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Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

Useful Tips, Interviews, and Stories to Inspire Food Writers and Bloggers

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5 Editor Pet Peeves About Cookbook Manuscripts

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editor pet peeves imageA guest post by Jennifer Kurdyia

Every editor is different, but as a cookbook editor for The Experiment Publishing, I’ve read enough proposals and cookbook drafts to have developed a few editor pet peeves. I know where the most common shortcomings among my writers lie.  

Avoiding them requires a simple but challenging mindset that most first-time writers wouldn’t ever consider: You are teaching people how to cook. Pretend they know nothing about cooking, let alone have made your recipes as many times as you have. As soon as you accept that, your editor will open your email not with butterflies in her stomach, but with a grumble, hungering for what’s inside. [Read more…] about 5 Editor Pet Peeves About Cookbook Manuscripts

What I Learned by Starting a Blog Interview Series

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image for post on starting an interview series.A guest post by Lisa Johnson

A few years ago, I started a food interview series called “You Pick Six.” To my surprise, I have now completed 21 interviews of local food bloggers, food publicists, authors, news anchors, food entrepreneurs and others.

When I started blogging in 2006, I wrote at least one weekly post. But sometimes life gets in the way. Late 2014 into early 2015 was a blur of stress. My father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and our family [Read more…] about What I Learned by Starting a Blog Interview Series

Enroll in Food Blogger Pro to Grow Your Blog

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image for open enrolment Food Blogger ProIt’s time to up your game and enroll in Food Blogger Pro (FBP), a membership organization to help you grow and monetize your blog.

For just one week, from today until November 15, you can enroll in Food Blogger Pro and start learning. If you sign up later, you’ll be [Read more…] about Enroll in Food Blogger Pro to Grow Your Blog

Enter the IACP Awards for Free until Nov. 14

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You like to win awards, right? Then you’ll be interested in this special blog post about the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) annual awards.

Following on the heels of the James Beard Foundation awards in offering free entry to some awards for two weeks, IACP offers  [Read more…] about Enter the IACP Awards for Free until Nov. 14

What I Learned Writing a Cookbook as a Late Bloomer

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A guest post by Sara Bir

My whole life I’ve dreamed of writing a cookbook. But even with formal culinary chops and years of experience as a writer, it seemed like no one in the publishing industry took me seriously. So I guess you could say I’m a late bloomer.

It probably didn’t help that my two previous book proposals were hardly mainstream. There was my idea for The Great Big Book of Hot Dogs, which I envisioned as a lavish cultural history of hot dogs; and The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook, a book with nothing but pawpaw recipes. Do you even know what pawpaws are? Most people don’t. [Read more…] about What I Learned Writing a Cookbook as a Late Bloomer

Enter the James Beard Awards for Free! Now.

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It’s time to enter the James Beard Awards. And there’s good news: There will be no charge to enter for two weeks: October 15-30, 2018. First-time entrants in the journalism awards may submit work for free anytime.

This is a change to the usual entrance fees, which cost $150 per entry (or $100 if you’re a member of the foundation). The foundation announced these and other changes recently in the hopes of attracting [Read more…] about Enter the James Beard Awards for Free! Now.

What I Learned from Cook’s Illustrated about Recipe Development

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image for post on recipe developmentA guest post by Christine Gallary

I live and breathe recipe development all day long, creating them in my home kitchen for clients or working on other people’s recipes. I’m not kidding when I say that I’ve edited thousands of recipes.

I owe this recipe development career of mine, which I absolutely love and adore, to my stint at Cook’s Illustrated (CI) over 10 years ago. It was the best bootcamp experience ever on learning how to develop good, solid, replicable recipes. I started out as a naive intern who had just graduated from culinary school, but soon, recipe development became my full-time profession. [Read more…] about What I Learned from Cook’s Illustrated about Recipe Development