Developing A Cookbook Proposal: An Entrepreneurial Venture In Food Writing

The compelling idea of this thesis is to create a cookbook that will serve college students as a fun, smart, relevant resource for recipes and cooking insights. This thesis discusses the process of writing a nonfiction publishing proposal for my college cookbook, American College Kitchen. It includes an explanation for why I wanted to write the proposal and details the creative evolution of the original idea. Research is presented on the positive and negative aspects of self-publishing versus traditional publishing. Primary research was conducted on current Arizona State University students in the form of a Qualtrics survey. The survey ascertained students' cooking habits, how much time they spend cooking, where they get their recipes, and how often they cook, among other statistics. The results were analyzed using IBM SPSS predictive analytics software. This thesis concludes with a personal reflection on the knowledge gained throughout the process.