Dianne Jacob's Blog, page 3

Fall Food Writing Classes

Summer’s almost over and we’re back to work. Perhaps you’re thinking you’ll take a class or two this Fall. If you’ve wanted to sharpen your skills and knowledge,  I’ve got  a new line-up of Fall food writing classes. They’re all online, and designed to meet your needs, time period and pocketbook. 

Here’s how you can up your game with one of these fall food writing classes: 1. Food Writing With Dianne Jacob
Monday, October 4, 2017
92nd St. Y, New York, New York
7-8:15 p.m. ET / 4-5:15 p.m. PT
$40 online

Do you want to get started in writing about food? You need to know what’s out there and how the system works. This short class breaks down the most popular ways to write. There’s recipe writing for blogs and cookbooks, feature writing, and social media writing. Get an overview and get going on what resonates for you.

2. So You’d Like to Write a Cookbook?
Saturday, October 9, 2021
Civic Kitchen Zoom Class
10 a.m. – 1 p.m. PT/ 1 – 4 p.m. ET
$135 online

If you’ve always wanted to write your dream cookbook, and you’re wondering what’s involved in getting published (whether traditional, hybrid or self-published), this is the class for you. We’ll cover many topics, including how traditional publishing works, what kinds of recipes editors look for, who does the photography, and whether to go an alternate route. 

3. Jumpstart Your Cookbook Proposal
Three Tuesdays, November 2, 9 and 16, 4 – 7 p.m. PT/ 7-10 p.m. ET 
Civic Kitchen Zoom Class
13 students maximum 
$399 online

Writing a cookbook or book proposal is a daunting tasks for most of us. If you’re procrastinating about writing your cookbook proposal, you’re not sure what to write, or you need accountability and support, this is the class for you.

This class is packed with practical and strategic advice. And you won’t just sit there: you’ll be writing your firsts draft.  I’ll cover how the publishing industry works and what editors and agents look for in a proposal. Then I’ll discuss what goes in each section. You will write first drafts of several sections in class. At the end of three weeks, you’ll have the start of a proposal, with the knowledge of how to make it irresistible to an agent or editor.

Book proposals have a 1 percent success rate, so it’s critical to learn all you can to improve your chance of success.

Bonus: It’s very difficult to get someone’s successful cookbook proposal, but I’ll share one of mine, which led to a beautiful cookbook by Rizzoli.

If none of these seem right, there’s always this:Anytime
Private Consultation
Delicious Experiences
One-hour consult: $250 online

Want some personal consulting on a specific issue or project? For years I’ve had a five-hour minimum for consulting. But now, through Delicious Experiences, we can do a Zoom call for just one hour. If you’ve wanted to figure out which cookbook to write, how to get your book published, or how to get better freelance assignments, let’s have an hour together to move you forward with your goals. Despite the title (Learn to be a  Food Writer), writers at all levels have booked me for a variety of topics.

Maybe something here will work? I’ve tried to get as much variety in these classes as possible. The first one is for beginners, and it’s only 45 minutes long. The second is 3 hours long,  and the third takes place over three weeks.

One more thing: As you know, I’ve been featuring lots of guests on my blog, writing helpful posts about writing, publishing and promoting. If you miss hearing from me directly, sign up for my free newsletter, now on Substack. You’ll find trends, news, analysis and opinions about food writing, including lots of great links to click on. 

If you’ve been waiting to take a class with me, I hope one of these scratches that itch! If you have any questions, drop me a line at dj AT diannej DOT com. 

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(Photo courtesy of Laura Rivera on unsplash.)

The post Fall Food Writing Classes appeared first on Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food.

How to Write a Great Recipe Headnote

A guest post by Kate Leahy

Writing a thriller requires writing a story that keeps readers turning the page. Writing a cookbook should require grabbing someone’s attention so they don’t skip the recipe headnote.

It’s not easy to do, but it’s worth the effort. Why? Sometimes a headnote includes important tips. Other times it’s a way to convince readers to take a chance on a recipe, even if it takes extra effort to make or uses unfamiliar ingredients. Some headnotes are all about a charming story while others give attribution to others.

Regardless of their content, every headnote makes a case for the existence of the recipe or cookbook. Here’s why:1. Headnotes matter for all kinds of reasons.

Headnotes make your cookbook engaging and complete. Think of a cookbook as an album. Sure, you can listen to a Spotify playlist of singles. But sometimes you want to hear a whole album.

Headnotes serve several purposes. They might be:

Part of the glue that holds the cookbook “album” togetherA case for why a reader should make this recipe and trust youA way to give readers a heads-up about a step that takes extra timeAn opportunity to instruct, advise or work with a specific ingredient or how to shop for it.An education.

Headnotes allow you to attribute sources of inspiration. This is even more important today. Attributing a recipe to someone else (whether it’s a dish from their restaurant, a recipe from a cookbook author that you’ve made for ten years and riffed on, etc.) does not diminish your work. Rather, it allows you to acknowledge someone else’s work while also telling the story about your connection with it.

I assume you are not taking someone else’s recipe and publishing it as is. If you are, you’ll need permission from the author and publisher, so ask for details before proceeding. If you were to get permission to publish someone else’s recipe, you’d still need a headnote that explains why it’s so great that you had to have it in your book.

2. A writing prompt might help create a great recipe headnote. 

Most cookbook headnotes strive to engage, inspire, and/or instruct. But say you’re stumped. You have a recipe for a green garlic soufflé, but you don’t really know what to say about it in a headnote. Try one or two of these writing prompts:

When did you become familiar with the feature ingredient? (What made you gravitate to green garlic?)Does the recipe require attribution? (Maybe you had an old Chez Panisse cookbook with twice-baked green garlic soufflés, and your recipe was inspired by that recipe.)Is this something from your family/childhood/upbringing/cultural background? (You come from a family of green garlic farmers.)What drew you to making it in the first place? (You had a craving for a savory soufflé with some punch.)Why is this the best version of the recipe? (Are there some little-known tricks involved in getting a soufflé to rise?)Did you learn how to make this recipe the hard way? (You made this 100 times and failed until you let the eggs come to room temperature.)Why should anyone care about this recipe? Sell readers on why they should try it. (Justify why they should seek out green garlic and Gruyere and spend time preparing soufflés at home.)

In my latest book, Wine Style, I used the headnotes to provide ideas for wines to drink with each recipe.

3. Your first draft will not be your last.

After you write your first draft of a headnote, put it aside and work on another headnote. Come back to this headnote in a day or a week or at some point down the road. Re-read and make it better. Read it with your other headnotes in the chapter. Consider the following:

Length. Are some of your headnotes long and some short? Does the headnote length make sense in the overall context of the book? Give too-long headnotes a trim. This is especially important if you want your recipes to fit on one page. If you’re not sure, ask your editor.  If short headnotes feel a bit thin or lack your voice or point of view, add more description or context. Think about how the whole book fits together. When I wrote A16 Food + Wine , the gelato recipes had short headnotes because of the overview about gelato at the start of the chapter. Even so, my editor checked to ensure the length was intentional, since the rest of the recipes in the chapter had long headnotes.Tone. Is the tone consistent? Reading batches of headnotes together can help you weed out the outliers in tone. Reading headnotes out loud helps check tone and ensures you’re sounding human. Tone is especially crucial if you are writing with others. When I wrote La Buvette with Camille Fourmont, some of my headnotes had too much instruction (“do this to get the best results” kind of thing). To Camille, this made the recipes seem too complicated. We solved this issue by including recipe notes at the end of the recipe. It was a simple fix that helped ensure the headnote tone was in line with the big-picture tone.Content. This is a relative of tone, but it’s about the substance. Are the headnotes consistent in the type and style of stories they contain? When I worked on the Burma Superstar cookbook, the editor felt there weren’t enough stories about people at the restaurant to make the headnotes cohesive. I added more to round out the book.Sameness. Ask yourself if too many headnotes start with the same word. Are too many headnotes educating readers on this or that ingredient? (Put repetitive information in a dedicated ingredients section.) Are there a few good, captivating stories? Mix educational aspects with personal story. Include a disaster story or a success story. Maybe one recipe took many attempts to get right. Maybe a recipe fell into place on the first try and you never looked back.4. Build in time to edit.

Headnotes aren’t afterthoughts. At their best, they give structure and substance to the world you are building within the covers of your book.

To make them count, allocate time in your writing process to edit them. Remember to instruct while also telling stories that make you sound human. When headnotes tell a broader story, that’s the best way to encourage people to spend time with your cookbook.

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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. You might also like:What Makes an Award-Winning Cookbook?Paula Forbes Likes Cookbooks that Treat Cookng as Part of LifeHow to Find Inspiration in Recipe Development(Photo courtesy of  Visual Stories/Michelle,  on Unsplash.)

The post How to Write a Great Recipe Headnote appeared first on Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food.

How to Sell Recipes and Content

A guest post by Jason Logsdon

If you are anything like me, over the years, the biggest focus for your blog has probably been creating content, from product reviews and how-to guides to lots and lots of recipes. It’s something I, and most food bloggers, really enjoy doing. And it is often a blogger’s favorite thing about blogging. So why not sell recipes and content to others, now that you’ve created it?

While I get lots of benefits from all the different types of content I’ve created, the part that has paid for itself again and again has been the recipes. I’ve reused them in many ways, from creating internal projects like smartphone apps and cookbooks to licensing them to outside companies.

It turns out that a great way to work with external companies is to sell them your recipes and content:1. What is the difference between selling and licensing?

Part of a sample contract I created to license recipes and content.

There are two ways to provide content to companies. The first is through a content creation deal, where you sell your recipes or content to a company. The company retains all the rights to your work.

The second is to license the content to a company. This way you retain the rights but agree not to let others use it for a set amount of time.

I almost exclusively license my content so I retain all rights to it. Once the contract is over, I can re-license the content or use it however I see fit. I like to reuse my content as much as I possibly can. 

2.  How do Companies Buy Recipes and Content?

Recipes and content sales and licensing can take many different forms. Some of the deals I’ve done include:

Two or three recipes for a company websiteEnough recipes to fill a small recipe booklet that goes into the box of every machine soldTime and temperature charts for sous vide foodsSous vide articles on safety, cooking types of meat, and general overviewsContent and cooking data for smartphone appsA full cookbook that I was paid to create (no royalties but a bigger upfront payment)A full cookbook re-branded under a company’s brand and sold with their products.

Examples of content I’ve sold to companies over the years.

3. How Much Can I  Sell Recipes For?

The amount you will get paid depends on many factors, including how detailed your recipes are, how badly you want your recipes published, how much time has gone into it, and if you are licensing or selling the content.

For licensed recipes, I usually charge between $35 and $250 per recipe for a 1 year license. If they get all rights, then you’ll want to charge more. Some licensing deals I’ve signed are:

Three recipes with photos for $150Two hundred recipes with photos for $5,000One hundred recipes with photos for $10,000.

As you can see, my pricing is all over the place. But it is largely dependent on how many recipes I currently have to license, and what type of exposure I feel I will get. You can download a sample of the licensing options that I usually send out to prospective clients. I will tweak those guidelines based on how much I want to work with the company, and how busy I am at that time.

Some people will tell you to charge $100 to $500+ per recipe, but I believe you need to look at your circumstances and whether you are licensing or selling them.

Here’s an example. It cost me about 10 hours of time to license 200 of my already-existing recipes to a large equipment manufacturer for “only” $25 per recipe. But those recipes were just sitting on my website, so the $5,000 I got paid (that’s $500 per hour!) was a great bonus. The deal I made was exclusive for a year, meaning I could re-license those same recipes in 12 months to someone else. And I did.

Licensing is a good way to work with companies with smaller budgets, while still allowing you to get paid. Many small companies can’t afford to pay what a recipe will cost, so licensing it to them for a year can be a win-win scenario.

4. Does My Size Matter?

Some companies will be interested in how well known you are and the number of your followers, but many just want the content and don’t care about your size. So don’t feel like you are “too small” to do content creation deals. You may be surprised how often companies will say yes.

That said, you can often charge more as you get more well known!

In addition to the money, I almost always get credit as the author as well. This just helps expand my brand, and can drive a small amount of traffic to my blog.

5. Who Wants My Recipes?

These types of companies are likely to buy or license your content:

Manufacturers in your nicheMagazine or book publishers looking for content in your nicheSellers of ingredients in your nicheWebsites that review machines or ingredients in your nicheOnline stores in your niche.6. Should I Give Away Free Recipes or Content?

Often a company will try to get you to give up your recipes for free. I generally recommend turning this down.

Occasionally it is a great opportunity.  Sometimes the company is just asking for a couple of recipes, so it might be worth considering. I have given out free recipes a few times: twice to well-known peers who were publishing cookbooks; and another time to a manufacturer who wanted a few recipes for a compilation book. In both cases the goodwill and marketing opportunities, and the ability to increase my visibilty, were worth it. But it’s something you don’t want to get in the habit of doing, especially for larger companies or websites that could pay if they wanted to.

The bottom line is that if you enjoy creating content and writing recipes, and you have connections with some companies in your niche, content creation can be a good way to grow your income. I especially like licensing content, because I’m growing my assets. I can use them in the future, compared to selling content, which is just a one time event.

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Jason Logsdon is the head writer and photographer for Amazing Food Made Easy. He grew his income to 6-figures by serving his fans and providing massive value.

Jason also teaches food bloggers how to self publish a cookbook. I took his course to see what’s involved and thought he offers lots of valuable information and advice. I became an affiliate, so I wll make a small commission if you purchase the course. Use the promo code WWFF to get 30 percent off the base price. 

(Photo background by Erol Ahmed at Unsplash.)

The post How to Sell Recipes and Content appeared first on Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food.

Are Work-for-Hire Cookbooks Worth It?

By Amelia Levin

Should you accept assignments for work-for-hire cookbooks?

Therein lies a key question in the cookbook publishing world. Work-for-hire cookbooks straddle the middle ground between traditional and self-publishing. Publishers use algorithms and other research to determine what’s hot and what’s selling now. Then they find authors to write the book for a flat fee. Advances or royalties are not included.

I’ve written three work-for-hire cookbooks (11 cookbooks total), and recently completed 30-Minute Cooking for One: 85 No-Waste Recipes, published by Callisto Media/Rockridge Press. 

The 30-Minute Cooking for One book was my third with Callisto Media. I took the job because I had some extra time and we wanted to eat well while quarantining during the pandemic. It was a way I could help other people stuck at home learn to cook delicious, healthy meals for themselves.

Here are the pros and cons of writing work-for-hire cookbooks. I’ll start with the bad news first:1. You get paid to write a work-for-hire cookbook, but you don’t earn any royalties.

If the book does well, you don’t get any more money, though it can still help boost your name and brand recognition to a wider market. On the flipside, if the book doesn’t sell well, you still got your project fee.

2. You’re subject to the publisher’s terms.

Typically, with work-for-hire cookbooks, you can’t use a literary agent or other representation to fight on your behalf. You need to read the contract very carefully. There’s not much room for negotiation.

There’s also little to no room for negotiating the fee. I got a bit of a boost, being a seasoned author. You have to do the math and make sure the payout is worth it. (And no, they don’t reimburse for groceries, so you’ll want to eat what you cook!)

4. The writing timeline for work-for hire cookbooks is intense.

You may be asked to write an entire book within just six weeks, including recipe testing. So be honest with yourself when it comes to your time and speed. The editing phase is quick too: you’re expected to deliver responses or changes within about a day.

You need to prioritize this work. You can get a little extension here or there, but if you’re late and don’t deliver, you won’t get more projects!

5. They choose the topic. 

In the case of Callisto, you can’t suggest topics, because as mentioned earlier, they are one of those publishers that uses a special algorithm to determine which work-for-hire cookbooks might sell. However, if you write a book with them or work with them as an editor or recipe developer, you can list your specialties and they will call you if or when there’s a possible fit.

Still, I would say “no thank you” if you’re not feeling the topic. For example, I wrote two low-carb/Paleo-related cookbooks for Callisto, and then they asked me if I had any interest in a carb-cycling book. Umm…that’s a little off-brand for me! I turned it down but was quick to ask about other book projects that might be available instead. I said yes to the “cooking for one” topic when they were looking for a seasoned home cook to help teach others.

Two work-for-hire cookbooks I wrote: 1. The Complete Pegan Diet for Beginners was the second book I did for Callisto Media. I accepted the offer because — little did I know — this was already how I had been eating for the past few years. 2. Paleo For Every Day was my first work-for-hire book for Callisto. I was already a published author, and accepted the offer because I was into the Paleo/Crossfit lifestyle at the time. I had plenty of fun tips and recipe ideas to share. That made the book writing process both easy and fun.

Now for the pros: 1. Work-for-hire cookbooks are a great opportunity for first-time authors.

 Maybe you have never published a book before and want to do so. Or you have faced rejection with traditional publishers and agents. If so, a work-for-hire project is a great opportunity to get your name out there and build your portfolio. The publisher may not be Ten Speed or Chronicle, but it’s not a self-publishing endeavor: meaning you get paid for your work. Even though I am not a first-time author anymore, I still do these books if I have the time, like the topic and want some extra cash.

2. You have the support and access to a full publishing team.

You will work with an acquisitions editor, a managing editor, a recipe editor, copyeditor, designer, indexer and a marketing person. Theyhandle the food photography (thought there aren’t as many photos in the books published by Callisto compared to more traditional publishers). Having a full (and at least with Callisto, a very competent) team at your disposal means you’ll have all the help you need to stay on track and publish a top-quality book.

There were some new marketing requirements this time around for me, but my team created all the social media photos and other assets. They even wrote some marketing copy and created a schedule to make posting easy.

If you were to self-publish, you would likely have to cobble together all these resources on your own and pay for them — or pay a steep price for a custom or hybrid publisher.

3. You get to pursue your passion — and get a check.

If the subject and the publisher are a good fit for you, a work-for-hire cookbook is a great way to write about something you’re passionate about. A cookbook can help you build your brand, Best of all, the publisher pays  you for your work.

I did worry at first that the 30-Minute Cooking For One cookbook would be off-brand for me because I have a family now, and because the recipes wouldn’t necessarily be low-carb and I just wrote two low-carb cookbooks. But I was once a solo cook, and the publisher wanted clean, healthful recipes that are easy to make – something I can definitely do! I just tested a few recipes at a time so I knew they would work for one serving. When served together, they made a good tasting dinner for our family.

4. If you have the time, work-for-hire cookbooks are a nice side hustle for extra cash (and recognition).

I’m all about being prolific. The more books in your portfolio, the better, right? If you make the time and put in the effort, chances are that you’ll have a lovely cookbook.

When Callisto asked me to do this last book, I happened to be in a slower period with my regular work (and was stuck at home during a pandemic), so it became a great side hustle that paid for our powder room remodel.

I’m also hoping that by gearing recipes to a different audience this time, I might attract a new fan base. And if not, well, my portfolio of written work will still grow. No question about that.

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Amelia Levin is a Chicago-based writer and certified chef who contributes to a variety of B2B food industry magazines and currently serves as the editor-in-chief of the American Culinary Federation’s bi-monthly flagship publication, The National Culinary Review. She is the author, collaborator, or contributor to 11 books, including The Lake Michigan Cottage Kitchen (Storey, 2018), Heritage Baking (Chronicle, 2018), and the new Chicago Chef’s Table (2nd edition), which will be released in January 2022. In addition to 30-Minute Cooking For One, her other work-for-hire books with Callisto/Rockridge Press include The Pegan Diet for Beginners (2019) and Paleo For Everyday (2014).

(Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.)

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You might also like:Is a Work-for-Hire Cookbook Worth It?  (A different perspective)5 Reasons to Write for Trade Food Magazines (Also by Amelia Levin)

 

 

The post Are Work-for-Hire Cookbooks Worth It? appeared first on Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food.

Why I Won’t Self-Publish a Cookbook Again

A guest post by Sara Bir

I’ve written three cookbooks. The second two I did with traditional publishers, but the first one I self-published. Would I self-publish a cookbook again? That was the question I faced last year when I decided to do an expanded version of The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook, my first book.

Pawpaws are a little-known fruit that grow in less than a third of the country and aren’t sold at grocery stores. They are in season for two months a year, max. I live in Ohio, where they grow abundantly, and I’m totally besotted with them.

So of course I thought this under-the-radar food deserved its own cookbook. But a pawpaw cookbook doesn’t exactly spark a bidding war among conventional publishers.

Still, I decided a slender cookbook devoted to pawpaws was a great idea for offbeat cookbook readers and lovers of unusual fruit. I set a deadline for myself, wrote the book, and self-published 473 copies as an experiment. (Why 473 copies? I hand-printed covers on my friend’s antique printing press. Of the 500 sheets of card stock I started with, I screwed up 27 of them.) At all of 38 pages, it was more of a deluxe zine than a full-blown cookbook. But a tiny niche of people really responded to it.

When I sold the last copy a few years ago, I knew I wanted to make an updated edition, and after thinking it over, tried my luck with a publisher. I’m glad I did.

Here’s why  won’t self-publish a cookbook again:

1. Creating inspires me and leg work tires me.

I like collaborations, creating things, and working with a team I’m not 100% in charge of.

But when you self-publish a cookbook, it comes with tracking sales, fulfilling orders, and getting other people to sell my book. For me, that’s tiresome. When you self-publish a cookbook, everything is up to you, including hiring people to do the parts you can’t, or don’t want, to do. I outsourced illustrations, cover design, interior layout, and the actual printing and binding of the pages. All the other stuff I did myself.  

Project managing a 38-page zine was doable, but a full-blown cookbook? That’s not a good fit for a person whose passion is for pawpaws, not publishing.

I worked with my printmaker friend to select typeface and hand-print covers for the first Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook. Pawpaws have flesh with a similar yellow hue, and pawpaw color of the cover drew people in.

2. I’m happy with small publishers .

For the second edition of The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook, I worked with Belt Publishing, a regional indie publisher.  They work on a small scale to address topics pertinent to the Midwest and Rust Belt (which is exactly where I live, and where pawpaws thrive).

So they’re a great fit for my project. I knew about them from their anthologies, but they got on my radar as a possible publisher when I heard about The Belt Cookie Table Cookbook. Its regional focus and folksy manner mirrored what I envisioned for the new edition of The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook, and they were receptive to my idea. I love the rapport I have with my editor, and I don’t have to stress about being a lone wolf the way I would if I were self-publishing.

3. I’m okay not having total control.

I’m opinionated and like having a lot of say, especially for a passion project like this pawpaw book. Self-publishing gave me total control, but then I had to do everything else, too, or hire someone else, to:

Create an indexDo a copy edit and proofreadDesignPromote.

Of those things, promotion is the only one I like. For my latest traditionally-published cookbook, I had to swap total control for less responsibility. I’m fine with that. But if I were a new author with a funky idea and specific vision, I might not feel that way.

4. My financial investment is low.

My other two cookbooks with publishers were fine experiences. The Fruit Forger’s Companion won an IACP cookbook award. Neither has sold well, though. If you’ve ever heard that publishers want authors who have sold at least 5 to 10 thousand self-published books before giving them a book contract, that’s wrong. I am living proof this is not the case.

With tireless self-promotion, I could have sold a few thousand pawpaw books on my own, but eventually I’d run out of pawpaw lovers (not to mention my own energy). I knew a second edition of my book could do better with actual distribution and publicity, but the scale needed to remain small.

The design team at Belt Publishing referred to the original cover to an extent. They used a green color scheme to evoke the canopy of the woods where pawpaws grow.

5. I’m off the hook for distribution.

Distribution is how you get books to retailers and readers. When I self-published a cookbook, I quickly tired of trips to the post office to fill orders, which came in sporadically. I sold copies online, at a couple of festivals, and when I taught cooking classes. I also bartered quite a few, some as payment for design work and some to get beer at festivals.

If I decided to self-publish the second edition, I could have found a publisher to do the distribution for me. Someone else could tap into the wide reach they’ve spent years building. Chelsea Green Publishing said they’d be happy to do it (they published my “real” cookbook, The Fruit Forager’s Companion). I spoke with a few other self-published authors who’d had used Chelsea Green for their distribution, but in the end I went with the full traditional publishing experience. 

Now I can focus on promoting (which I like), but not actually hustling the physical copies (which I don’t). No more awkward wrangling with a Square reader at the book signing table! I’m thrilled to simply proselytize the many pleasures of pawpaws instead.

I mostly enjoyed my one small foray into self-publishing. It was an experiment with a positive outcome, but one I’m thankful not to repeat. And if I want a copy of the first edition for old time’s sake? I’d have to find an early customer and barter. I truly did sell every last copy, which is not a bad way to end a self-publishing venture.

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Sara Bir is a chef and writer. Her books include The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook , Tasting Ohio , and The Fruit Forager’s Companion . An editor with the website Simply Recipes, her other pursuits include plantspotting and roller derby.

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Also by Sara Bir:What Makes an Award-Winning Cookbook? What I Learned Writing a Cookbook as a Late Bloomer

(Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.)

The post Why I Won’t Self-Publish a Cookbook Again appeared first on Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food.

Promote Your Cookbook with a Satellite Media Tour

A guest post by Denise Vivaldo

After your cookbook comes out, the real work begins. You have to sell it. Have you tried a satellite media tour? I’ve done a couple to sell my cookbooks.

If you don’t know about this valuable tool, let me explain. An author or spokesperson gets paid to sell a product in a studio equipped with a worldwide satellite connection. An experienced or polished author can give as many as 36 interviews in five hours. The interviews will be broadcast across the country on radio and television segments.

The time and money saved from touring in person, and the hundreds of thousands of people you can reach with your message, is outstanding on a satellite media tour. It’s like the biggest class you’ll ever teach.

Now, the studio and producer who book all the radio and TV segments are expensive. It will set you back around $30,000. That’s the catch. But, if you have clients, or friends in high places, talk to them about becoming a sponsor.

I styled this satellite media tour for nutritionist Michelle Dudash. Sunkist was a sponsor.

Here’s how you might put together a satellite media tour (SMT) for yourself:1. Ask your publisher to chip in.

They might invest in your tour. Ask what their marketing budget is for your book.

2. If you are self-published, find sponsorship money.

Ask a rich client, an organization that you run, or a relative who isn’t looking to be paid back. If you can bring in one sponsor, others will follow. 

3. Pitch a corporate sponsor.

Are you an influencer? Corporate sponsors will not flinch at the cost of an SMT, especially if you have an excellent presentation and are an expert in your field.

4. Contact SMT houses.

Research SMT production houses in your area. They must have the satellite equipment called BIRD, as it’s known in studio. Ask if they ever book talent or have clients looking for new voices. Send them a link to your website, videos, blog, or book page. If you can’t find one, ask your publisher for contact info for SMT producers.

5. Sell your tour to a potential client or vendor.

Make a fun, polished, iPhone video and send that to an existing or potential client, or a vendor that is a good match for your book.

As an example, I wrote several entertaining books, and sent a tape of myself to a huge sparkling water company. They came on board after a phone call. I already had a studio and producer lined up, so it made their participation easy. Two more local vendors known by the producer joined, and I had a tour. I kept a small fee for myself. I was there to sell my books, and that was my payment.  

6. Pitch publicists and public relations agencies.

They hire people for SMTs. Put together a presentation and email it to the head of each company. Write ideas for your SMT — do their work for them. They will like you.

7. Get on television.

Do you have great, natural presence on TV? Television shows need ideas. TV is like a hungry bear that needs constant feeding. Use your TV clip to create an SMT. It will show potential sponsors that you could handle a tour.

These tips are an effort in creative marketing and perseverance. If you have a cookbook coming out soon, I hope you’ll try them.

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Denise Vivaldo has styled food for thousands of  satellite media tours. A professionally-trained chef, Denise has worked as a stylist, culinary producer and is the author of nine books. She gives classes at foodstylingworkshop.com. Photo courtesy of Kane Reinholdtsen on unsplash.com.

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Writing to Help Struggling Restaurants

A guest post by Anna Mindess

Like many freelance writers, I lost work when the pandemic hit. My articles were cancelled or postponed. A magazine that I contributed to regularly went out of business. There was so much uncertainty. I felt useless. But today, it’s different. I feel inspired and empowered. I’ve put myself on a path to help struggling restaurants. This focus has become one of the most satisfying projects I have ever undertaken as a writer.

It started when I saw award-winning cookbook author Grace Young’s Instagram challenge in conjunction with the James Beard Foundation, called #SaveChineseRestaurants. Given the dismal picture of scores of Chinese restaurants closing, especially mom and pop spots, Young asked followers to post a picture of their favorite Chinese restaurant, using that hashtag.

I found a photo of dim sum from February 2020 at Peony Seafood Restaurant in Oakland Chinatown, and posted it on Instagram. But I didn’t think just posting the photo would help much. After I checked online and saw that Peony offered takeout, I went to pick up my order. How cavernous and empty the once bustling 10,000 square foot restaurant looked! I wanted to write about Peony’s plight.

The Instagram post of dim sum that started me on the path.

Since I didn’t know if the owner would speak to me about what appeared to be a dire situation, I asked my friend Lisa Li to contact the owner. She could interpret for us if he agreed to meet. We met with manager Ming Zhu. He said Peony might only survive two or three months.

In November 2020, I wrote a feature article about Creek House Dim Sum Restaurant for Oaklandside. It included quotes from Grace Young. Because of Peony’s role as the cultural center of Oakland Chinatown, the article resonated with many former diners. It spread widely through social media. The next week, Peony was up to 100 take-out orders a day. The manager hired back three chefs. In March, Peony reopened. Zhu credited the article for making that possible.

A lovely acknowledgement by Grace Young, who leads the charge on saving Chinese restaurants and Chinatowns across the U.S.

The success of that article made me realize the impact our words as food writers can have in these difficult times. It led me to seek out other opportunities to make a difference. It was not hard to find more struggling restaurants. I wrote for Berkeleyside about La Crepe a Moi, a new French creperie near UC Berkeley. Its planned opening date was set for mid-March 2020, just as all the college students left town. The restaurant got 200 new customers the week after the article came out.

Berkeleyside’s editor suggested I write about another new spot, Syma’s Persian and Mexican Restaurant. Its immigrant owner, who had escaped from Iran to Pakistan on foot, was not going to let a mere pandemic stop her plans to expand her restaurant. She also got an influx of new customers. Many asked for the pistachio baklava and ash soup pictured in my article.

In conjunction with AAPI (Asian-American and Pacific Islander) month, I wrote for KQED about the resilience of two legacy restaurants in San Francisco Japantown. This time I didn’t need an interpreter. Two leaders in the Japanese American community acted as liaisons and introduced me to the owners.

In May, Grace Young told me about a Chinese restaurant near me. She asked if I could check out the story behind the septuagenarian couple who came out of retirement to open a labor-intensive dim sum restaurant. I found a sweet tale of a family working together to make dim sum the old-fashioned way: by hand. Here’s how to write to help struggling restaurants:1. Check your files.

If you wrote about local restaurants and chefs before, check back to see how they are doing.

2. Make some calls.

Check in with restaurants that opened in the last year. They didn’t have the luxury of an established following that would support a switch to takeout.

3. Focus on Chinese and AAPI restaurants.

Grace Young says that nationwide, a huge percentage of Chinese and AAPI restaurants have closed. Given the double whammy of the pandemic plus recent violence against AAPI community, they and other Asian restaurants probably need a boost.

4. Find an interpreter.

If the restaurant owners speak a language that you don’t, get someone to interpret for your interview. You are much more likely to get the full story, especially if it includes uncomfortable facts about their financial losses. If you don’t have the funds to pay a professional interpreter, reach out to your network for a contact who speaks the language.

5. Establish trust with a liaison.

Even if the restaurant owners speak English, if they don’t know you, they may not immediately trust you. This is especially true if you ask sensitive questions. If you can get a community or cultural liaison to introduce you, that may help to reassure them.

6. Write for a local outlet.

To maximize potential customers for these struggling restaurants, write for a local outlet. This is not the time for exposure in a national publication. The point is to attract local customers who can patronize the restaurant. Pitch a local newspaper, or maybe a free paper that gets delivered weekly.

7. Strategize how else to reach the community. 

Location-based blogs are a natural solution. Some neighborhood associations have online or paper newsletters. Or perhaps a local school’s website? Even a Facebook post may let your local friends know about neighborhood spots that need their support. And people seem eager to share concrete ways that they can make a difference.

I write regularly for websites based in Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco. Residents of these cities are famously food-focused and often eager to help their neighbors. There are many other ways that food writers contribute to their communities and the world. (See Dianne’s post on Food Bloggers who Help Others). In my case, this endeavor has given me a new purpose that I don’t think will fade away soon.

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Anna Mindess is an award-winning writer focusing on food, culture, travel, and immigrants’ stories. Her work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, AFAR, Fodor’s, Lonely Planet and other publications.  She is also an American Sign Language interpreter. Follow her visual take on the world on Instagram @annamindess.  (Photo courtesy of Shen Liu on Unsplash.)

 

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New Book Editor Bryant Terry is Looking for Authors

You know Bryant Terry as the author of several vegan cookbooks. He’s also a James Beard and NAACP Image Award-winning chef, and an educator known for his activism to create a healthy, just, and sustainable food system. And most recently, he became the editor-in-chief of a new Ten Speed book division called 4 Color Books. Now he’s looking for authors with a strong point of view, a strong social media following and those know how to market.

Here’s Bryant on how he went for his dream job, and what he’s looking for in authors:Q. How did the idea for 4 Color Books come to pass? Did the discussion start as a result of your forthcoming anthology, Black Food?

A. My literary agent, Danielle Svetcov, and I have long had a vision of my running a publishing imprint. But I never imagined it would happen this soon. I have always imagined publishing other people’s work, but I created unnecessary barriers for manifesting that goal: We’ll pitch this idea when I have x amount of social media followers or x amount of books under my belt or x amount of years in the publishing world. . .”

In the summer of 2020, I felt a real sense of urgency to do my part in helping diversify food media after the fallout at “Bon Appétit” magazine and other food media companies. First I pitched Black Food, then we pitched 4 Color. I feel so grateful that Ten Speed Press has been so supportive of me as an author over the years, and now they are enthusiastically supporting me as I get this imprint off the ground.

A major lesson in 2020 was to get out of my own way and go for my dreams now.

Bryant Terry edited this book of “Stories, Art and Recipes From Across the African Diaspora (A Cookbook). It will become the first book to be published by 4 Color Press.

Q. What is your job as editor-in-chief? Are you now a full-time employee of Random House?

A. I’ll never be a full-time employee for anyone but myself. As editor-in-chief of 4 Color, I will work with my creative director, Amanda Yee, to determine which projects we’d like to acquire.

We will also work closely with our authors to develop their book projects. With almost two decades in publishing, I know the ropes. I’d like to support my authors as much as they feel comfortable with throughout the process, from helping determine the best structure of the book to assembling the best team for creating the visuals. Of course, I will use my platform to market and promote our books. I imagine that many of the projects on 4 Color will have a slow burn like my books, and continue to sell well beyond their publication year.

Q. Does 4 Color celebrate the work of all people of color (BIPOC) versus African-Americans?

A. 4 Color will celebrate the work of any author doing dope work that we like. As far as building our list, we want to sign a diversity of authors, including white folks. There will be an emphasis on giving voice to authors from historically marginalized communities, however.

Most importantly, I want to publish authors who share the ethos of 4 Color. I often say we will publish people who color outside the lines.

Q. What kind of books are you looking to publish annually? Will they be primarily cookbooks? Is there a particular focus?

A. I think it’s important for me to build the foundation of 4 Color with cookbooks, since that’s my wheelhouse. If it’s a highly visual four-color book, it potentially belongs on the 4 Color list. I want authors who have a strong point of view and bring a cutting-edge approach to the food and publishing world. 

But we will be publishing books about all the things that I love: music, visual art, poetry, and self-help.

Q. How many books per year will 4 Color publish?

A. We will initially publish two to three. I imagine that number will grow once we are more established.

Q. How can potential authors contact you?

A. Proposals should be sent to submissions@4colorbooks.com.

Q. What kind of social media platform do authors need to be published with you?

A. It depends. I’d like for our authors to have a strong social media following, but what that means will vary. Some of our authors will have lots of followers, but others will have a moderate amount who are very passionate.

I’m most interested in working with authors who have diverse and creative ways to market and promote their book over the long term. One piece of advice I have often given to budding authors over the years is to be grateful for the support your publisher gives you to market and promote your book.  But the success of your book is ultimately up to you.

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You might also like: How Bryant Terry Sells Cookbooks Through Appearances.

Photo of Bryant Terry by Adrian Octavius Walker. 

(Disclosure: This post includes a  affiliate link.)

The post New Book Editor Bryant Terry is Looking for Authors appeared first on Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food.

Paula Forbes Likes Cookbooks that Treat Cooking as Part of Daily Life

Do you know about the enthusiastic cookbook newsletter called Stained Page News? Its author, Paula Forbes, worked at Eater and Epicurious as an editor. She reviewed cookbooks for around 10 years before she started the newsletter in 2018. She moved back to Texas to write a cookbook about Austin food.

Her newsletter has 10,000 subscribers, and comes out twice a week. Tuesday is for paid subscribers only: It’s a news digest, with links about cookbooks, short write-ups, and book deals. Friday is a free list of new cookbooks, with original writing. 

If you have a book deal and would like to be included in Paula’s newsletter, send her an email at stainedpagenews AT gmail DOT com.

Here’s Paula on cookbook trends and what she likes in a cookbook:Q. How long does it take to produce Stained Page News?

A.  The newsletter is a halftime gig. I would love for it to be full time. I also freelance for Texas Monthly, and do recipe writing and development.

While I don’t review cookbooks in the newsletter, that is an eventual goal. 

Q. What are the latest cookbook trends?

A. I’m seeing a lot of cookbooks for kids or for cooking with your kids. I’ve also seen cookbooks that are more granular regionally, like focused on a region in a country or a specific city. They let you dig way deeper into the subject matter.

There are lots of book deals based on YouTubers. Famous chefs are trying out concepts, like Gordon Ramsey’s new book based on YouTube. There are some Tik-Tok cookbooks, but on Tik-Tok it’s hard to figure out where recipes originated.

A bunch of books on grains are coming out.

In terms of photography, I’m seeing more super high contrast, really bright, saturated colors. It’s fun and feels energetic on the page.

Q. Is it really true that not having lots of photographs will drag down cookbook sales?

A. We’ve seen that it’s not necessarily true, for example Samin Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat only has illustrations. But good photography can only help matters. Plus — and I learned this with my cookbook — the more photos you have, the more options you have to give out to newspapers to run your recipes.

Q. Can you think of a particular publisher outside the Big Five (Penguin/Random House, Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, and Macmillan) that does a great job with cookbooks?

A. Sure. Abrams, Workman, and Artisan. Hardie Grant is out of Australia but doing more titles in the US now with a nice new vibe. Somekind is also from Australia but has launched in Los Angeles.

Q. What about inside the Big Five?

A. Ten Speed, Clarkson Potter, and Chronicle Books.

Q. Is there a current cookbook trend you really dislike?

A. I’m a big fan of restaurant cookbooks. It makes me a little sad that they’re kind of in no man’s land now, where publishers won’t touch them due to low sales.

For recipes, I’ve been seeing recipes named as three or four ingredients, like Chicken, Cream, Morels, instead of Chicken with Cream and Morels.

Q. Has anything about recipe writing evolved, or has it been the same, basically, for the last several decades?

A. Five or 10 years ago, a few people dabbled in changing the language. They were trying to have more fun and creativity about how recipes were written, to make them more playful. And then there are writer-y recipe writers like Nigella Lawson. But by and large, publishers hand you a style guide and that’s the recipe you’re going to write.

Q. What makes a good cookbook, in your mind?

A. I like any cookbook that doesn’t isolate the recipes and recognizes that cooking is part of daily life. Anything that explains how to deal with leftovers, or how to strategize a pantry, or planning for things ahead of time. Nigella Lawson and Julie Turshen are good at this. Their attitude is “Cooking is not always fun but you have to do it, so you might as well make the most of it.”

Q. What is your favorite cookbook of the moment?

Lots of energy in the writing and great recipes, says Forbes.

A. I have been enjoying Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown. The energy that comes out of the writing is really engaging and makes you want to make the recipes, and the recipes are great. I’ve made a couple of them. Nigel Slater’s Greenfeast, two volumes, is all vegetarian. It’s simple but a little more creative than it needs to be. The other book I want to mention Yasmin Khan’s Ripe Figs, because it’s about how food moves, whether through immigration or refugees. She did a ton of research.

Few cookbooks have good recipes and good reading. Forbes says Ripe Figs has both.

It’s a really good book to read and a really good book to cook from. Usually cookbooks are one or the other.

Q. What do you do with all the cookbooks you receive?

A. Publishers send me physical copies of the books most of the time. I also buy some, mostly self published or from an indie publisher. And I buy from smaller presses that don’t have the budget to send them out. I gave a batch to a food truck operating a cookbook lending library for their neighborhood. I also gave a batch to the community college here that has a lending library for their adult English language learners.

Honestly, sometimes I just take them to Goodwill. I don’t like to do that though. I’ve also given them to the library for their Friends of the Library sale.

Q. What’s the most important thing you can tell a hopeful cookbook author?

A. Cookbooks are published every year – why shouldn’t one of them be yours? I’ve seen so many slap dash ridiculous cookbooks that if you have a really good idea for one, and you’re willing to put in the work to do proper testing and all of that, don’t give up.

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Photo courtesy of Jimmy Dean on Unsplash.

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8 Best Practices for Food and Travel Writing

By Sharon Hudgins

When I started out doing food and travel writing, I had a freelance journalist’s dream job. I lived in Europe, and wrote a weekly food column for an American newspaper abroad. I was completely free to choose the topic and recipes.

My column started out at 500 words. But a few months later, it expanded. First it was 1,000 words, then 2,000, counting the recipes, too. No longer just a column, it filled an entire page in the newspaper every Thursday.

During the 7 years I worked for that paper, I wrote 350 stories about food—European, American, and Asian. All of them included one or more recipes. Since I covered a range of culinary subjects, people often asked me, “Where do you get your ideas?” And “Where do the recipes come from?” Those two questions are fundamental to the criteria I established for myself as a food writer.

Here are my food and travel writing tips. They have served me from the beginning of my long career until now:1. Write what you know.

Recently, certain postmodern pundits have disparaged that old maxim. But I think it’s still a good rule to follow. You don’t have to go to Timbuktu to write an interesting food story. Even if you’ve never been beyond the borders of your own state or country, you can find riches of local and regional cuisines wherever you live.

In my own career, I’ve focused on writing about the cuisines of countries far from where I grew up. Today that’s enough to cause the Twittersphere to light up with cries of “cultural appropriation.” By the time I became a writer, I had already lived in nine countries and eaten my way across dozens more. I had plenty of firsthand experience to draw on.

2. Food and travel writing requires research.

Be knowledgeable about your subject, in advance. That way you’ll know how to approach it on site. This applies whether you’re

eating at a corner café in a little town or a three-star restaurant in Tokyo doing an interview with a farmer in another state, orhaving cooking sessions with local residents in their home kitchens.

Read what has already been written about that place, its foods, and its people. And reach beyond the Internet. Although Google can be a good guide to getting started, it can also lead you down paths to misinformation. Seek out multiple, trusted, reputable sources (books, journals, experts).  Cross-check all the facts.

3. Respect the cultural context.

Respect the cultural context of the foods and recipes you’re writing about. It doesn’t matter if they came from down the street or halfway around the world.

A different author wrote each of the nine chapters. All were experienced travelers on that country’s trains, from North America and Europe to Africa and Asia. Historical and contemporary recipes from the dining cars illustrate changes in food preferences in each culture.

If you travel to someplace new, avoid being a “two-day wonder.” That’s when you drop into an unfamiliar location for a quick impression. Spend enough time there to learn about the people, the history, the geography, the religions, and the food sources of that area. Eat in a variety of venues, from homes and restaurants to street stalls and food trucks. Visit food markets. Go to the big ones that are famous tourist attractions, and the neighborhood grocery stores where local residents shop every day.

4. Be curious and open-minded.

Don’t necessarily start with a fixed story idea in mind. Writers open to new experiences might change their initial topic entirely. Or they might take a new, more creative approach. The trigger for that turn in the road might be something surprising. You could come across it in a local cookbook, a supermarket, someone you talk with, or a new menu item. I once wrote an entire column about a three-course meal I’d eaten at a cafeteria in France. I enjoyed their chicken cooked with blueberries so much that I asked the manager for the recipe. He was happy to send it to me.

Avoid food fads or trendy topics, unless that’s the specific subject of your story. Other people are probably writing about that same dish or restaurant or chef who’s currently in fashion. Set yourself apart from the crowd.

5. Recipe development needs a spreadsheet.

Julia Child once told me that “A cookbook is only as good as the worst recipe in it.” Keep that in mind when developing and testing your own recipes.

The recipes in my own cookbooks and food articles come from many different sources:

For my book about the regional cuisines of Spain, I drew upon my experiences while living there and eating my way through 47 provinces, taking copious notes along the way. I also did a year’s research, mainly in Spanish, in regional cookbooks.For my book about the foods of Siberia, I collected recipes from Russian friends, cooks at local restaurants, and chefs on Trans-Siberian trains. I cooked in Siberian kitchens, and consulted dozens of culinary books in Russian and English during two years of living and working there.For magazine and newspaper articles about Alsatian cooking, I ate those dishes at many different restaurants in Alsace, from haute to humble. Then I compared the recipes for them in more than three dozen cookbooks published in French, German, or Alsatian.

For every recipe I publish, I make a spreadsheet comparing all the different ingredients, proportions, and cooking techniques. Then I develop my own recipe based on commonality of ingredients and traditional cooking techniques. I take into account any other ingredients or methods that are still true to that dish’s place of origin (no coconut oil in a Bavarian goulash soup!). I also incorporate any variations of that recipe that I’ve eaten in the country or region where it’s considered a traditional dish.

6. Test and re-test your recipes.

 I test again and again, keeping detailed notes along the way. For me, the final product should taste as good as the best version I’ve eaten on its home soil, whether it’s sweet-and-sour walnuts in Hong Kong, peanuty gado-gado in Java, or creamy poulet au Riesling in Alsace. If it doesn’t meet that standard, then I make adjustments and try again. It took me seven tests to produce a gingerbread that tasted just like the traditional Lebkuchen I’d devoured many times in Nürnberg, Germany.

7. Give credit in recipe headnotes.

This memoir-cookbook combines personal narrative and travel stories with recipes collected from cooks in Siberia and Russia’s Far East. Prepared and eaten on site, the recipes were then re-tested in American kitchens. The book was a finalist for a Gourmand World Cookbook Award, Silk Road category.

Almost all of your recipes will have been inspired or influenced, to some degree, by another source. That includes a friend, relative, cooking class, restaurant meal, food magazine, cookbook, blog, or TV show. Copying published recipes verbatim is plagiarism, of course. And there are a lot of gray areas where recipe writers can get in hot water, too.

Legalities aside, it’s common courtesy to credit a source for a recipe they gave you (but also a good idea to check whether they cribbed it from Martha Stewart or Joy of Cooking). Look for recipes with that same title, or in that same recipe category, in the indexes of popular cookbooks and online, to make sure the “personal recipe” given to you by a friend or family member wasn’t originally published elsewhere.

Recipe headnotes are the perfect place to tell where a recipe came from, where you got the idea for your own version of it, what changes you made, or whose unusual cooking technique you chose to use. Personal stories about a recipe’s origin can make a headnote sing. But avoid name-dropping of famous chefs or well-known writers unless that recipe has a direct connection between them and you, personally.

8. Take accurate photos.

Whether you do your own photography or work with a food stylist and a professional photographer, be sure the picture matches the recipe. In the photo, don’t leave out a garnish that’s in the recipe, or add one that isn’t there. And try not to mix cultural references unless that’s part of your story. I saw a “Tex-Mex” cookbook written by a German and published in Germany, full of beautifully photographed tacos, enchiladas, and fajitas all plated on modern, square, handmade Japanese pottery. Nope, that ain’t true to Tex-Mex.

If someone else photographs your recipes, ask to be present at the photo shoot or at least be consulted before the pictures are published. When I was the editor of a food magazine, the publisher outsourced all the photos for an article about Thai food to a local restaurant that made each dish according to its own recipes, not those of the author. The pictures didn’t match the story at all, and our readers knew it.

In editing a Spanish cookbook for a European publisher, I worked with a famous, highly paid photographer who was also a certified chef and did his own food styling. But I had to ask him to reshoot several photos of traditional Spanish dishes that he’d shown with Chinese baskets. Spain has distinctive regional basket-making techniques, and I insisted that he use only Spanish baskets from the correct regions. He also styled a shiny fresh fish laid out on a crumpled page of a Spanish newspaper, just like you’d get at a fish market in Spain. But since he didn’t read Spanish, he had no idea that the glaring headline on that page said, “Family of Four Killed in Car Crash.” So he had to reshoot that photo, too.

These tips for food and travel writing might sound like a lot of effort. But all that work pays off. I’ve received letters from Germans, Czechs, Russians, and Hungarians saying that my recipes were so authentic the dishes taste just like those their mothers or grandmothers made—even though I’m an American from Texas. I think that’s the best compliment a food writer can receive.

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Sharon Hudgins is an award-winning cookbook author and food writer with more than 1,000 articles on food, travel, and culture published worldwide. A former editor of Chile Pepper magazine, she has also edited cookbooks for publishers in the United States and Europe. Her latest books are T-Bone Whacks and Caviar Snacks: Cooking with Two Texans in Siberia and the Russian Far East (2018) and Food on the Move: Dining on the Legendary Railway Journeys of the World (2019). See more at www.sharonhudgins.com.

(Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Photo courtesy of Amit Lavah at Unsplash.)

 

 

 

 

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