Comments on: All the Other Jobs We Do

By: diannejacob

diannejacob — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:56:35 +0000

You are on the right track, Julie, to think of yourself as a brand, cross promote and network. In your example, all the jobs complement each other. That’s not easy.

By: diannejacob

diannejacob — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:54:46 +0000

That’s a really good point, Jennifer, to connect the expertise of the day job with writing about food.

Thanks for the stats about payment. It might not be bad if you could write a piece that was 2500 words long, but those word counts seem to have evaporated.

By: Julie

Julie — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 05:45:10 +0000

I’m a Registered Dietitian. I did mostly clinical work up until I decided to go to culinary school (CIA) several years ago. I blog simply because I love the art of crafting food stories and because I carry no advertizing on my site, I don’t make a dime on it. I think if you really want to make money as a food writer, it’s probably best to think of yourself as a diversified brand. That is, you need to do many different types of marketing activities that all support each other. I blog, teach culinary classes, do foodservice consulting to help institutional cooks cook better, speak whenever I can and network like crazy. Then I cross promote everything, my thinking is that this will get my name out there as a writer. As far as making (good) money, I’m convinced it won’t happen simply via staring and pecking away at the keyboard. I’m essentially just starting out, so we’ll see in 5-10 years if this approach gets me anywhere, I’m willing to wait

By: Jennifer CK

Jennifer CK — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:51:22 +0000

Great post Dianne! You and I have talked about this on the phone and the situation in Canada certainly seems similar to the situation in the US, despite the fact that the “market” should be so much bigger in the US. In Canada, top pay for freelance articles in news magazines is $1 / word; national newspapers are $0.50 / word. Yet, you are lucky to sell an article over 700 words these days. So, yes, writing doesn’t exactly pay many bills but if you are compelled to write, then you will likely write whether it pays or not.

On the note of keeping your day job, this may have unexpected benefits. It’s always a challenge to write about food in a way that hasn’t already been done. I always tell my food writing students to use their day job expertise to guide their food writing voice. Are you a scientist? Great, come at your food writing from a scientist’s point of view. Do you work in early education? Write about how kids approach food differently than an adult. Maybe that day job is a very valuable part of your food writing career whether we think of it that way or not.

By: diannejacob

diannejacob — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:39:26 +0000

You are most welcome, Irena. It was my pleasure. XO

By: diannejacob

diannejacob — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:36:50 +0000

That makes sense, Jamie. But keep your day job.

By: diannejacob

diannejacob — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:35:10 +0000

These are not books about creating a lucrative career — they’re about doing what you love. You know that trope about how money will follow? Uh, no. It should be revised to say “SOME money will follow. Not enough.”

By: Jamie

Jamie — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:41:28 +0000

Thanks so much, Dianne, for bringing these books to my attention. I have had many “careers”, only a couple of them food related (fabulous!). I have been food blogging for two years and am just starting to reach out and look for food writing jobs with the dream of being truly a professional food writer. I began by writing as a contributing blogger (unpaid) but for the experience and the job on my resume. And I only agree to write for free if the exposure is really excellent (a respected blog/website/paper) and where my writing has the chance to be seen by respected pros who could possibly offer me that next writing job, that next step up.

By: Irvin

Irvin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:42:07 +0000

Thank you for reviewing these books! I’ve been thinking of transitioning into a different food related career, and these seem perfect for me, as I have no desire to work at a restaurant.

I work a full time job (and food blog on the side), that tangentially deals with food (Sr. Designer at a small branding shop that specializes in restaurant and retail design). It sounded like a good fit when I joined, but it’s a poorly managed shop (are there ANY well managed boutique design shops out there?) and the clients are all big name chain restaurants – not exactly the clients I would ACTUALLY like to be working with – but they are the clients with the cash.

*sigh* It’s a struggle, but the blogging and writing and photographing and recipe developing on the side actually calms me from the stress of work. One of these days, I’ll make the transition… at least that’s the dream….

By: carrie @ gingerlemongirl.com

carrie @ gingerlemongirl.com — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:41:34 +0000

GREAT article. Wow.. so glad to know I’m not the only one that struggles with these questions! Right now I work full time in a job that does help pay the bills, and then on the side I teach cooking classes, create recipes, bake, have a few part-time paying writing gigs, etc… I would LOVE to switch this and cook/bake/teach/write for a living… crossing my fingers for one day soon!