Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

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

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Build a Platform with a Self-Published Cookbook

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image for post on self-publishingA guest post by Susie Norris

I sent off the proposal for my third cookbook with a hopeful heart. I had a good agent, a new IACP Digital Media Award for FoodMarketGypsy.com, my culinary travel blog, and thousands of Twitter followers. Creating a self-published cookbook was not on my mind.

But the news was bad: traditional publishers now found my platform too modest. After a lifetime of baking and teaching the classics, I knew I had [Read more…] about Build a Platform with a Self-Published Cookbook

How SEO Rules for Food Blogs Can Make Them Less Effective

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Image for post on SEO rulesI’ve been thinking about the growing power of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts and their advice. Hiring them has been a powerful way for food bloggers to learn the SEO rules for food blogs and increase their readership.

I’m all for that. I try for good SEO in my posts as well.

But do the changes these experts advise also [Read more…] about How SEO Rules for Food Blogs Can Make Them Less Effective

I was Burned Out on Food Blogging. Then I Started a Fashion Project

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Lead image for post on food blogger who became fashion influencer.A guest post by Maggie Zhu

I started Omnivore’s Cookbook in 2013 as a hobby. It turned it into a full-time job in 2016. After that, I started to feel burned out on food blogging. It took longer and longer to recover. Being alone in the kitchen made me lonely. The need to produce uniform, predictable content to please my readers made me unhappy.

Now the blog is about modern Chinese cooking and Asian-inspired fusion recipes. But it didn’t start that way. My first blog post was for Tuna Pasta with Arrabiata Sauce. My early recipes included random dishes ranging from poorly-conceived fusion to Taco Bell copycats.

Burned out on Food Blogging

One year into blogging, a reader told me he was only interested in my Chinese recipes. He said he’d go to Food Network if he wanted to learn how to make pasta. Soon I focused on Chinese recipes. My blog finally started to grow when I narrowed my scope to that niche. But the problem was (and is) that I love food from many cultures. And the fact that I’m constrained to just Chinese cooking made me burned out on food blogging.  [Read more…] about I was Burned Out on Food Blogging. Then I Started a Fashion Project

My 10 Best Blog Posts of the Decade

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image for post on best blog postsThis year I celebrated ten years of blogging, and I wrote about what has changed. Now that it’s the end of the decade, you might also like to read my best blog posts of the last 10 years. 

For me, what defines “best” is all about the engagement. I like posts that [Read more…] about My 10 Best Blog Posts of the Decade

Submit Your Writing to a New Food Writing Anthology

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image for submitting your writing to an anthologyThere’s a big new game in town, and you can play. Before, Best Food Writing, an anthology compiled by freelance writer Holly Hughes, came out every year. You would submit your writing, and she decided what to accept. That run ended in 2017. 

It’s probably because a new The Best American Food Writing debuted in 2018, published by [Read more…] about Submit Your Writing to a New Food Writing Anthology

After Food Blogging, Gluten-Free Girl’s Shauna Ahern says “Enough”

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Shauna Ahern gave up her blog, Gluten-Free Girl, in 2017. She made a good go of it for 12 years and her blog lives on online. Now, instead of food blogging, she works full-time as head writer at ChefsSteps. Her husband Danny stays home with her two kids, and everyone gets health insurance.

That was part of the decision to close the blog and get a job: Worrying about money. 

Her new book of essays is Enough: Notes From a Woman Who Has Finally Found It. She writes [Read more…] about After Food Blogging, Gluten-Free Girl’s Shauna Ahern says “Enough”

25 Irresistible Links for Food Writers and Bloggers

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image for post on links.

I bet you try as best you can to keep up with all the useful and thought-provoking Internet links for food writers and bloggers. But sometimes you get busy or tired and you miss some terrific stuff.

No problem. I collect the best ones and send them out to readers free, on the first and 15th of the month. You’ll get links to reviews of the [Read more…] about 25 Irresistible Links for Food Writers and Bloggers