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Bacon Freak Cookbook Proposal Excerpt

Bacon Freak Cookbook Proposal

Table of Contents:

  1. I. Cover Letter
  2. II. Concept Synopsis
  3. III. Market Research
  4. IV. Author Bio and Platform
  5. V. Marketing and Promotion Plan
  6. VI. Competitive Analysis
  7. VII. Table of Contents and Recipe List
  8. VIII. Sample Chapter – Chapter 6: Bacon on the Move

Bacon Makes Everything Better.

It’s true. Bacon makes any food better. And because food is life, bacon makes life better, too.

Bacon has infiltrated the strata of pop culture on every level. Second only to cats in its ability to go viral across social media, bacon has become a beacon of hope to a nation of hungry carnivores and meatatarians. And you can’t spell “beacon” without b-a-c-o-n. Why is bacon so popular? The simple answer is: because it tastes so darn good. And when you have something as addictive and umami-laden as bacon, a cult-like following is only natural.

Bacon has no economic boundaries or class distinctions. It’s a “luxury” food that everyone can afford to indulge in. Rich people eat it, and the not-so-rich eat it too. It’s a comfort food and a guilty pleasure. But bacon has also slipped free of its “unhealthy” misnomer and has been embraced by proponents of the Paleo diet and CrossFit fanatics. Bacon is now championed by everyone from the super fit to the super fat and everyone in between.

Everyone who loves bacon will want this cookbook. And who doesn’t love bacon? Consider this list of people who find bacon irresistible: foodies, chefs, hipsters, bloggers, nerds, jocks, home cooks, health nuts, exercise freaks, sports fans, beauty queens, hikers, bikers, truckers, sheep herders, cowboys, cowgirls, moms, dads, kids, dogs, and anything with the ability to smell. Which I guess means Lord Voldemort is out. But the rest of us? We’re definitely IN!

And if there’s one thing we’ve discovered, it’s that bacon fans enjoy eating their bacon with a side dish of fun. Bacon jokes, bacon memes, bacon comics and bacon anecdotes will be an important component of our cookbook. Over the years, we’ve observed what works and what hasn’t worked and we know what a true bacon fan wants in a bacon cookbook.

You Had Us At Bacon.

We’ve been in the bacon business since 2001. It’s true, we were on the bacon bandwagon long before it shot to stardom. We’re the bacon masterminds behind the #1 online bacon store Baconfreak.com, and the #1 bacon blog, Bacontoday.com. For the last 13 years, we’ve been a major influence on bacon’s rise in popularity. We coined and popularized the “Bacon is Meat Candy” motto. We’ve led the way as innovators in the field as the first company to create, trademark and sell Bacon Jerky. In fact, we trademarked and own the rights to the following: Bacon is Meat Candy, Bacon Jerky and Bacon Freak. In 2009, we self-published our first bacon cookbook. We’ve studied bacon’s rise in pop culture and across various social media platforms. We’ve been with bacon on every step of its journey. And now we want to share our love for bacon with an even bigger audience.

Concept Synopsis

Bringing Home the Bacon.

If you have to ask “why bacon?” then we’re glad you’re here. Bacon Freak and Bacon Today were founded on the simple principle that a world of bacony goodness exists out there for all to discover and enjoy. Here’s what we believe:

  • The most versatile meat on the planet deserves some respect.
  • Breakfast is not the only meal for bacon.
  • Bacon is a treat for all the senses.
  • As some folks have said, it’s the candy of meats!

The bacon cookbooks currently on the market follow the same “tried and true” format. But where’s the fun in that? They discuss how great bacon is, how versatile it is in cooking, and tell how to cook it and store it. What’s lacking are the references to pop culture and social media. People spend hours a day on social media sites, and we will incorporate that love of social media into our cookbook. Our cookbook will bring home the bacon and the “fun” as well. Here’s how our bacon cookbook will differentiate itself from the competition.

General Concept:

  • The tone of the cookbook will be light-hearted and comical. We will never take ourselves (or bacon) too seriously.
  • It will be heavy with pop-culture references including:
    • bacon memes
    • bacon in pop culture
    • a comprehensive list of bacon festivals
    • the best bacon restaurant or food truck in every state
    • a timeline on the evolution of its popularity
    • the best viral news stories

    Recipes:

    • Recipes will be arranged by season with chapters for each month. Each month will include bacon recipes for specific holidays that fall in that month.
    • Recipes will be intended for everyday home cooks. No elaborate ingredients; these are simple recipes that celebrate bacon. We will create recipes that put a clever spin on traditional dishes in ways that have never been seen across the blogosphere.
    • Each chapter will contain an "extreme" or "challenge" recipe that is more over-the-top, and every recipe will have a "bacon strip" rating indicating how "extreme" it is.

    Our cookbook will also include in-depth content in every chapter. Examples of extra content include:

    • How to pair bacon with wine, sparkling wine, alcohol, beer, cider and mead
    • How to make a bouquet of bacon roses
    • How to throw a bacon tasting party
    • Recipes for binge-watching popular TV shows

    Market Research

    Oh my God, it's BACON! It seems that this phrase is heard continually throughout the nation. And dare we say: throughout the world? The bacon trend shows no signs of dying down. Infiltrating the fashion world, immersing itself into the food truck craze, pairing up with other foods in every imaginable way, and making appearances on TV shows: this meat candy has shown that it’s a major player in the food industry. It’s even talked about amongst hip intellectuals surrounding the bar and ordering up their Bacontinis. Yeah, we know bacon is awesome. Especially when we’re an online food store called Bacon Freak!

    Bacon’s popularity in pop culture has reached “epic” proportions. Epic Meal Time is a popular YouTube cooking show that is known for its “extreme” creations, and their most popular videos are those that feature bacon. The Fast Food Lasagna, made with bacon weaves instead of lasagna noodles, has 24 million views, and the TurBaconEpic Thanksgiving meal has 17.5 million views. They have 235K Google+ followers, 6.5 million YouTube channel subscribers, 525K Twitter and 1.2 million Facebook fans.

    The growth of Bacon Festivals across the US reflects bacon’s continuing popularity. Consider these attendance stats for the biggest bacon festival of them all, the Blue Ribbon Bacon Fest held in Des Moines, Iowa. In 2008, there were 175 total participants and since then, this number has almost doubled annually. In 2014, 12,000 tickets sold out in 42 minutes. Tickets were purchased in 41 states and from as far away as Brazil, China, Denmark and Puerto Rico. 14,000 total people attended and ate a whopping 15,000 lbs. of bacon! People not only want to attend bacon festivals; they want to get married there, too.

    Bacon’s popularity is reflected by how often it is googled. Each month, “bacon” is searched for over 6 million times! In July 2013, the marketing company Marketo put together an infographic comparing the virality of bacon with another Internet Darling: the housecat. The infographic determined that cats were slightly more popular than bacon, and declared that “if the Internet had a mascot, you can bet it would be a cat dressed in a bacon costume.” The infographic compared different social media outlets and determined that bacon is more likely to “go viral” on Facebook.

    Many companies have tried to cash in on the virality of bacon. Some of the more popular stories include Diet Coke with bacon, Scope Bacon Mouthwash, Bacon-Scented Fresh Step Cat Litter, and Bacon M&M’s. None of these products actually existed, but the mere suggestion of their existence triggered a flood of interest in these companies.

    Time Magazine tracked bacon’s popularity in a November 2013 article entitled “The complete history of how bacon took over the world. “Foodbeast reporter Elie Ayrouth notes that although bacon stories don’t guarantee virality like they did perhaps in 2011 and 2012, growth hasn’t necessarily plateaued. ‘While there will always be hot foods of the moment … the lingering difference is that bacon is a stand-alone product which makes it a much more evergreen topic,’ Ayrouth told TIME.”

    The Time Magazine article discusses the reasons why bacon is not a fad and is “here to stay.” It cites its appeal to all people, from hicks to hipsters. It refers to the artisan food movement and the DIY-food movement, not only among chefs but among home cooks as well, that has led to an increase of restaurants and consumers curing their own bacon. “But even when chefs get sick of the bacon trend, they don’t think that bacon has lost its place in culinary culture. It’s just too tasty. ‘Look, there are some culinary fads that are really popular because they are really good,’ [Chef Hugh] Acheson said.”