Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food
Useful Tips, Interviews, and Stories to Inspire Food Writers and Bloggers
A guest post by Ken Albala
When Andy Weir wrote his award-winning novel The Martian, he wanted to get all the scientific details correct, so he tried crowdsourcing. He routinely posted questions on his website. He invited critical commentary from experts, which he received. Thus the details of the plot were not only [Read more…] about Crowdsourcing Pleasures and Perils
Whenever I mention to a colleague that we can no longer write off business meals, they stop and stare at me. Then they say, “What?” like they must not have heard me right.
But it’s true. All those restaurant meals you enjoy with fellow food bloggers, cookbook authors, recipe developers, chefs you know, etc. are no longer eligible for [Read more…] about We Can’t Write Off Business Meals Anymore
Multiple-award winning author Deborah Madison is calling it quits on cookbooks, after 30 years, but she’s not done with writing. To the contrary, she’s working on a memoir.
She wrote 14 cookbooks during those three decades, which comes down to an average of just over one book every two years. It’s a grueling [Read more…] about Deborah Madison is Done After 30 Years of Cookbooks
If you haven’t already, please watch this documentary about Jonathan Gold and his passion for the people and restaurants of L.A. It’s a love letter to them, but also to the man himself.
Yes it’s true: Los Angeles food critic Jonathan Gold, the only person to win a Pulizer as a food writer, died this past weekend, of pancreatic cancer.
He was only 57. The Los Angeles Times reported his death and lifted its paywall so you can explore his writing and tributes.
1. Maybe you’ve never heard of him, but I was in awe. In 2004, I was too intimidated to interview him for the first edition of Will Write for Food. It was because I [Read more…] about RIP Jonathan Gold
Are you a micro influencer? I am. I’ll never have huge numbers, but people do seem to trust me and I have decent engagement. That’s my definition, anyway.
But if you feel discouraged that you can’t get a book deal without a huge platform, here’s hope. Literary agent Sally Ekus says [Read more…] about Micro Influencers Can Get a Cookbook Deal Too, says Agent
A guest post by Anand Srinivasan
Sure, you want to grow your Instagram following, because it’s a hot platform we all need more numbers. But I can give you three more marketing-based reasons to do so.
First, more than 800 million people (or nearly three times the population of the United States) are active on Instagram each month. This presents a terrific marketing opportunity to increase your visibility.
Second, UK newspaper The Guardian published a report that underlined an evolution in the way we eat. According to this report, healthy but “unphotogenic” breakfasts such as cereals are giving way to attractive alternatives like avocado toast. A cursory look at the Instagram hashtag #breakfast shows you how people prefer to eat food that is “Instagram-worthy.”
And third, a report published by UK retailer Waitrose found that at least one in five people shared a photo of food with their followers every month.
Typically, this post would now go into photography tips about using natural light and finding the right angle. But I’m going to spare you this obvious advice, because my specialty is marketing.
Hashtags are a vital component of Instagram marketing. By tagging your food photos with the right hashtags, potential users who are interested in your content will see you.
In my research for this post, however, I found that many food bloggers are not using the right hashtags. They used unique tags, but were not [Read more…] about 3 Marketing Tips to Grow Your Instagram Following As A Food Blogger
A Guest Post by Anna Brones
As a writer, I’m always thinking of new projects, which is why I started an indie food zine. Even when I don’t have something concrete in mind, ideas end up marinating in the back of my brain. That’s how Comestible came to be.
Comestible is a bi-annual publication I started self publishing in 2016. I never know exactly what to call it, but it’s somewhere between a zine, a periodical, a journal, and a magazine. It’s 64 pages long and illustrated in black and white. It features stories and artwork about food, the places food comes from and the people who produce it. Comestible also uses food as a lens for looking at other larger issues, like gender, economics, and sustainability. [Read more…] about Why I Started an Indie Food Zine