Skip to Content
Talkhouse home
Talkhouse home
Podcast

819: Confessions of a Cookbook Literary Agent with Sally Ekus

By This Is TASTE

3:00 AM EDT on August 8, 2026

Sally Ekus has been inside the cookbook business since before she could walk—literally stuffing press kits for her mother’s culinary PR firm as a kid. Now a senior literary agent at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency leading the Ekus Group, she’s brokered hundreds of book deals and become one of publishing’s most transparent voices on how cookbooks actually get made. She’s behind the terrific Substack Not So Secret Agent, and Matt speaks with her about what agents really do for authors day to day, why a book deal is rarely a retirement plan, and some favorite books from years past.Also on the show we have a great conversation about Rebecca Eisenberg, author of the terrific new book Small-Batch Breads. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

Related Stories

989. – Chris & Jason

August 31, 2026

Taxi Driver with Tracy Letts

August 30, 2026

Lido Pimienta

August 28, 2026

Madison Cunningham Talks with Johanna Samuels on the Talkhouse Podcast

"We actually can't talk about being women in music unless we're naked." (Relax, they're joking.)

August 27, 2026