heed, I asked her what is the most common reason for turning down a proposal? "There's nothing special or new about it (i.e. no hook)," she wrote. "It lacks a compelling voice, and/or the author doesn't have a way to make people sit up and take notice (no author platform)." The photo that leads this post has three successful cookbooks.  I met with LeBlond in December about some new projects I'm working on and somehow the book Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi came up. Bill just shook his head and said they can't print that book fast enough. Chronicle was not surprised by its success (they saw the same things Jay Rayner notes below), but rather by its success in the changing retail market; a world without Borders found the book selling strongly in indy bookstores, and it's strong visual design and unique voice also made it popular in stores that don't typically sell food-related books. (A personal example of this is that Donna recently spotted Twenty in the Houston Museum of Art store. Thank you Vanessa Dina for your killer design!) I still had to wonder: a vegetarian cookbook by an Israeli-born chef Yotam Ottolenghi who owns high-end delis in London. An incredible seller here ? Why? "Not at all surprised Yotam is taking off over there," Jay wrote. "I can think of very few cooks who are as distinctive, whose food shouts his name: it's all informed obviously by his Israeli roots, but in a non-doctrinaire fashion.