Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

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

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2 Books For Dummies and Idiots

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Yes that’s us, according to Wiley and Alpha book publishers. It’s kind of a questionable strategy to think of your readers this way, don’t you think? Maybe someone could start another line for Morons.

Regardless, some of these guidebooks are quite good. Here are two new ones on food blogging and getting published worth your consideration:

1. Kelly Senyei of Just a Taste food blog, also the Associate Editor of Gourmet Live, recently authored Food Blogging for Dummies. Well written and upbeat, it’s perfect for those who want to start a blog but have no idea how. She walks readers through how to set up a blog, find your voice, design a blog, take great photos, and how to promote and distribute content.

I like Senyei’s writing advice about how to make a good impression. She says to project confidence, rather than writing with insecurity as your guide; avoid mimicking other writers you admire because “it’s way more work to fake authenticity;” and to envision your brand to make your blog a destination, with you as the attraction.

She’s quite practical, suggesting readers establish a posting schedule. This is a [Read more…] about 2 Books For Dummies and Idiots

Facebook Fan Page is Less Effective if Free

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Here’s what Facebook would charge Stephanie Manley to post to fans and friends.

Do you use a Facebook fan page to promote your blog and books? How about Google? Do you depend on Feedburner for free blog feeds?

Free was great, but now it’s over.*

Stephanie Manley of CopyKat Recipes alerted me that Facebook now wants us to pay to promote our posts to viewers. In her case, the cost is $30 per post and $75 per post for fans and their friends. That comes to…let’s see, almost $11,000 annually to send a daily post to her fans! Without payment, only 11.1 percent of her 18,400+ Facebook fans see her Fan page.

That’s not effective at all. But it’s still free.

Facebook says an average of 84 percent of your fans are no longer seeing your posts. They justify it this way. To find out what Facebook is charging you per fan page post, click on the promote button, on the bottom right of your posting window. Surprise!

I emailed another food writer with a huge fan base, David Lebovitz, to get his reaction to this Facebook news. “It leaves a [Read more…] about Facebook Fan Page is Less Effective if Free

3 Keys to a Killer Query Letter

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Want to interest a literary agent in your book idea?

Often, agents want a query letter first. The query sells them on the book idea and introduces you. It’s your chance to make an indelible impression.

Queries have to be short. Here’s the formula for this three-paragraph letter:

Paragraph 1: You need an evocative opening that intrigues the agent enough to keep reading. It includes the book’s hook: a concise sentence meant to pique interest about why the book is needed now and how it’s different. Include the book’s working title and subtitle.

To create a connection, the paragraph should also include why you chose this agent, based on the agent’s website, books represented, or a [Read more…] about 3 Keys to a Killer Query Letter

Q&A: Peter Reinhart on What it Takes to Be a Successful Cookbook Author

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Peter Reinhart is a baking instructor and faculty member at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Peter Reinhart has authored eight cookbooks, including the The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread, winner of two national awards. That cookbook alone has sold more than 100,000 copies.

You’d think he’d have an ego, but during our interview Reinhart came across humbly, talking about the value of working with a team and not burning bridges.

I caught up with him as he taught baking classes in California to promote his latest book, The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking, co-authored with Denene Wallace. It’s his first book on low-carb breads, pastries, cookies, and cake for those sensitive to gluten, diabetics, or those who need to reduce carbs to prevent weight gain. The focus is on baking with nut and seed flours and non-sugar sweeteners.

In this interview, he talks about the value of sticking with the same publisher, learning a new subject, and why you need a thick skin to grow as a writer:

Q. Why did you decide to write a gluten-free, sugar-free baking book? You are a bread and pizza guy.

A. Ten Speed asked if I wanted to do a gluten-free book, and I said only if we cover new territory. They told me gluten-free and allergen-free was the hottest new category. It was nice to be asked. I felt like I had arrived.

Q. You’ve been with Ten Speed for a long time.

A. It’s common to jump around to publishing houses, but it feels traditional to be with a publishing house where you feel like they’re part of your family. There’s a comfort level there and a trust level there. I’ve been with them for 12 years.

I got lucky when Random House bought Ten Speed because they got bigger distribution but they kept the same team. My former editor, Aaron (Wehner, publisher), is a great idea man. He stays engaged and I have access to him. This is our third book together.

In the old days you read about Judith Jones and Julia Child, where people were together for years. I feel like I’m in the stable with thoroughbreds. And if I want to do a non-food book I can stay within the Random House family and go with an imprint.

Q. What makes an award-winning cookbook?

A. Writing a book is not a solo effort. Sometimes the magic is just there with the editor, the publisher, the design, the photography — it’s like putting a movie together. Everybody contributed something. Having great recipe testers has been invaluable too.

From the writer’s standpoint, it’s important to appreciate that process. I know a few writers who have fought the process, to their [Read more…] about Q&A: Peter Reinhart on What it Takes to Be a Successful Cookbook Author

Go On a Quest: Write a Food Memoir

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Food memoirs are shaping up as “quests” these days, quite tidy and well organized. If you can master the form, there’s room for your story.

But first, as always, you’ll have competition from chefs, who are still writing traditional memoir. Typically, these books bore me (except for Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential). But then I read Blood, Bones & Butter, an adrenaline-fueled memoir of Gabriel Hamilton’s relentless ambition to make good food and find love. It won the Beard award for Best Writing & Literature earlier this year.

Like Bourdain, Hamilton has the writing chops to craft an exceptional story. Lest you think these two were both just chefs when penning their memoirs, The New Yorker published Bourdain’s first story, and he had [Read more…] about Go On a Quest: Write a Food Memoir

Drive Food Blog Traffic with Pinterest

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Stephanie Manly of CopyKat.com saw a big uptick in blog traffic after her involvement in Pinterest.

In the last few months, several food bloggers told me their traffic increased dramatically as a result of Pinterest, the virtual pinboard that’s competing with Twitter and Facebook as a social media engine.

Pinterest works like a large board, where you pin images you hope are repinned by others, thus expanding your reach. The site went online in 2010 and had more than 23 million unique users last month.

I’m just getting started on Pinterest, so I asked Stephanie Manley of CopyKat.com to explain why it’s worth getting involved and best practices:

As a food blogger, I want to drive good quality traffic to my site. The biggest way I have increased traffic in the last year is through my boards on Pinterest.

Since fall 2012, Pinterest began showing up as a traffic source when I reviewed my Google analytics. NowPinterest drives more [Read more…] about Drive Food Blog Traffic with Pinterest

To Celebrate Julia Child, Just Read Her

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Julia Child (Photo courtesy Knopf Publishing)

Julia Child would have been 100 this week, and festivities and tributes are everywhere (see list below).

I am one of the few in our industry who never met Child, despite an opportunity. I saw her hulking presence at the IACP conference, but I was too scared to introduce myself. I also did not cook my way through her books as a young woman, as French cuisine was not in my consciousness in my 20s and 30s.

But I have read Julia Child’s writing, full of gusto and conviction, and doing so always thrills me. Over her career, she wrote or co-wrote 18 books with sales totaling [Read more…] about To Celebrate Julia Child, Just Read Her