Has anyone not heard of David Lebovitz? He’s a super successful American food writer blogger living in Paris. He’s also a gorgeous photographer, author of five cookbooks and one memoir, and author and co-author of two apps.

I first met him on email in 2005, when he endorsed my book, Will Write for Food. Recently we spoke about his success and philosophy on food blogging, writing cookbooks, social media, and how he finds the time to get it all done:

Q. Why do so many people adore your blog? What is it about you and your subject matter?

A. It’s a combination of things. Part of it is I started a long time ago so I’ve had a long time to practice, to learn about blogging and build a site. Part of it is I live in Paris and that interests people. Plus I worked as a professional chef, which is part of the mix. People say they feel my blog is very personal; they know the person behind it.

My blog is largely about cultural differences because I’m a foreigner living abroad, and the longer you live somewhere, the more it gives you more credibility. And perhaps people can relate to being an “outsider.” Years ago I was more of a critic of certain aspects of French culture, but now I’m more of an observer and I try to be more neutral. The longer you live somewhere, the more you understand how people are and I’ve become more integrated, too, and understand the culture better.

Q. How has your blog changed since you started your website in 1999? What kinds of posts do you no longer do?

A. Now I microblog on Twitter (105,000+ followers) and Facebook (26,000+ followers). I used to do link round-ups on my blog, but now I’ll put links and short things on Twitter, and pictures on Flickr or Instagram.

Q. How do you decide what to put on Facebook and what to put on Twitter?

A. Facebook is more about linking. Twitter is more about thoughts. When I’m out and about I can easily tweet a social observation or a photo of a bakery. I find that when people link to too many things their Twitter stream becomes less interesting because it’s no longer about them.

Q. How many times should a blogger refer to his or her most recent post on social media?

A. Once. You’re allowed to do it twice, but only if you sincerely believe people missed it and it’s a truly exceptional, amazing post that will revolutionize the world of food blogging.

Q. What was the turning point for your blog, when you knew it was successful?

A. The day I actually ran my fingers through Michael Ruhlman’s hair.

Q. Right, I was there! It was at the Food Blogger Camp in Mexico.

A. Yes, it was. Actually, I don’t look at statistics very often. It’s kind of a waste of time. When I was selling my current book, I saw that they were looking to base the advance somewhat on my online readership so I did check then. In general, book sales have been healthy because of my site. That’s what every author wants.

Chocolate Mint Brownies (Photo by David Lebovitz)

Q. Are your posts getting longer and longer?

A. My goal is to write a post that someone can read in 3 minutes or less. Even if it seems long, there are a lot of photos that people can scroll through. But I aim to write something readable in a relatively short amount of time.

Q. What’s the most important change you’ve made on your blog in the last year?

A. Moving to WordPress and switching servers. WordPress is so much easier to use, compared to Movable Type — which is for developers, because you have to know code. I had a wonderful web guy who was a Movable Type expert and then he stopped working with clients and I couldn’t find anyone who did Movable Type work, which led me to change.

Q. Which is your first love: writing books, blogging, photography, or social media?

A. I actually like blogging. It’s more fun than writing books because I can write something and post it the same day. I like the immediate feedback. And I can go back and edit things.

Cognac press trip (Photo by David Lebovitz)

Writing a book is interesting, though, because the process is longer and I learn a lot when I’m developing recipes. It’s difficult in a small apartment to deal with the recipe paperwork and the notes, though. And, of course, all the leftovers!

Q. Do you have one post that you think is amazing?

A. My posts on food blogging, food photography, and Paris information get lots of feedback.

Q. On your post about food blogging, you suggest bloggers “find your niche.” Some people worry that they will get bored with their niche. How do they avoid that? Can you chance a blog into something else?

A. You have to start a blog about what interests you. Now I’m branching out doing more savory recipes, because there are only so many desserts. I don’t make chocolate tarts every day.

People should blog about what their life is about. You can start or stop a blog, but I never get bored with my blog so it’s not been an issue.

Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream (Photo by David Lebovitz)

Q. I was at a conference recently where someone told me that recipes are meant to be shared, so what’s wrong with sharing them on a blog?

A. Music and movies are meant to be shared, too. But you can’t copy and redistribute them. If you have nothing to add to the recipe, you should just link to it. That’s sharing. Otherwise you should adapt it and write it as you made it.

Q. My sense is that you are interested in technology and often one of the first to jump on new media. Is that essential to be a food blogger or social media maven?

A. If you mean apps, my publisher provided my first app. For the Paris Pastry app, I wanted to do a pastry guidebook back in 1993 when I first moved to Paris. (It’s amusing because I still have those notes!) So when a friend who is a publisher approached me, we did it together. But in terms of being a techie, I can’t read CSS, I have no idea what it is, and I have no idea how to switch servers.

Q. Do you hire technical people?

A. Yes. They oversee my site, dealing with any technical stuff like WordPress upgrades, changing a font, cleaning up pages, or having something redesigned to be cleaner to read. I’ve hired web developers since 1999 and I think they’re a worthwhile investment.

In 2000, just after I started out, someone else who was starting out said they wanted to do it all themselves. I said, “Do it yourself and you take that time away from your baking and writing.”

Q. Let’s talk about product placement. How do you decide which trip to take or which product to feature, such as cognac or a ride on the Queen Mary? Are you bombarded with offers?

A. I only do things that I would really want do on my own, or that give me an opportunity to learn.  For example, I didn’t know much about cognac. It’s part of life in France and visiting the region makes me learn and understand more about not just the item, but the culture and terroir surrounding it. I’ve been on a few press trips, which are important in France, because it’s very hard to get access to places unless you’ve had a formal introduction. It’s much, much easier to go see a place, and meet the people, if all the arrangements have been made in advance.

As for products, if someone wants to send me a spatula to try out, I would take it if I were actually interested in it. (Especially because it’s often extremely complicated to get something delivered here.) I was interested in green non-stick pans, and the Actify fryer so I gave them a try, and put my impressions on my blog.

Most important is that there’s nothing worse than losing the trust of your readers. It’s not worth a spatula, a piece of kitchen equipment, or a bag of nuts if readers get the impression you are just trying to get freebies.

Q. How do you feel about sponsored posts?

A. I’d feel funny about having a company pay me to write something on my site. If I wanted to make a lot of money or have a lot of visitors I would do three chocolate desserts a week instead.

Q. Of all your ads, which is the best moneymaker?

A. BlogHer ads. Like the line at Costco, it’s important to stick with something for a while and not jump around to what looks to be better elsewhere. I don’t judge it from month to month. The thing I like about them is that they’re bloggers. All my interactions with them have been extremely professional.

Lime Meringue Tart (Photo by David Lebovitz.)

Q. You have other ads and affiliate programs too.

A. I have a BlogHer ad between posts, plus Amazon, Google Adsense, and Platefull in the sidebars. The ads are geotagged and only show in the US so I can’t see a lot of them. A lot of my readers are outside the US and I don’t make money from those that appear outside the US, but I love working with BlogHer.

Q. How do you carve out time to start a new project?

A. It’s very challenging. I’m starting to write a book now, and the blog takes up a lot of time, and I live in a country where there’s a heavy amount of administrative tasks. Life is a little more difficult here day to day. Things take longer. For example, if you need an orange or a sack of sugar for a recipe and it’s 9 p.m., there’s not necessarily somewhere nearby to get it. You need to wait until the next day, or when your market is open.

It’s hard to find the time, and it’s something I struggle with. For my last two books, I’ve gone out to the country for a couple of weeks where there’s no Internet access just to finish things without distractions.

I don’t have a schedule for writing. Today I started at 5:30 a.m. and I tested a recipe this morning. It took 1.5 hours to prepare and cleanup took 1 hour. It’s been in the refrigerator for 8 hours, and now it’s probably ready to taste. It’s the fourth time I’ve made it. Doing the math, you can see how long it takes to get work done!

Since I work a lot with the US, people there are waking up at 5 p.m. my time and they expect me to respond to e-mail. I have dinner at 8:30 p.m. and then I don’t want to go back to the computer, so I have to log off. Otherwise I make myself crazy.

Q. Do you think people really know you as a result of reading your blog? Or have you invented a character?

A. It’s really me. I’m writing about my life. I’m probably more open about certain things than other people are, like flushing meringue down the toilet. I’m often presenting a realist view of the city I live in. I feel like I’m pretty open and honest about everything on my site.

Q. Any final messages?

A. Food bloggers should think of themselves as part of a community. Don’t swipe material from other blogs. It’s not “passing along information.” Create your own content for your readers, and link to other people. That’s what the world wide web is all about.

You might also like:

• David’s post on Writing Your Own Cookbook
• David’s posts on Food Blog Alliance

People who want to write a cookbook contact me all the time.

Often these potential authors have no background in writing, cooking, teaching, or any other credential that would make them appealing to a publisher. But they’re passionate about cooking.

Don’t write a book first, I suggest. Start with a blog.

But but but, they protest. Whenever they bring their chocolate-bacon cupcakes into the office or serve their lamb shanks scented with cinnamon, people tell them they should write a cookbook, because their cooking is just that good.

Great, I say. But it’s not that simple. Enthusiasm from friends, family and fellow employees is not what excites a publisher. What turns on publishers is a cunning idea, writing chops and a platform. Now if these potential authors would start a blog instead, they might get to a published book.

Literary Agent Lisa Ekus, who represents only cookbooks, said recently at a blogging conference that more than 80 percent of book queries to her agency come from bloggers.That’s perfect. The bloggers who contact her are writing about their passions and expertise in a blog, and they’re building a community of followers. Blogging gives them a cunning idea, writing chops, and a platform. Sense a pattern here in what I’m saying?

A book is not the only way to express a love of cooking. In fact, it’s a ton of work and can take several years, by the time you solidify the idea, create a proposal, find an agent or publisher, write the manuscript, and get it published.

A blog, on the other hand, has three main benefits:

1. It’s immediate. You launch it and it’s out there. Boom. You’re published on whatever you’re passionate about.

2. It helps you figure out what to write about. Some people start a blog and have no idea where it’s going, other than that it’s about food. After a few months, a theme emerges. They sharpen their ideas, zero in on a topic, and a solid focus emerges that might become a book.

3. You engage with future buyers of  your book. If you start a blog on the subject of your book, you start a relationship with readers who might buy it. A former student just got a book deal. When she began the book proposal a year ago, she started a blog at the same time.

“By the time the proposal was in, the blog was well underway and became part of what sold the project,” she wrote me in an email. ” The blog has also been a great way to connect with my audience and get to know what their needs are in a cookbook.”

A blog delivers on the main reason people want to write books: It gets their writing published, immediately. So why, do you think, is there so much resistance?

You might also like:

• Pile of Food Blogger Cookbooks in the Works
• Why Authors Need a Platform More than Ever
• 5 Tips on what Makes a Killer Cookbook Idea

(Photo by Stuart Miles, FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

My highest compliment: A marked up first edition of my book. (Photo by Jo Stougaard)

You’ll probably get on a plane soon, off to see grandma, friends or kids. Why not spend your plane time reading a how-to book?

No, not the ones about making money or dieting! I mean books about writing and publishing. Put your tray table down and furiously underline, fold pages over, add sticky notes, and fill pages with highlighter. The only hard part is adding a beverage without spilling.

It took me years to mark up my non-fiction books. Now I take it as the highest compliment when readers tell me they’ve violated Will Write for Food in the same way.

Although sometimes it sounds a little extreme. One reader told me she tore the book in half so she could read the unread part on a plane!

After the first edition came out in 2005, Jo of MyLastBite, a respected Los Angeles blogger, sent me the above two photos of my book, with an email about her mark-up system:

“My copy of your book is never far from reach. When I read books, my system for flagging specific pages are: 1) Flagged page on top means “great quote.” 2) Flagged page to the right means “action” or “get more info.”

“After I read your book (the first time), my husband made fun of me because almost EVERY page was marked with a flag on top, AND on the right.”

What a huge compliment. And I encourage you to do the same with whatever book you’re juggling on your tray table. How-to books are made for destruction, and we authors don’t mind.

Here are five books to improve your writing and knowledge of the publishing industry, from the classics to the newcomers:

1. Bird by Bird: Some instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott. I never tire of recommending this book, just as I never tire of re-reading it. And most importantly, Lamott is the one who came up with “shitty first draft.” I never tire of using that term as a writing coach and teacher, either. It always gets a laugh, but mostly because people recognize themselves and their drive for perfection.

2.Writing Life Stories: How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays, and Life into Literature, by Bill Roorbach. Blogging, particularly, is about personal stories and memories. Learn how to set scenes, develop characters, and do the exercises to blast into memories you hadn’t thought about in years. I’ve even marked up my hardcover edition.

3. On Writing, by Stephen King. I was prepared not to like this book, because I’m not into horror fiction. But hey, the guy has written more than 30 worldwide bestsellers, and surprise — he knows what he’s talking about. What I admired most is his dedication to his craft, and his approachable style. It’s a great read no matter how advanced of a writer you are.

4. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Book Proposals & Query Letters, by Marilyn Allen and Coleen O’Shea. I always say you have a 5 percent chance of success with a book idea. These two literary agents say it’s only 1 percent! They are hard core. But they also offer tons of practical, expert advice and guidance, with samples of proposals and query letters so you can see exactly what they mean.

5. Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction — And Get it Published, by Susan Rabiner and Alfred Fortunato. Having been an editor for most of my career, I love this title. Editors decide what gets published. Here’s a book on understanding what turns them on, why they’d buy your book, and what happens once you get the contract.

And to be completely self-serving, I’d also be thrilled if you would get and mark up a copy of Will Write for Food. Send your photos to me at dj@diannej.com and I’ll publish them in a future blog post.

Happy marking and underlining! And don’t forget to pack a good snack or lunch for the flight.

After Mary Goodbody left Cook’s Magazine (now Cook’s Illustrated) in the 1980s, she got her first opportunity to co-write a cake decorating book for a packager. She took the job and never looked back. Since becoming self-employed in 1984, the food writer and editor has collaborated on close to 50 cookbooks.

She lives in Connecticut, inherited a 200-acre sustainable farm in northwestern New Jersey with her seven brothers and sisters, and blogs about her visits there.

We spoke recently about collaborating on cookbooks and her long career. I have collaborated on a cookbook (Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas) and edited recipes for publishers. I wanted to learn more about these jobs as careers for freelance food writers:

Q. How do you define the job of a collaborator?

A. I’m the project manager. I make sure the book gets done. I’m pretty detail oriented and I work and think in a linear fashion, which helps the authors keep their deadlines. The author might do some writing, but I edit it. I keep in touch with the

In the last few weeks, I’ve heard from lots of food bloggers who are getting calls from publishers, asking them to write books.

It’s thrilling to get one of these calls, but they didn’t necessarily know what questions to ask the publisher.

And of course, there’s no reason why they should know, since they have never been in this position before.  So I compiled a list of questions, in case a call like this comes your way.

The most important thing is to not make commitments during the initial call. Get the answers to these questions, and then think it over.

1. What is the advance? The advance is the amount of money you are paid up front to write the book. If the publisher offers you $10,000, and your royalty rate is $1 per book (that’s high, so see No. 2. I’m just making the math easier), then you earn $1 per book after you sell 10,000 books.

Beginning advances for first-time book authors range from $3500 – $25,000, unless you’re a star. Most of the time, they’re offering you too little, but often they won’t budge. It doesn’t hurt to ask for more. “It sounds a little low” is a good response.

2. What is the royalty rate? The typical rate is 7.5 percent of the book’s retail price. One food blogger said the publisher wanted 350 recipes and no advance, but would give her a 10 percent royalty rate. I wouldn’t write a book for a zero advance. I’ve read that 80 percent of authors never see any more money after the advance. So I want as much as I can get up front.

3. How long is the manuscript? If a publisher has a book idea in mind, there might be specs. Most cookbooks have a minimum of 100 recipes. Some might give you a word count, such as 50,000 words. Envision 250 words to a typed 8 1/2 x 11-inch page, double spaced. That comes to 200 double-spaced pages. If the publisher wants you to provide the idea for the book, you will have to estimate the book’s size.

4. What is the deadline for the manuscript? I heard from one blogger who said the publisher wanted a finished manuscript in 6 months, and from another who said the publisher wanted 50 recipes in 4 months. That’s pretty crazy. See if you can get at least 9 months, unless the subject is so trendy that they want it done ASAP.

For some bloggers, this deadline is the date their photography is due as well. Which brings me to…

5. How many photographs, and what is the fee? Not may bloggers have photos good enough to entice a publisher, but if they want yours, make sure you get paid a separate fee. Determine what you should make per photo, based on time and expenses. I can’t tell you exactly what that is, but professional photographers often charge $20,000 – $30,000 per book. If you will not be the photographer, ask whether you can weigh in on whom they choose. Better yet, suggest someone whose work you like.

6. Will my byline appear on the cover? If the publisher wants you to write a cookbook not tied to your blog, it’s a valid question.

7. Will my bio, photo, and blog address appear on the book jacket? You want to make sure.

8. When will my book come out? Most publisher have two seasons for book launches: spring and fall. Gift books come out in the fall.

9. How will you promote my book? Does the publisher send  out copies for review? What else will they do for you? Will they pitch your book to bloggers, print publications, and websites for review? Will they pay for you to do a book tour (most of the time, no).

Once you get past this list of questions, and you and the publisher come to an agreement, you will receive a contract. There’s more to negotiate. (And if you join the Authors Guild, you get a free review of your contract.)

The most important thing is to take lots of notes and push back for the things that are important to you. Don’t just be “honored” that a publisher called you, because it’s a ton of work to produce a book.

My last tips: Ask people you know who’ve written a book for advice. Finally, don’t feel like this is your only opportunity for a book, because it will make you desperate. You don’t want publishers to take advantage.

Okay, all you experts who have already signed a contract: What other advice do you have for these bloggers?

(Photo from freedigitalphotos.net)

Prolific food writer Melissa Clark writes cookbooks, freelance articles and columns, and a blog.

If you looked up the opposite of “slacker,” you’d see Melissa Clark‘s name highlighted in bold.

The prolific freelancer writes weekly recipes for the New York Times and Gilt Taste, among other freelance gigs. She has also written 32 cookbooks. Many are collaborations with chefs including Daniel Boulud, David Bouley, and White House Pastry Chef Bill Yosses. Her latest cookbook, out in October, is Cook This Now: 120 Easy and Delectable Dishes You Can’t Wait to Make.

Oh, and in her copious spare time, she takes care of her young daughter and writes a blog.

In an interview, she spoke about her career as a food writer, including advice for those who want to be as successful:

Q. You’d been working as a cook and a caterer in New York. What made you want to become a food writer?

A. I always wanted to be a food writer. I started a catering business when I was in grad school. Food was in everything I wrote. It was my metaphor. This was the 1990s. People knew of restaurant critics and cookbooks writers, but food writing wasn’t a viable career. I felt like I was on an uncharted path.

Q. Is a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in writing a good way to learn about freelance writing and cookbook collaboration? Would you recommend it?

A. No. It’s a good way to find your voice as a writer. People don’t think about that. It’s just as important.

Q. As a freelancer, don’t you have to write the voice of the publication?

A. If you don’t even know who you are and what your voice is, it’s really hard to figure out how to make your voice fit into other molds. Voice has to have a point of view, the perspective that the piece is coming from.

It’s really good to know how to write in different perspectives (first person, second person, third person). You learn all different perspectives when you get an MFA.

I recommend that people take writing classes. It helps stretch you as a writer. It’s really good to challenge yourself.

Q. What was your first big break as a freelance writer?

A. I wrote for websites about food, including once a month for Hearst magazines. I wrote tons of content for Cuisinenet. They paid me real money. I could support myself if I catered on the side.

I also developed recipes for IMP, which put out recipe cards that went out in the mail, where they asked people to subscribe to a recipe club. They had bought (food) photos from Sweden, and they would give me a recipe in Swedish. I made a lot of coffeecakes and French pancakes.

If I were doing it today, I would start out blogging, because that is the path. The path (I described) is gone.

Q. Regarding collaborating on cookbooks, how difficult is it to convince great chefs to let you redo their recipes for home cooks?

A. Depends on the chef and their ego level. Some cling very tightly and want their food to be made exactly the way they make it. Other chefs are wiling to let go of it. I want to work with chefs who let me work with the recipe.

Q. How did you get your regular freelance column for the New York Times, “A Good Appetite?”

A. I started writing for the Times in 1998, doing general assignment reporting.

They came to me with a column in 2007. They wanted people to see into the mind of a confident cook who finds her way, how you get from point A to dinner. They said, “Let’s try it for 10 weeks.”

Q. What’s your the best advice for someone who want to freelance?

1. Work really hard on your writing
2. Write in different voices
3. Make deadlines, have clean well-edited copy, be nice, be accommodating. Get back to them right away. That’s just as important as being a great writer
4. Take (writing and cooking) classes
5. Don’t think that people should come to you because you have a blog
6. Intern, stage, and make yourself much more valuable
7. Don’t say no. Just say yes and make it work.

Q, What would you tell someone who wants to write a cookbook?

A. It’s hard to sell a cookbook without a platform. Really work on that. (If you’re a blogger), editors care about how many readers you have and how many people comment. You have to build it.

The idea doesn’t have to be original. Everything is put through the lens of you. Really focus on your voice and market that.

I’m still learning. Every time I do a cookbook I have a new tutor.

Q. What’s the hardest thing about developing recipes?

Tips -- like why to grate a tomato -- and recipes appear on Clark's blog (Photo by Melissa Clark).

A. I’m always humbled by what I don’t know. I try to learn when there’s something that doesn’t work and I don’t know why, especially with baking. I don’t take anything for granted.

Sometimes I make something and it doesn’t blow me away. How do I make it better? It’s always a fun challenge. But it can also be humbling when it doesn’t work.

I have a little trick that I always use. I retitle the recipe. So, if I burn the pasta in a pasta dish, I call it “browned garlic pasta. “

Q. How important is it to have a background as a professional cook, to become a food writer?

A. No one’s going to read you if you’re not an authority. You need to know more than the person next to you because you’re going to teach them. It’s all about improving your skills and your knowledge.

Q. What would you like to tell someone who wants to be successful?

A. The old Einstein quote: It’s 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration. I work really hard. Also, don’t be so brittle. Criticism is good. It helps you. It makes you grow.

“So many food bloggers have books coming out right now!” declared Amy Sherman of Cooking With Amy. She, Cheryl Sternman-Rule of 5 Second Rule (on the list below), and I were gabbing on the phone, preparing for our food blogging panel at the Book Passage Travel and Food Writing and Photography conference this weekend.

I had not counted how many, so Amy whipped up a list and emailed it to me. I added a few names, including writers I coached on book proposals (so proud!). And she’s right, it’s a pretty impressive list.

I happen to know that the advances on this list range from around $3500 to six figures. (A book advance is the amount the publisher pays you upfront.) Regardless of the advance size, there’s no doubt that cookbook editors think food bloggers are hot enough to follow, befriendand even comment on their blogs.

Food bloggers have tons of advantages as book authors. They come with their own list of potential readers. They’ve not only created a community but often they’re part of a larger community of bloggers that supports them when the book comes out. Food bloggers probably know more about marketing and social media than the average writer. And sometimes they take their own photos for the book, a two-for-one deal.

Most of the people on this list do not just define themselves as food bloggers, anyway. They are also freelance writers, journalists, cooking teachers, chefs, and recipe developers. All these skills help broaden their platform, experience, and credibility.

So take a look at this list of blogs. As you scan it, you’ll see asterisks at the end of some blog names. They indicate links to posts I’ve found about book deals or about writing the cookbook itself:

• Shauna James Ahern and Dan Ahern, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef*
• Emma Christensen, blogs for the Kitchn
• Glen Detwiller, Chef’s Notebook*
• Tammy Donroe, Food on the Food*
• Lisa Fain, Homesick Texan*
• Matt Finarelli, Deglazed*
• Aran Goyoaga, Cannelle et Vanille*
• Sandra Gutierrez, Sandra’s Kitchen Studio*
• Jaden Hair, Steamy Kitchen
• Kristin Jackson, It’s Not You It’s Brie *
• Lindsay Landis, Love and Olive Oil*
• David Lebovitz
• Marisa McClellan, Food in Jars
• Beatrice Peltre, La Tartine Gourmande
• Deb Perelman, Smitten Kitchen* (Also this recent interview I did with her)
• Elise Pierce, Cowgirl Chef
• Adam Roberts, Amateur Gourmet*
• Jeanne Sauvage, Art of Gluten Free Baking*
• Nancy Singleton Hachisu, Japanese Farm Food/Indigo Days
• Shauna Sever, Piece of Cake*
• Cheryl Sternman Rule, 5 Second Rule
• Molly Wizenberg, Orangette* (also read this post on procrastination*)
• Susie Wyshak, Nutty Fig

Know of another food blogger with a book deal? Let me know.

Deb Perelman turns in the manuscript for her first cookbook, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, at the end of this month. I caught up with her to ask her how writing a cookbook has been different than writing her blog.

You can meet Perelman at the International Food Blogger Conference in New Orleans August 26-28. She, Kate McDermott of Art of the Pie, and I will be talking about recipe development.

Q. What percentage of recipes will come from the blog?

A. Very few recipes, maybe 10 to 15 percent. I have to put in the greatest hits or it wouldn’t feel like the Smitten Kitchen cookbook.

Q. Where did you get your inspiration for new dishes?

A. I have no shortage of ideas. I have a long list of recipe ideas I’ve been building on for a decade, and I keep them all in Google Docs. I can reach them from any computer, from the phone and from the grocery store.

Besides cookbooks that I know and love, the web is a great tool to research recipes. I gravitate towards recipe sites that have reviews, like the Food Network, Allrecipes and Epicurious. It’s not that I’m looking for new ideas. It’s more like I have my recipe for pancakes, and I wonder if the salt level is too high or how much milk other recipes use.

I get a lot of ideas from restaurants too, where there’s something about the dish I like, like the combination of ingredients.

Blueberry Yogurt Multigrain Pancakes. (Photo by permission of Deb Perelman.)

Q. How is the cookbook different from the blog?

A. There are things I’ve pulled from the cookbook because they were going to be really complicated to make. I didn’t think I could test out those recipes 20 times this summer to get them right.

In a cookbook, I get to do things I wouldn’t do on the site, like a gathering of meal ideas, certain kinds of sidebars, and a nice layout.

Also, when I’m remaking things from the website, I make them different now.

Q. What is the difference between the way you write a recipe for the book and for the blog?

A. It’s not terribly different. I have to add more detail because I’m not going to have process photos for each recipe.

Q. What have you learned from writing the cookbook?

A. Writing the book has changed the way I do the site. I’ve gotten more aggressive with my recipe testing and my writing.

My recipes in the last 1.5 years are different.The first couple of years, I was clueless about recipe copyright and adapting. I would use a recipe from somewhere and change very little. I used to feel it was disrespectful to the cook to change the recipe — that you’re supposed to give credit and compliments. As the site went on, I became a better cook. Now I’m working hard on recipe development.

My next project is going back to older recipes on the site and reworking them to make them true Smitten Kitchen recipes. They’re a minority.

Q. What is your definition of “adapted?”

A. It means you’ve changed things. If I haven’t changed the recipe, I won’t use it. I really try to detail in the headnote what I’ve changed. If someone loved that recipe from Ina Garten, I want to give them a heads up that I did not make it the same way.

Q. Are you in charge of the photography, and is it different from the blog also?

A. Yes, I’m doing the photos too. On the website, I will publish imperfect photos. Mostly I’m looking for a good top picture. If they’re not perfectly lit and the focus is not where I want it, that’s okay. But for the cookbook, I have to reshoot it.

Q. Who is your editor at Knopf?

A. Her name is Lexy Bloom. It’s her first cookbook. Judith Jones has been advising her a little bit about process. She talks about what she did with Julia Child! She likes to come to the kitchen with her authors see how they work. So now Lexy’s come over and we have a couple more visits scheduled.

Q. Did you use recipe testers for your cookbook?

A. For the site I’ve always done my own testing and I guess I’ve been very lucky because people like the results. For the book I’m more nervous so I’ve brought in two recipe testers. I’m not giving them all the recipes, just as many as I feel nervous about and want to get their home cooking notes.

It’s hard for me. I’m not good at sharing. I don’t understand the concept of rough drafts. Recipes are either done or I leave them in my computer.

Cauliflower Gratin (Photo by permission of Deb Perelman.)

Q. What do you want them to check?

A. More complicated recipes, baking recipes. Or ones where each time I tested it, it came out a little different. I’m going to have weights measurements in the book, so I want them to verify the weights, and the cooking times. I want them to let me know if there are gaping holes in the recipes.

Mostly I want to know that their results are the same. These people live in Brooklyn, and I really want to take a bite of what they make but I can’t run over there (DJ: Perelman lives in Manhattan)!

One thing I’ve found is that I have to be true to the way I make it. One tester said a bread wasn’t cheesy enough. But I have to remember that I made it three times that way and my family and I loved it. And I’ve always published recipes to my taste.

Q. Will you feel like you have reached some new level of credibility with the published book? That you’re not just a blogger?

A. I’ve never felt like I’m just a blogger.

I’m sure I will feel that way. My drive has never been to be famous, though. I just want to do work that makes me happy.

Q. What do you say to people, particularly bloggers, who want to write a cookbook?

A. I was very glad I waited for a fairly developed audience (DJ: Perelman says Smitten Kitchen has 2.5-4 million unique views a month. She started the blog in 2006.). I had a lot more opportunities, more people were interested, and could develop a book into what I wanted. As a result, the cookbook reflects my vision for the site, my vision for cooking, and how I feel about cooking.

Signing copies of the revised edition of Will Write for Food, at Omnivore Books in San Francisco, last July. (Photo by Heather Lunan)

Your food-based book’s coming out, and it’s time to line up all the  events that lead to good sales. What are the most important events to plan for a book launch?

Australian Blogger Katrina Meynink emailed me with this question. Her book, Kitchen Coquette, is coming out later this year.  Here’s my list:

1. Target bloggers who are likely to review your book. Your publisher has put aside copies to be sent to media, which includes bloggers. So target the authors of food-focused blogs in your home town, bloggers who like to review cookbooks like yours, and others who might qualify. Come up with a long list to hand to your publicist.

It helps if you know many of these people and they’ve already expressed interest in reviewing your book. It helps even more if any of them are friends.

Be creative. Tara Mataraza Desmond got a group of bloggers to review her book, Almost Meatless, on the same day, to push up Amazon sales. Or try something unconventional. Seth Godin offered his blog readers a chance to get an early review copy of his book in exchange for a review.

2. Write guest posts and feature articles that appear when the book comes out. If possible, write guest posts on blogs or websites frequented by your target readers, and have them appear right when the book comes out, with a link to your website.

For print articles, this means planning ahead to have feature stories appear in publications where your bio says your book just came out. National magazines are already planning issues in early 2012, so you have no time to lose.

3. Create web pages ready to go on your blog, for customers and media. In addition to information about the book, many authors have sections where media can download a high resolution copy of the cover, a press release and a headshot. That way they don’t have to email you and wait for you to respond.

4. Make a promotional video. Get a professional or a student to film you talking about your book, preparing dishes from it, working in your kitchen, or whatever seems appropriate where you’re more than a talking head. Put the book trailer on your web page, your Amazon page, and on YouTube. These days the web is leaning more towards video than reading text, so you’ll want to be prepared.

5. Build on social media. Are you building your followers on Facebook and Twitter? You’ll need them when the book comes out, to tell them about your schedule, or when articles or reviews appear.

Plan to establish a Facebook page for your book. Add value by posting on it regularly, not just about the book, but about cooking tips, techniques, your schedule, or any other relevant details.

If you have a blog, write about the process of writing your book to build anticipation and interest.

Now it’s your turn. If your book has debuted recently, what other advice do you have for Katrina, ? Let’s help her get her book out with a bang.

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Culinary mysteries sport some of my favorite food-based titles of all time, full of puns and double entendres.

Yesterday my agent said she’d just told someone how my book, Will Will Write for Food, got its title. She suggested I tell you as well.

I hadn’t thought about that story for a while, and it’s a good one. Should you be faced with coming up with a witty book title one day, you might be able to use it. And I give a few suggestions for coming up with good titles at the end of this post.

(Isn’t it ironic? As a freelance editor, I can come up with great titles for others, but I had so much trouble with my own.)

Back when I turned in my manuscript for the first edition, I had a loser working title. My agent (who does not like to be named),  my publisher (who no longer works at the publishing house and the publishing house no longer exists) and I went around and around for two months, trying to find a better one.

Ready to know the name of the working title? How to Write About Food. Can you imagine anything duller? Still, it took six rounds to arrive at the winner. Here’s what happened, including my agent’s great idea that solved the problem:

Round 1: Publisher and I brainstorm on the phone. We figure out the subtitle but not a new title.

Round 2. I tell my friend, a voracious reader. She emails me a long list of potential titles, including:

• The Sensuous Art of Food Writing
• Blending the Pen and Palate
• Writing with Flavor.

Round 3: Agent rejects them, so I send her more ideas, including:

• The Tools of Food Writing
• The Food Writer Within
• The (or A) Writer’s Guide to Food Writing
• The Food Writer’s Handbook
• The Art and Craft of Food Writing
• The Path to Food Writing.

Round 4: Agent likes a few. I pass them on to the publisher. The publisher likes The Writer’s Guide to Food Writing. Upon reflection, I decide the book should be for anyone who wants to write about food, not just writers. The publisher comes up with The Complete Guide to Writing About Food.

Round 5: I suggest cutting that title to Writing about Food, or going with The Art of Writing About Food. But ultimately, we’re right back where we started. Both titles are straightforward and dull. Time is running out, and I’m drawing a blank.

Round 6: Agent suggests I send an email to 20 of my closest writer friends, asking for help. It’s Friday. I need ideas by Monday. The winning title comes from my friend Josh Greenbaum, a former writer I knew from my high-tech magazine job. His suggestion is Will Write for Food. It’s perfect: simple, clever, and concise.

Several other friends sent in entries, including The Dish on Food Writing, my runner-up favorite, from the husband and wife writer team of Greg Patent and Dorothy Patent.

So if you’re working on a book title, don’t go through this much hair pulling. Here are my three best tips that might save you the trouble:

1. Be short, witty and specific to your book’s content. Don’t come up with a general title that leaves readers wondering, such as Meals Anyone Would Love.

2. Research the names of competing or similar books and draw from them. Someone spent a great deal of time on them, so why not benefit? Researching will also show you how books like yours are named, and what’s appropriate.

3. Short, direct words are instantly successful in titles. You’ve only got a moment or two to communicate, so get the qualities of your book across quickly. Cookbooks, particularly, have titles using words like Greatest, Best, Quick, Easy, Complete and “Secrets of. ”

Now it’s your turn. Got a story about a book title? I’d love to hear it. Or if you think there’s a ridiculous book title out there, let’s see it.