Blogging Just For Love? No Way

by diannejacob on September 1, 2010

James Oseland, Editor-in-Chief of Saveur magazine

Something James Oseland, editor of Saveur, said when he delivered the keynote at the International Food Blogger Conference (IFBC) struck me as strange. He said, “A food blog should not be a popularity contest. Blog because you love it, because you have to.” Then everyone applauded.

I bet food bloggers applauded because they are so sick of feeling like they’re in high school again: checking their Google rankings, embedding SEO links, worrying that no one will comment on a post, wondering when they’ll be popular enough to be invited on a press tour or get a book deal. Wouldn’t it be a relief if food blogging was not a popularity contest?

But of course it is. The bloggers who draw the most readers get the biggest book deals and the most opportunities and the most money from ads on their sites. That’s how it works. We need to get over it.

And I don’t see that these things are mutually exclusive anyway:  I blog because I love doing so, and I blog because I must. I love having a forum to get my ideas and opinions out. I love hearing from all of you and having [click to continue…]

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Giving Recipes Away a Big Subject at IFBC

by diannejacob on August 30, 2010

The interior of Theo Chocolates, decked out for 250 attendees of the International Food Blogger Conference in Seattle this past weekend..

On the first panel at the International Food Blogger Conference (IFBC) last weekend, Amy Sherman raised the issue of pay for recipes. She suggested if bloggers want to go pro, they start charging when companies ask to use their recipes.

It’s not a new idea for food writers like Amy and me, who have been charging for our work for years. But for food bloggers and the people who publish their work, it’s touchy.

Let’s start with the publishers. Foodista and IFBC founders Barnaby Dorfman and Sheri Wetherell have authored a forthcoming Foodista cookbook from Andrews-McMeel where 100 recipes appear as the result of a judged contest. (Disclosure: Andrews-McMeel paid me to edit the recipes in that cookbook.) No bloggers were paid for their recipes.

Was this a problem? I don’t think so. Many food bloggers are honored to be asked for a recipe, and see their [click to continue…]

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Food Blogger Pays for Expensive “Freebie” Restaurant Meal, In More Ways than One

August 25, 2010

Here’s a story that could have happened to any food blogger or restaurant reviewer who receives email invitations to restaurants. A restaurant p.r. person invited a food blogger to a “food tasting session,”  where she said the restaurant would host him for lunch. The food blogger couldn’t make it at the suggested time, and later [...]

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First Bookstore Signing for the New Edition

August 23, 2010

This is the best part of being an author: when your book comes out and you have a signing at a terrific food-centric bookstore like Omnivore Books in San Francisco. It also helps to have a great interviewer like food blogger Sean Timberlake of Hedonia, who lives in the neighborhood, to make it fun and dynamic. [...]

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Want to Write a Cookbook? Top Editors Reveal Best Subjects and Formats

August 18, 2010

This past weekend two cookbook editors from Chronicle and Ten Speed told an audience at Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera, CA what they’re looking for in a cookbook. I thought you might like to know. Let’s start with Amy Treadwell, an editor at Chronicle Books. She’d love to find another book that will do [...]

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Why to Buy Your Next Book at an Indie Bookstore

August 16, 2010

Do you still have an independent bookstore near you? According to a recent article in the New York Times, only 2000 independent bookstores are left in the US. According to an article in the New Yorker, independents now only sell 10 percent of all purchased books. I’m helping with the demise, in my own electronic [...]

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