Friends, here’s news about Sunday Specials, the cocktail guide that you have been so generous in supporting.
The manuscript for the book was completed in June 2025 (although I have continued to tinker and tweak, as my obsessiveness demands), and what ensued was about nine months of frustration as I attempted to attract the attention of publishers and agents. With zero success.
I’ve since come to realize that, in this modern publishing world, authors must arrive with a substantial audience already in tow in the form of social media followers, a major presence in the podcast realm, or a proven track record of self-published sales—which, given that I have meager online presence and am basically a first-time author, I conspicuously lack.
So I’m going the self-publishing route. After more months of wheel-spinning in search of book designers who are not A.I. bots or scam artists, I decided to brush off my own page-design skills (does anyone else remember QuarkXPress?) and do the whole bloody thing myself.
I’m happy to report that the process is moving forward and I’m pleased with the results so far. I’m using Affinity Studio as my layout program, Creative Market for graphics, and Lulu for publishing and sales. I’ve upgraded my photo studio equipment (with a few exceptions, all of the book’s photographs are taken by me), and I have begun to sketch out a marketing plan.
I’ve set a rigorous schedule and if I manage to stick to it I’ll have finished designing the book by late October. With a few more weeks for additional photos, the whole project should be ready to go to proofs by the end of 2026. Which could mean a real book that you can hold in your hands in early 2027.
Here’s the back-cover blurb, which will give you an idea of what that book will contain:
Your weekend is fast coming to a close. Tomorrow it’s back to the grind. Don’t you deserve something to smooth the transition — a delicious way to expand your mind, extend your time off, and make it a little easier to face Monday?
In Sunday Specials: Classic and Contemporary Cocktails to Cap Off Every Weekend of the Year, author and mixologist Michael Rene Zuzel equips you with a full year’s worth of drink recipes, more than 150 in all, many keyed to the season and its celebrations. From familiar standbys like the Old-Fashioned and the Daiquiri to decidedly modern concoctions like the Espresso Martini and the Lady Womp—plus original cocktail creations found nowhere else—Sunday Specials gives you everything a home bartender needs to ease you and your family and friends back into the week.
Drawing on a wide range of sources, including cocktail guides dating back more than a century as well as professional bartenders from around the world, Zuzel supplements the recipes with tasting notes, information about drink origins, and a few dashes of personal anecdote. Sunday Specials is like no other cocktail guide—one you’ll want to keep close at hand 52 weeks a year.
My enthusiasm for this project has never flagged and that’s largely thanks to your encouragement. I’ll keep you posted as we move forward.
Cheers,
Chef Zuz
It can’t come too soon! I need “Sunday Specials” in my life. Thanks for the update. Cin cin!