is successful. Those are my definitions of success. They are not regardless of financial success -- to me financial success is an indication that people are buying it and spreading the information, and it gives the publisher the confidence to keep investing in me. But a book that makes a lot of money but neither adds something new nor encourages people to cook is not a success.  In my book. Here's what Rica Allannic, a veteran cookbook editor at Clarkson Potter, with whom Michael Symon and I worked in publishing his Live To Cook , said: "What is a successful cookbook? One that reaches the audience we hoped to reach when we acquired the project -- and maybe even beyond. And -- a successful cookbook is one where the author is happy. That's really important!" I really like that she cares about how the author feels about it in the end. That's a good editor/publisher. I asked her two other questions: When a proposal lands on your desk, what are you most hopeful of finding? "A unique voice that speaks to me," she wrote, "and/or to an audience I can identify (whether it's working parents, vegetarians, foodies, watchers of food tv, etc.). In other words, she can envision a market for the book.  It is, of course, business.  She's not going to keep her job if people don't buy the book, no matter how happy the author is. Lastly, and you out there who hope to write a cookbook take