframe because we are opening gates, but we are also gatekeeping. You know, I only sign 1% of the pitches I get.

However, I love helping people get published, trying to make it easier because it’s a really hard process. If I can share information that will educate people on this process, why not? That’s just baked into my DNA. That comes from Lisa and the incredible generosity of the mentors that I’ve had.

Rachel:
Do you see a large percentage of cookbook deals coming out of newsletters?

Sally:
We’re seeing more and more, particularly with the number of people that are joining Substack. It’s a place where a lot of agents are scouting. I think a reverse question is just how email newsletter lists are being prioritized in the book proposal. Beyond social media numbers now there’s an emphasis on email lists and newsletters in a way that it wasn’t considered five years ago. Right now, it’s being recognized as something valuable.

Rachel:
Cookbook authors need to be heavily involved in the sales and marketing of their books. What, in that area should hopeful or current cookbook authors be doing right now?

Sally:
I did a whole post about that. A practical list includes maintaining an up-to-date website, having your bio ready, and having great relationships with the media.

I think it all comes down to, if you find that in your book proposal, you are writing “I will do” instead of “I am doing” that means you aren’t ready.

That’s a gross overgeneralization, but I love a good takeaway.

Don’t wait, start yesterday, but since we can’t go back in time start now.

Rachel:
What else do you want to share with the Foodstack Library writing community?

Sally:
I want to express my gratitude because this is one of the first communities that gave me a huge warm welcome on Substack.

The Foodstack Library is such a great example of community. An engaged cohort of people who are supporting the greater industry of food writing, cookbooks, and cookbook publishing. These kinds of communities build a network for authorship.

If you look at that as a sample of what we want, and if you want to be published you want to have many versions of this type of community experience and network. People that you have collaborated with, shared, driven readership for each other. That’s real networking.

Your network is like a stone thrown into a pond. Every single ripple is part of your network, and some of them are more personal and closer to you and others are farther out, but they’re all part of that pond and we are in that pond together.

Rachel:
That’s a perfect explanation. I love it. It’s six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon (or Julia Child??)

Sally:
I was just in conversation with someone who sent me a proposal for consideration. Within the first six minutes of the call, we found a person in common. If you’re in this space, we are connected in some way because we are contributing to the food and writing world. I am as a literary agent, you are as a writer, a content creator, an author, or an aspiring author.

Rachel:
Thank you so much for your time Sally!

*This interview was edited from the transcript for clarity and length.

Sally Ekus is a Senior Literary Agent at JVNLA where she spearheads The Ekus Group, a boutique culinary division specializing in cookbook and lifestyle titles. She represents a wide range of culinary, health, wellness, and lifestyle talent, from first-time cookbook authors to chefs, restaurant owners, professional food writers, bloggers, online creators, and journalists. On the non-culinary side, Sally represents books about caregiving and parenting, and is expanding into select other non-fiction genres. From concept to contract, she has brokered over 300 book deals with top publishers including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and numerous indie publishers. Sally hosts an online community called How to be a Cookbook Author and writes the Not So Secret Agent newsletter.

Sally loves cooking and conceptualizing new spicy dishes. She is a dedicated supporter and previous board member of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society New England Chapter and currently sits on the board of Happier Valley Comedy. She is an active member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Women’s Media Group, The Association of American Literary Agents, and the Cherry Bombe Bombesquad among other organizations. She is a mom, taco lover, and improvisor.

Not So Secret Agent newsletter
Instagram
How To Be A Cookbook Author Facebook Group
Ekus Group Submission guidelines https://www.ekusgroup.com/submission-requirements/

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