THE NON-PREACHY VEGAN HANDBOOK
The gap: most vegan books are either lifestyle manifestos or recipe bibles — earnest, hefty, and easy to gift politely and never open. There is no small, funny, genuinely useful book a vegan would actually carry, or that a friend could buy as a stocking filler without it feeling like a statement.
The book: a pocket-size collection of 100 short, fun, practical survival tips — every one a tight Problem → Solution pairing. Ten categories cover the whole of everyday vegan life: kitchen hacks, hidden animal ingredients, wardrobe and bathroom stealth checks, family dinners, BBQs, the dreaded "where do you get your protein?" interrogation, the workplace, restaurants, travel, and thriving long-term. Zero lecturing — it is on the reader's side, not their case.
The business case: the humour gift-book / stocking-filler format is a proven retail lane — small trim size, high giftability, strong Q4 sell-through. The vegan gifting audience is large and chronically under-served by anything fun. The manuscript is in its final stages and is ready to go to print the moment a publishing agreement is in place.
- 100 tips across 10 categories — Problem → Solution, one page each
- Pocket-size format — purpose-built as a gift / stocking filler
- Manuscript in final stages — print-ready on a publishing deal
- Suitable for humour, gift, lifestyle and illustrated imprints
THE BOOK — CONTENTS
Ten categories, ten tips each — organised by the real situations vegans navigate daily:
- 1. Kitchen Alchemy & Ingredient Hacks — swaps, binders and label decoders
- 2. The "Accidentally Vegan" Archive — mainstream products that are secretly safe
- 3. Wardrobe & Bathroom Stealth Checks — leather, wool, lanolin and hidden nasties
- 4. The Family Dinner Protocol — surviving the roast without a lecture
- 5. The BBQ & Dinner Party Defense — cross-contamination diplomacy
- 6. The Conversation Survival Kit — comebacks for the classics ("but bacon, though")
- 7. Navigating the Modern Workplace — office kitchens, team lunches, away days
- 8. The Dining Out Playbook — menu scanning, waiter scripts, cuisine cheat-sheet
- 9. On-the-Road Retail & Transit Survival — service stations, airports, meal deals
- 10. Thriving for the Long Haul — supplements, mindset and staying power
Example — all ten tips from Category 1 (Kitchen Alchemy & Ingredient Hacks):
- The Honey Swap — recipe calls for honey? Maple syrup or agave at 1:1 gives the same glossy sweetness without troubling a single hive.
- The Eggless Binder — 1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp warm water, rest 5 minutes: a gelatinous binder that holds dough perfectly.
- The Cheese Cravings Neutraliser — nutritional yeast plus a splash of soy sauce on hot popcorn or pasta tricks the brain's umami receptors instantly.
- The Tallow Dish Soap Trap — some washing-up liquids foam using rendered animal fats; plant-based eco-labels cut grease just as fiercely.
- The Aquafaba Whip — the liquid from a tin of chickpeas whips into egg-free meringue that peaks and holds structure.
- The Creamy Sauce Miracle — boiled cashews blended with garlic and stock make a velvety carbonara-grade sauce, no dairy cream.
- The Buttermilk Fake-Out — lemon juice stirred into soy milk curdles into tangy vegan buttermilk in two minutes.
- The Tofu Texture Saver — freeze, thaw, squeeze, cornflour coat: soggy-sponge tofu becomes restaurant-crispy.
- The Honeycomb Cravings Hack — golden syrup, sugar and bicarb make crunchy cruelty-free honeycomb; dip in dark chocolate for maximum joy.
- The E-Number Bug Decoder — E120 (carmine, from insects) and E920 (cysteine, from feathers) are the two to memorise; a barcode app covers the rest.
MANUSCRIPT & RIGHTS — ENQUIRIES
The manuscript is in its final stages. Full category breakdowns, sample spreads and the complete manuscript are shared with prospective publishing partners via the commercial intake gateway.
- Complete 100-tip manuscript (final draft)
- Full category breakdown & sample spreads
- Format, trim-size & illustration direction
- Rights structure & publishing options
Requests route via products@williamsquantum.com — triaged by the agent core, countersigned by a principal.