Dianne Jacob's Blog, page 2

What to Expect When You Finish Writing A Cookbook

A guest post by Alice Medrich

My publisher, Artisan Books, brought us the bestseller What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Now that’s a book that will never go out of style, right? 

The reader hangs on every word for nine months. Month-by-month it tells the pregnant one what she may or may not be feeling. Way to hedge a bet!  Yet, somehow I never felt like throwing that book out the window, rather than just throwing up.  Years ago, when I was pregnant, I kept reading and feeling “normal” and even slightly reassured.  That’s the whole point, yes?

When my ninth and last book, Flavor Flours, came out, and just before I got swept up into the excitement of the blessed event, I thought that new cookbook writers might like to know what it may or may not feel like to finish a book for the first time—or the ninth.

Here’s what you may or may not expect:When you send back (what you hope are) your final page corrections, you may or may not feel all of the adrenalin rush out of your body.You may or may not know if what you are feeling is elated or shitty.You may or may not feel the exact same things when you finish answering all the copy editor questions that come up after you send in your final page corrections.Even after the book is en route to the printer, you may or may not continue to wake up at night thinking of cool things to add — things you wish you’d thought of earlier.

I’m driven to write cookbooks when I learn something new that is worth sharing.  Or I have a particular take on a subject unique enough to be useful to others. Flavor Flours required a whole new way of thinking and a new set of baking problems to solve, the kind of challenge that thrills me! Now I  create consumer products with upcycled flours. I’m 72 years old and excited by new work that can affect the future. Nope, I’m not done yet!

You may or may not want to publish ever again. You may or may not want to prove it by throwing out all of your backup notes, versions, and passes. Instead, you box them up and put them in the basement. That’s for when you die and the Schlesinger Library inquires after your remains. Yeah, right.You may or may not have a thousand new book ideas (I know exactly one person who felt that way, once.).You may or may not feel depressed (crabby, angry, frustrated, tired…). “A pox on all their houses” is exactly what you may or may not feel like saying.You may or may not continue to create and test new recipes that could have, should have, and would have, gone into the book (Because in spite all of the above, you know you still care.).You may or may not have the urge to clean, purge, and organize every nook and cranny of your office, kitchen, fridge, freezer, and pantry. Don’t worry, even if you do have this urge, you may or may not actually act on it.You may or may not believe your book is fantastic, even when your co-author, editor, publisher, and publicist know that it is.You may or may not think you should finally return to blogging because, after all, it’s been soooo darn long. And what would you even write about?

You are certain to forget almost everything I just wrote the moment you see your advance copy—with all of its fingers and toes in place. 

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Alice Medich is an award-winning cookbook author. She received three Cookbook of the Year awards from the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals for COCOLAT, Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts, and BITTERSWEET. In 2007, Gourmet, Bon Appétit, and Food & Wine magazines named her Pure Dessert one of the top cookbooks of the year. Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your Mouth Cookies won the 2011 International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Award in the baking category. Flavor Flours won the 2015 James Beard Award for Best Baking and Dessert Book. Today, Alice consults for bakery, chocolate, and confectionery companies. She also consults with startup companies dedicated to reducing food waste and creating a more systainable food system. She teaches in cooking schools across the country. Find her on Instagram @alicemedrich. 

Disclosure: This post includes an affiliate link.

Photo courtesy of Zoe on Unsplash.

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4 Best Practices for Navigating Brand Contracts

A guest post by Renae Getlin

You just landed your first brand deal. Congratulations! You got a brand’s attention and proved that you can create engaging content for their channels. Now comes the trickiest part for many food bloggers: navigating brand contracts.

If you’re a food blogger who creates content for brands such as original recipes, photography, or video, you may think of negotiating contracts as a tedious but necessary evil.  Maybe you think it’s something both sides need to protect their interests. While contracts do offer vital protections,  they can also sustain your business and the longevity of your relationship with a brand.

In other words, contracts are powerful. Understanding a few best practices empower you to make smart decisions for your business. In the best cases, they also result in an agreement that’s mutually beneficial for both parties. 

These guidelines build a foundation to for navigating brand contracts and the negotiation process effectively:1. Align your rates with market value and usage rights.

You’ve worked hard to hone your craft and deliver content with consistency and quality. But how can you ensure your rates are aligned with that value? 

Start by understanding how your time breaks down. Factors like how many pieces of content you will deliver and the type of content involved will impact the number of hours you’ll spend on the partnership. 

Consider how much you’ll need to make per hour to cover your costs and see growth in your business. Multiply that number by the amount of time you’ve estimated to get an idea of what your total rate should look like. 

When a brand sends you their contract, look out for  “Usage Rights.” These terms vary widely. A brand can ask for anything from unlimited use of your content  forever (“in perpetuity”) to a limited license that places guidelines around the length of time they can use it. Usage rights also dictate the ways they can use your content, such as for promotional use or non-commercial use on personal websites and blogs.

Before you come to the negotiating table, consider which terms you’re comfortable with and how you want those terms reflected in your rates. The more flexibility you offer, the more valuable your content becomes. 

Having this knowledge on hand when you enter a conversation with a brand will help you request the appropriate rate for the content they want. It will also set expectations for any future partnerships you may pursue with the brand.

2. Provide a timeline for the brand to receive timely product shipments and approvals.

To ensure both you and the brand know what to expect from each other and when, create a timeline that outlines those expectations in advance. 

Understand your own timeline first. Consider when you’ll need to receive the product for recipe development or a shoot, and when you’ll need sign off from the brand on items like recipe concepts and shooting scripts.

Connect with the brand on approvals. They may find it important to sign off on certain items while leaving others completely up to you. Your timeline should reflect these priorities.

Understanding the brand’s needs, making them aware of yours, and setting realistic deadlines for their team will ensure you can keep moving forward—and meet the deadlines you’ve promised, too. 

3. Be specific about drafts and revisions.
Creative work is subjective. It can be hard to account for this in something as black and white as a contract. But including one or two rounds of revisions on both drafts and the final product can help ensure the brand is 100 percent happy with your content. 

Specify what kind of revisions or how many hours are included in those rounds. Doing so will help brands understand what they can ask for, and whether any of their requests will affect the cost and timeline. 

Brands rely on your expertise to keep the project on track and budget. Setting boundaries around revisions is one way to offer that knowledge, while reassuring the brand that you’re committed to following the scope of work.

4. Offer your expertise.

Your brand partner may provide you with a project brief or an outline of goals and expectations for the project. But they’ve ultimately engaged your services because they want you to do what you do best. 

You know how to create compelling content that makes a brand’s product appealing and memorable. So provide that expertise when negotiating with a brand. If your contract can do that, you’ll not only sleep well at night but also set yourself up for many fruitful partnerships to come. 

The above guidelines may not take the tedium out of the contract process. But they can at least help with navigating brand contracts with a little more confidence and ease. Learn as much as you can about the terms that affect you and your business will ensure you enter into an agreement beneficial for both. 

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Note: The above guidelines are not legal advice. You may want to engage the services of an attorney for specific questions. 

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Renae Getler is a content strategist and writer who explores food, identity, motherhood, and the way they intersect. She is the former director of content and strategy at CookIt Media, an influencer marketing agency that elevates food and lifestyle brands to success. At CookIt, she worked with content creators to help brands build a recognizable and engaging presence across digital channels. See more of her work at renaehilary.com. 

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You might also like:New FTC Rules for Endorsing Products OnlineWhy a National Board or Brand Might Hire You

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3 Things to Stop Worrying About in 2022

Hello and welcome to 2022 — year 13 of this blog.  I thought I’d start the new year off by not talking about goals or intentions. Everyone else is doing it, so I’ll give you a break. Besides, I’d have to announce my own writing goals for the year if I expect you to follow suit, and I only have one nailed down. So I’m going to stop worrying about it.

Let’s talk about what makes us crazy instead. For most of us, it’s social media. We have a love/hate relationship with social media, and we spend way too much time exploring that. This year I’m going to adjust my attitude. I hope you do too.

Here are a few new strategies I’ll try to stop worrying:1. Stop thinking that no one cares what you think.

That’s what keeps you from posting on social media. You think, “I don’t have anything interesting to say.” But let me tell you, so much of what people say on social media doesn’t interest me! And I haven’t unfollowed any of these people yet. I just scroll right by their posts. It’s okay. Overall I’m interested in them.

I bet you do the same thing. And yet you pressure yourself to come up with something “interesting.”

2. Stop worrying that everyone else is doing better than you.

Because they’re not. Social media provides limitless potential for comparison with your online “friends,” who are busy crafting a favorable image and reputation like the rest of us. Studies cite Instagram as the most harmful social media platform for young people’s mental health. That’s why Instagram started hiding “like” counts. 

We reward people who showcase their good news. And then you end up comparing yourself  (She has more readers! He just got a book deal! Her photos are so much more beautiful than mine!), and feel inadequate.

Upward social comparisons (to people doing better than you) are shown to reduce self esteem. Your first step is to notice when you make a comparison. Then maybe stop scrolling and go do some work.

3. Stop thinking there’s a magic number of followers.

Book publishers love to say that they only want to publish cookbooks from authors with “big followings.” Then they don’t state a number, or they say some totally unrealistic number like “250,000 followers.” That’s aspirational, meaning they would love to find people like that. But they’ll publish those with much smaller followings also. Many of the cookbook authors I know have total followings below say, 30,000. Including me. But somehow I have published three books and four editions of one book. There’s a difference between what publishers would like and what they will do. 

So that’s it. Just three little behaviors to modify for the new year. You probably already know all this, but sometimes we need a reminder. I’m including myself. 

Did I leave out other things about social media that drive you crazy? Please add to my list in the comments. 

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You might also like:

The Scariest Thing about Twitter is to Let Yourself be Seen, Says Kat KinsmanHow to Counter Negative Thoughts While on Social Media

The post 3 Things to Stop Worrying About in 2022 appeared first on Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food.

The Pleasures of 2021

Today is the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. From now on it’s all uphill, with more light each day. (Photo courtesy of  Simon Berger at Unsplash.)

It’s been a  momentous year, in spite of Covid. What I learned is that life goes on despite the obstacles. And that a benefit of growing older is finding that life is good, full of gifts and opportunities. So yes, there were many pleasures of 2021.

I hope that you too have blossomed during this time. We writers do need our time alone for writing, processing and planning. A pandemic can help get work done, right?  

Here are the biggest joys of the year for me:1. The fourth edition of Will Write for Food debuted.

What a thrill to have a new edition, updated with what’s most important to food writers and bloggers now. I wrote a new chapter on voice and how to strengthen it. There was lots more to say about publishing, especially self-publishing and how it has changed. I had to discuss social media too, which is a challenge for many of us.

There was more to say about recipe development and testing and my pet peeves (don’t get me started on “salt to taste.”) And more people than ever want to make a good income as a food blogger, influencer or media magnate, so I expanded the chapter on money. I got lots of good insider information from people with an entrepreneurial mindset.

Some of the talks that resulted:

Interview with David Lebovitz  for Book Larder bookstore. We had a blast, and more than 300 people attended.Will Write for Food – How to Make Money by Writing about Food with Dianne Jacob. I spoke with Bjork Ostrum, the brains behind Food Blogger Pro, about how recipe content online has changed, how much you can expect to make from writing a cookbook, whether you can get a cookbook deal without a following, and how paid newsletters work (includes a transcript of the podcast).A podcast interview by memoir coach and author Marion Roach Smith, “How We Find Our Writer’s Voice, with Dianne Jacob.”  We spoke about writing technique, fear of writing, and making space for it. A very fun interview with cookbook author Virginia Willis. 2. I started a Substack paid newsletter.

I’ve been writing a free newsletter for food writers and bloggers for more than a decade. That’s still going strong. This year I added a paid option because we writers are trying to be more entrepreneurial about being paid directly for our work. For paid subscribers there’s another monthly post that features interviews with the big names in our industry, and  opportunities to chat with me about what you’re working on. It’s been a bit of an experiment. But since I’ve been in the publishing industry for so long, I have lots to discuss and share with you.

I appreciate all the friends and allies who jumped in to support me. It means the world to me. Thank you.

3. I taught virtually to people around the world.

Covid made in-person teaching impossible, but a silver lining prevailed: English speakers outside the US joined my Zoom classes from Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. I taught on writing your first cookbook, how to jumpstart your book proposal, and a 92nd Street Y general class on food writing.

Some of the students bonded and started their own Facebook group. We all need support for our projects, including people cheering us on who also want the same thing: a published book.

I’ll have more Zoom classes next year, listed on my Events page and in my newsletter. 

4. My blog turned 12.

This last year I produced almost 100 posts. As you might have noticed, many were by guest posters. I like to give others in our industry a platform when they add to the conversations that go on in our business. Topics included self-publishing, book promotion, recipe writing and trends. The most commented-upon posts were:

How SEO Rules for Food Blogs Can Make Them Less Effective, by meIs 1/2 tablespoon the New Recipe Measurement?, by meWhy I’m Not Concerned About SEO, by Jean of Delightful RepastWhy Food Bloggers Don’t Just “Stick to Recipes,” by Vicky Cohen and Ruth FoxHow to Avoid Cultural Appropriation in Food Writing, by Nandita GodboleIs a Work-for-Hire Cookbook Worth It?, by Aneesha GuptaWhy I Won’t Self-Publish a Cookbook Again, by Sara Bir.

Thanks for being a blog reader. Let me know if you have an idea for a guest post. 

5. Many friends lifted my spirits.

We moved house and I broke my ankle I broke my ankle. In that order. I’ve already been immobile for several weeks and now I’m in a cast for the next month. Followed by a boot, physical therapy, and… getting back to normal, I hope. 

But the best thing happened: so many friends came by with homemade and restaurant food. Their company has lifted my spirits, and their generosity is overwhelming. Who knew that such a good thing could come from an injury? Someone has  come here almost every day, so there has been lots of laughter, conversation, and good eats. I’m going to write more about it in my January newsletter. 

And so, friends, what are you grateful for at the end of this year? What were your pleasures of 2021? Let’s celebrate the good that happened and the joys in your life, both professional and personal. There’s so much to be thankful for, even in a pandemic. 

The post The Pleasures of 2021 appeared first on Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food.

No More Cooking for Now

Photo by husband Owen Rubin, whose main job now is to wait on me.

Hello Dear Blog Readers,

Thanks for sticking with me through some challenging times. I missed getting a blog post out recently due to moving to a new house for the first time in 26 years. We had two weeks. And then I broke my ankle by slipping on some gravel. Last week, during surgery, the doctor inserted a plate and six screws. Next week she takes the sutures out.

Now I have been immobile for weeks and will be this way for almost two months longer. That’s what I want to write to you about today: my inability to cook.

I figure that you, like me, love to get in the kitchen. How odd then, to not do so because it’s too hard logistically. I can hop in with my walker, but then it’s difficult to pick up things because I’d be letting go of my bar of metal. The worst thing I can do now is fall and damage the ankle further, the doctor said. 

Then there’s the scooter. (I’ve got all the things, including crutches and a shower chair.) I can whiz into the kitchen on it, my knee on its seat. That’s quite fun. It’s slightly better than the walker because I don’t feel as tipsy. But I’m further from the counter. I can’t reach the plates and glasses easily, bend down far enough to put cutlery in the dishwasher or pick up a bowl or saucepan with confidence.

You’re probably thinking I could chop at the dining room table. Yes I could, but doing anything at the table is hard now because my foot is supposed to be elevated as much as possible. (Guests who eat with us have to tolerate my bandaged splint on a pillow on the table.)

So for now, others cook for me or bring me commercially-prepared food. Actualy the response from my community of friends and former students and clients has been mind-boggling. Almost every day, people bring meals, soups, restaurant orders, and leftovers. Three challahs have arrived, two homemade. A friend bought boxes of chicken pieces that need only be heated, with a tub of mashed potatoes made by her son. Another sent a giant frozen jar of chicken soup. Just right.

I’m full of gratitude and awe. I can’t get to my office to write thank you notes, because it’s up seven stairs, so I try to be profuse wth my thanks. 

I do love seeing everyone and eating all kinds of tasty things. But I miss cooking. I miss the muscle memory of it. I miss making my own dishes, most of which are largely vegetables. (Vegetables have been a scarce part of the arriving foods, which surprised me.)

I’m also surprised by how much time I used to devote to shop, prep and cook. I didn’t notice the time sink until it all stopped. But I didn’t even think of it as a time sink. Mostly it was a pleasure to shop, prep, cook and bake. To page through cookbooks and decide what to make. To stroll through stores with a basket and consider the options. To rummage through the fridge and make a meal from odds and ends. To make pancakes for breakfast on the weekend just becuase I felt like it. What a privilege!

I’ll be back at it eventually, I know. You probably want to tell me to be patient. But for now, I’ll just  wish you happy holidays. And tell you that I envy your time in the kitchen, whipping up meals, snacks, holiday cookies and whatever else you choose. Maybe you’d like to change places with me and get fussed over by friends like I have been. Yes, it’s fantastic! Just don’t break your ankle to get there.

— Dianne

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Want a Successful Cookbook Translation? Here’s How

A guest post by Pili Rodríguez Deus

Do you dream of your cookbook reaching audiences around the world? Priming your cookbook or food narrative for translation will make it more desirable to publishers abroad. A successful cookbook translation depends on the publisher and translator. But you can help.

But first, do you know how foreign publishers work? Usually your publisher holds the rights. A foreign rights buyer contacts your publisher and pays to do a translation. Usually, big foreign publishers prefer easy-to-promote, well-known authors. But like everything else, there are exceptions.

If you’re a make-it-happen person, you could be proactive and send a translation proposal to selected foreign publishers, perhaps by adapting your existing book proposal. Hire a specialized translator to prepare a sample in the new language.

Sometimes a foreign publisher contacts an author directly. If so, offer to help with the promotion and to answer vital questions the translator may have.

When collaborating with your book’s translator, ensure that a translation resonates as well abroad as it does at home. For this guest post, I’ve used examples from the American cookbooks I own and cook from. I’ve laid out how your book might change and why. Because if you won’t be able to read or understand the translated book, you might never know!

What if you have strong language skills and want to translate your book yourself? Chances are, you won’t be able to do so. Publishers often use translators they’ve used before. Your main advantage as translator would be your culinary knowledge. If you’re really serious about it, consider whether you:

Speak and write well enough in another language Fully understand translation, because it’s aimed at a new audienceHave three months or more to dedicate to the workWill be paid enough for what is meticulous workWould rather develop recipes, style, and write a new book.Here are my tips for a successful cookbook translation:1. A title that rocks in the US doesn’t necessarily translate abroad.

A Table in Venice (Skye McAlpine) should sail smoothly. Culture- or country- based titles such as Comfort Food (Jamie Oliver) or Cannelle et Vanille (Aran Goyoaga) might need explaining or adapting. If your blog lands you a cookbook deal, your blog name won’t have the same impact abroad. This explains how La Tartine Gourmande (Béatrice Peltre) became Frais et Festif [Fresh and Festive] in French.

The concept of “comfort food” is familiar to Brits and Americans, not really to Spaniards. Oliver and his editors explained it in the book’s introduction and back cover. That way they could leave the title in English in the Spanish translation. Yet, as a consequence, some Amazon customers bought the book in the wrong language. 

2. Pan sizes aren’t the same in other countries.

In her recipe for a frangipane plum tart, Goyoaga (Cannelle et Vanille) uses her pastry chef knowledge to teach readers about 3-2-1 ingredient ratios for pie dough so they can adapt to different pie dishes. This is useful information for readers, and for a foreign translation.

Peltre (La Tartine Gourmande) bakes her molten cakes in individual ramekins. She explains how, depending on the baking time, the cakes will be more or less gooey. If readers use a different size of dish, the same advice applies. 

3. Include metric measurements in the method.

Even authors who are kind enough to include metric measurement conversions in their lists of ingredients sometimes forget them in the instructions. Here’s an example of how to include both: “Roll out the pie dough to ½ inch thick [1.3 cm].”

4. The ingredients list may not include all the prep.

In American cookbooks, writers list ingredients in the order readers use them.  They include preparation steps such as, “a clove of garlic, minced.” This is not that common in European cookbooks. 

I’m Spanish and love how the ordered list and prep steps help me get organised and find my next ingredient quickly.

5. Provide substitutions for key ingredients.

Catering to all audiences is hard and leads to longer texts. But it helps your readers and translators.  Savvy cookbook translators will identify which ingredients need substituting and how to do it. They might feel uncomfortable meddling with your recipe, however. Or the publisher may not allow it. If you provide the substitutions for key ingredients, it makes our work easier.

6. Specifying a type of produce might not work.

For her apple and pear verrines, Peltre uses Macoun apples and Forelle pears. She simplifies the former as sweet baking apples in the ingredients list and gives Bosc as an alternative for Forelle pears. Explain the rationale for your main ingredients (colour, flavor, taste, texture). You’ll help cooks and translators find alternatives.

7. Can readers find those herbs and spices abroad?

Frequent complaints among cookbook users are the amount, expense, and accessibility of spices. Some authors include a useful list of shops, which translators can adapt to local target audiences.

Develop your own spice mix rather than referring to a premade one, such as Pumpking Spice. Other countries probably don’t know it. (Photo courtesy of EatTheLove.com)

Others provide sub-recipes for spice mixes. For example, in Falastin, Tamimi and Wigley provide a sub-recipe for “Baharat samak” [fish spice mix] alongside their “Spiced Za’atar Squid with Tomato Salsa” recipe.

You could also place a sub recipe in a Basic Recipes chapter at the start of your book. Cooks will no longer need to hunt the shops for exotic ingredients, and the translator will just translate the sub-recipe.

 8. Meat and fish names and cuts vary.

Meat cuts differ across the world and fish can be regional. For example, for the “Crispy Snapper with Root Veggie Mash” in Cannelle et Vanille, Goyoaga gives rockfish as an alternative. But neither snapper nor rockfish are widely available in British supermarkets. Seabream would have been a more international substitute, but hard to find in U.S. markets.

So explain why you’re using a specific fish or cut of meat and, if proposing a substitute, the difference it will make. Will it be fattier or flakier or meatier? Will it take longer to cook?

9. Explain cooking techniques you might not think need explaining.

I was surprised to find a bain-marie among the basic cooking techniques in La Tartine Gourmande and to read how to test a boiled potato for doneness in Cannelle et Vanille. But newer cooks, and those who come from a culture where these aren’t typical methods, might be grateful.

Also, texts translated from English into wordier languages (hello Spanish!), will expand considerably. Create a chapter introducing basic techniques such as “cream eggs and sugar,” as that will save you words eventually.

10. Descriptions might change.

Evocative descriptions are great to connect with readers, but perceptions of color, texture and taste, as well as the metaphors you use to describe them, stem from things you know. For example, you’ll find quince paste described as butane (gas bottle) colour in a Spanish recipe, but it will be called rosy, deep ruby or deep orange in English. British cookbook author Nigel Slater compares a quince’s texture to Turkish delight, a product less familiar in Spain than in the UK. Expect good translators to adapt some metaphors.

So what’s the solution? Must you write more?

Yes. Experienced cookbook writers Nigel Slater and Nigella Lawson discuss in their recent books the issue of catering to all cooks and to diet trends, but they do a very good job of it. As a result, their books are long.

Like Slater and Lawson, the best cookbook writers have an individual style. They are excellent teachers. If you want inspiration from authors used to living between two cultures, read Regula Ysewijn, who self-translates from English to Dutch. In her book Oats in the North, Wheat from the South (named The British Baking Book in the US), she does a brilliant job of discussing flour protein content, and cream and milk fat content in different countries in the ingredients chapter. She explains how to make your own ingredients, such as self-rising flour or suet. She is good at explaining how baking ingredients work.

In Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple (2021), Goyoaga aptly explains why she uses each flour and offers alternatives for most, if not all, as well as lots of ideas for replacing eggs.

So if you’d like to have your book sold in many countries, I hope my words have inspired you to write in a more comprehensive way, for a successful cookbook translation.

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You might also like:Why Blog in Two Languages? Chocolate & Zucchini Says it’s Worth It

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Pili Rodríguez Deus is an English-to-Spanish culinary translator. She holds an MA with distinction in Translation from the University of Portsmouth (UK), where her research focused on cookbook translation, including the translation of part of an American cookbook. She has completed courses in culinary and wine translation, the history of recipe books, and cookbook styling. She’s a member of the British Institute of Translation and Interpreting, the Institute of Linguists, and Mediterranean Editors and Translators. She also holds a postgraduate certificate in post-compulsory education and taught Spanish for 20 years. You can find her on LinkedIn , Twitter , Instagram and on her website .

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Photo courtesy of Brandi Redd on Unsplash.

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On Sale Now: My New Newsletter

Dear Blog Reader,

I’ve been meaning to tell you the news: I have two new newsletters about food writing. One is paid. I want to tell you about both while the paid one is on sale.

Here’s why I moved to newsletters: I have so much to tell you about what’s going on in our industry, best practices, links to excellent articles I’ve read, and tips on how to up your game. Substack is a new medium that makes it easy to do so.

It’s easy to get my free monthly newsletter on Substack.com. Just sign up here: 


What’s in it? The free newsletter features my list of industry links. It’s the most popular item. I round up fascinating stories and posts about our industry: trends, techniques, best practices, and news. I start with a short essay. Then comes my upcoming events, and news from former clients and students.

There’s insider info too. The most read link in my last newsletter, for example, was this one: How much money Instagram influencers make. With a click bait title like that, you’re going to want to know the answer.

My second newsletter, coming later this month, contains bonus content only available to paid subscribers. My focus will be on:

Interviews with hard-to-reach people in our industry who are at the top of their gameInteractive posts, where you can chime in within a prestigious reader communitySome reported and opinion postsAnd maybe a few personal essays.

As you know, I’ve been in the publishing industry for decades and I have so much to share with you. So if you want to receive both editions of my newsletter — and I hope you do — please sign up for a paid subscription. It’s a way to support my writing, which up until now has been free. All subscribers will always get the free newsletter.

And right now, for a limited time, there’s a 20% discount for subscribers who sign up before November 10. That’s Tuesday! The price is $24 per year if you sign up now. After the 10th, the price goes back to the regular subscription price of $30.

So won’t you join me over on Substack.com? No need to unsubscribe from the blog! I’ll still have two posts per month about subjects relevant to food writers and bloggers. Now I have even more to share with you in my newsletters. I’m guessing that you would actually like to hear from me, since you subscribe to my blog. Which is great, because I’d love to connect with you more on my newsletters. 

Hope to see you over on Substack.

Thanks for your support,
Dianne

The post On Sale Now: My New Newsletter appeared first on Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food.

Before Writing a Cookbook, Ask Yourself These 5 Questions

A guest post by Kate Leahy

Before writing a cookbook,  I didn’t know exactly how my finished book would look. But I knew a cookbook was the right vehicle for sharing a restaurant’s inner world with the outside world.

For my first cookbook, A16 Food + Wine,  I could envision how the recipes, wine descriptions, and restaurant stories would be layered into a physical book. Since then, I’ve grown to understand that not all ideas about food, restaurants, or home cooking make sense within the structures of a cookbook. There are many other ways ways to tell a story. Today’s technology makes it easier than ever to explore other forms of media, from videos to podcasts and e-newsletters and many things between.

But if cookbooks are only one way to approach food storytelling and recipe sharing, how do you know if pursuing a cookbook is right for you? (I’m talking about a traditional publishing route. For self-publishing, it’s somewhat different, though much of what I say below will still apply.)

Before writing a cookbook, ask yourself:1. Are your recipes part of a fast-moving and potentially short-lived trend?

When thinking of all the amazing recipes you want to include, are you willing to talk about them two, three, or four years down the road? If you get a book deal, it will likely be another one-and-a-half to two years before the book is out in the world. You will need to promote them.

It’s fine to include these recipes if they define who you are as a cook and writer. Or if you to talk about and promote the content for years to come. Or the trend you focus on has a long tail (hello, Instant Pot!).

But if you’re writing to capture momentum from a specific moment (like in 2020, when everyone was trying to use up sourdough discard), there are more effective ways to go about it. You could publish recipes on a website, in an article, in a series of videos or online classes, or in a newsletter. It will get you away from playing the waiting game with traditional publishing. You can use these formats to build a loyal audience of readers or viewers, which will only help you sell the book later. 

2. How do your recipes translate to the page?

Are your recipes easy to digest when written down? Or do they demand a lot of visual cues to get readers moving in the right direction?

Some recipes feel simple when you show them in a video or live demonstration. But they can take a while to write down in cookbook-speak (such as “in a bowl with a whisk, beat the eggs until frothy….”). You don’t need to forego a cookbook idea if you have complicated recipes. But you may want to think through adjustments to make the recipes to fit on a page.

For example, a recipe may require a cook to make smaller recipes (subrecipes) to complete it. How can you get reader buy-in? Can each subrecipe live as a separate recipe in the book? Consider the book’s balance. Can you limit the book to ten complicated recipes? Then you can really go to town celebrating the heck out of those recipes with stories and explanations and a guide to completing the dish.

For the remainder of the cookbook, challenge yourself to write innovative recipes that fit on one page. That way you can gain trust that you understand the confines of a home kitchen. You also can push readers into becoming better cooks, and understanding your  point of view.

Make sure your recipes use home equipment. A cookbook that requires professional-grade or expensive equipment will not be easy to sell to traditional cookbook publishers.

3. Do you want to tell all your amazing life stories?

If so, maybe what you really want to write is a memoir with a few recipes. Cookbooks are built around their recipes. Recipes demand most of the book’s real estate. If it’s narrative nonfiction that fires you up, read widely in that field, and see if that’s a better format for the stories you’d like to share with the universe.

4. Do you want to get a cookbook deal to help you pay for travel?

It will be far less expensive to travel for fun or for research than putting time and energy to get a book deal to use part of the advance (the money a publisher gives an author upfront to work on a book) on travel. If you do so, you may have little left to pay for ingredients for recipe testing, and to ensure you have enough time to write the book.

Considering that a book can take more than a year or two to write, especially if there is lots of research, a vacation that you pay for out of pocket has a much lower opportunity cost.

For most of us, cookbook advances are not on the grand side. Plus they are paid out in installments, often as many as four over the course of two years.

Writing a book that doesn’t require travel may save you huge amounts of time and energy. You may make more money from the book in the long run as well.

5. Does having a cookbook fit your professional goals?

Think about a cookbook as part of your overall professional platform. If you are:

An influencer and want to keep building your brandA food or wine writer who wants to be known as an expert in a particular fieldA restaurant owner that wants to share your storyAn entrepreneur with a line of spices or vegan cheese (or anything else)Or the founder of a non-profit organization that works in the world of food,

having a cookbook as part of your marketing initiatives could pay off.  Not necessarily through book sales, but through name recognition. Your beautiful product can go in gift bags or as donations for fundraising events. Giveaways keep you or a company top of mind whenever someone pulls the book out to cook from it. If you have a company, it can budget for the book production as a marketing expense.

Is your professional goal is to make lots of money by writing a book? You may want to press pause and reconsider. For most published cookbook authors, the books themselves have never been sure-fire ways to pad bank accounts. But having a published book on the shelf can open doors and serve as an ultimate portfolio builder.

The Bottom Line

If all of this sounds awful, tedious, or disingenuous, ask whether a cookbook is the right medium for your story. A video series might be more of what you want to create. Maybe you set up a site that gives exclusive access to your innovative recipes via video and step-by step instruction. By doing so you break the mold set by traditionally published cookbooks. You may make more money this way in the long run. You may eventually decide to do a cookbook. Regardless, you will have honed your idea through your beta recipe testers, who have become your fanbase.

These questions are not meant to discourage you from writing a cookbook, but rather to encourage critical thought about end goals. Before writing a cookbook, think of how it fits the story you want to tell. Does it contribute to your professional and creative ambitions? And ensure you have a stable way to pay the bills while you work on it, since large advances for cookbook projects are few.

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Kate Leahy worked as a line cook in San Francisco, Napa, and Boston before writing about food and wine. Her first book, A16 Food + Wine, was an IACP Book of the Year. Her first solo book, Wine Style, focuses on simple recipes that pair with wine. She lives in San Francisco. Find her on Instagram @kateleahycooks.

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Why Self Publishing a Cookbook is the Way to Go

A guest post by Jill Nussinow

Most people who self publish a cookbook don’t even sell 300 copies of their book. You don’t have to be one of those people. I’ve always thought of my cookbooks as a business. I plan to sell many copies over many years.

If you think that self-publishing might be too much work, stop reading now, and go the traditional route. But you’ll find that the work is mostly the same. And you will have less control, it takes longer, you might get less money overall, and your book could go out of print.

Since 2005 I’ve written four cookbooks, one traditionally published and three published by me. Mariner books published my latest and only traditionally-published cookbook, Vegan Under Pressure: Perfect Vegan Meals Make Quick and Easy in Your Pressure Cooker, in 2016. 

I still think self publishing a cookbook is the way to go. Here’s why:1. You have more control of the book production.

Yes, there is much more upfront work because you take over the publisher role. You have to put together a team including an editor, designer, indexer, proofreader, photographer and maybe more. But you will learn how to interact with your team and find it a joy when it is all running smoothly.

You’ll have many choices of which printer to use, based on your particular book. I use print-on-demand with IngramSpark. Many books on Amazon are printed and sold that way.

2. Self publishing is faster.

Typically, you can go from idea to finished book in less than a year. Unless you are a celebrity with a timely topic, publishers take their time, often up to two years from contract signing.

3. You’ll have more control of publicity.

When my most recent book, Vegan Under Pressure was published, I missed an opportunity. The public relations and marketing people neglected to let me know that VUP (as my agent, I and some of my readers affectionately call it) was at Costco and in the bookstore at Boston Logan airport. If I knew, I could have shouted it out on social media. Customers and colleagues told me that they saw it.

4. You can make up the costs if you know how to market.

The Veggie Queen is the first cookbook that I birthed. It’s still my favorite because it is sweet, imperfect,  set up according to the seasons, and has 37 sidebars.

When I produced my first book, The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment, someone in the printing industry told me that self-publishing it might cost up to the price of a small foreign car: between $5,000 and $20,000. But I easily made up those costs in sales.

If you have a great marketing plan and some social media following, or a robust mailing list, and have built your niche audience (which you must do anyway), you can earn the money back rather quickly. If you shelled out $5,000 for production costs and you sell your book for $25, you only need to sell 200+ cookbooks to break even.

5. You can get your investment back and more.

Most publishers expect you to earn back your advance and to sell thousands of copies of your book. Typically, depending on the royalty structure, you will earn $1 to $2 dollars for each book sold at retail. If you produce an ebook or PDF version of your book, you will generally earn a 25% royalty from your traditional publisher.

But if you sell it yourself, you get all the money. You won’t be waiting for once- or twice-a-year royalty statements and checks.

6. Mistakes happen, but they will be yours.

I like to have control. If there are mistakes, they are mine.

Design decisions are often out of your hands with a traditional publisher. For Vegan Under Pressure, the publisher chose light blue and light purple as the font colors. Many of my mature readers found the type hard to read. 

Editors are extremely important. They make your words look polished and make the book shine. But you might not get along with the team your publisher chooses. I had issues with the copy editor, because maybe I was her only non-celebrity type client and maybe my project wasn’t of interest. I had to fight to have my ideas on pressure cooking stay intact as a result.

Mistakes happen, even in traditionally published books. One of the recipes got shifted around, where the directions for one recipe appeared on another one. I had to insert a correction sheet into each of the 2000 copies that the publisher delivered to my driveway. I literally touched each book. 

The self publishing world has changed since I birthed The Veggie Queen in 2005. I now print this cookbook through Lightning Source and sell it print on demand through Amazon. Yes, it is still in print, which is one of the big benefits of self-publishing. You are in control of your destiny. Well, at least the destiny of your cookbook. So I still think self-publishing a cookbook is the way to go. 

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JIll Nussinow is an award-winning cookbook author, recipe developer and culinary educator. She now teaches vegan and plant-based classes via Zoom. She loves writing and publishing so she is working as a consultant with select clients who want to self-publish their cookbooks. Follow her on Instagram at  
theveggiequeen1, on Facebook as the veggie queen, and on YouTube as TheVQ.  

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This post contains an affiliate link. Image by Brooke Lark on Upsplash.

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How to Edit Chef Recipes and Triumph!

A guest post by Becky Diamond

Writing your own recipe in a clear, concise way that makes sense to readers can be difficult enough. But transcribing and then working on another cook’s recipe, especially one from a professional chef, poses challenges. Not to mention that you must edit chef recipes while keeping a good relationship with the chefs themselves.

For my current book project, The Delmonico Way, I work with fellow epicurean Max Tucci. The book will be published by Rizzoli in the fall of 2022. It includes several chef recipes based on dishes served at Delmonico’s, the iconic New York City restaurant. It has been great fun to interact with these cooking experts and gain an even deeper appreciation of their skills and creativity.

Doing so has helped me learn a few things about how to edit chef recipes. Below I share these tips, which have helped me write and edit recipes well.

Here are 5 best practices for how to edit chef recipes:1. Ask the chef to give you a written first draft.

With a draft of a recipe, you have a starting point. From here you can talk through the recipe with the chef, and understand the intent. As a result, the recipe will be easier to edit.

If you are unsure about an ingredient or instruction, now is the time to ask. Compile a list of questions in advance, such as “Can you explain this technique in more detail?” and “What size pan should be used here?” Be specific. No question is too minor.

2. Maintain consistency.

I worked with several chefs at once, so it was inevitable that they presented a range of recipe styles and tones. My job was to preserve the voice of the chefs while delivering uniformity in such things as ingredients, measurements, and temperatures.

Following a style guide provided by the publisher has been crucial. It has helped me write consistent instructions and measurements, and lets me flag any unique ingredients that require a shopping note or swap suggestion.

3. If you must use cheffy terms, add more information.

Will the readers of the cookbook know technique words like “chiffonade” and “sweat?” Probably not. Use more common words.

Describing how an ingredient or technique looks or smells gives readers more points of reference to follow. It’s similar to giving  locational directions. Using these techniques are especially key for readers who are less experienced in the kitchen. These prompts help boost your readers’ confidence levels, ensuring they are on the right track.

4. Reduce complicated recipe prep and sub recipes.

Chefs are accustomed to working in professional kitchens, where sous-chefs and line cooks assist with shopping, prep and cleanup. Home cooks are more limited with their time and skills. Work with the chef to come up with simplified steps or ingredients, such as using a prepared sauce or canned ingredients. The chef, for example, may expect the reader to shuck oysters. Your job is to represent the target reader and decide whether that is reasonable.

Chefs don’t usually have to clean up the kitchen either. Help readers by suggesting they using the same bowl or pan for another step, to reduce cleanup.

5. Learn from the food stylist.

Photographer Jennifer Arce and food stylist Kimberly Tabor create a shot for the Classic Dinner Rolls recipe, trying out different backgrounds and props. Seeing the completed dinner rolls helped me describe the appearance of the rolls.

Assuming your book merits a food stylist, see if you can attend the shoot.  Being present at the photoshoot helps you understand the look, feel and tastes of the ingredients, techniques, and final dishes. Collect commentary from the food stylist about what worked and what didn’t work in each recipe. Use this feedback to tweak the instructions accordingly.

For a poached pears recipe, the photographer took several photos of the pears standing upright, which were lovely. But then the team thought to try another shot with a more dramatic presentation. They cut each pear in half, scooped out the core and garnished them with roughly chopped almonds. I updated the recipe header to reflect this suggestion for readers.

Working with chefs can be challenging. They are often passionate and territorial about their work. But I have also found it to be extremely rewarding and instructive. After all, they are typically creative people, not unlike artists or musicians. Their skills enable them to fashion spins on classic recipes and make novel innovations. My opportunity to team with and publish the chef recipes for The Delmonico Way has been an incredible opportunity.

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Becky Libourel Diamond is a food writer and librarian. Her second book, The Thousand Dollar Dinner, is about an 1851 cooking challenge between Philadelphia restaurateur James Parkinson and New York’s Delmonico family. She is also the author of Mrs. Goodfellow: The Story of America’s First Cooking School. Her current projects include The Gilded Age Cookbook and Process: The History of Processed Food (Westholme).

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(Photo courtesy of Clay Banks on Unsplash.)

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