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Congrats on Your Speaking Invitation. Now What?

August 7, 2012 by diannejacob 35 Comments

I coached a new book author recently who was invited to speak at a conference. After I offered congratulations, she said the conference organizers didn’t bring up money and she wasn’t sure how to ask.

I suggested she ask, “What’s your budget?” It’s polite, it puts the onus on the conference organizers, and it gives the impression that you might be flexible about the amount.

If I could only suggest one piece of advice, though, it would be something I have [Read more…] about Congrats on Your Speaking Invitation. Now What?

When Food Writers Read Their Work

July 31, 2012 by diannejacob 67 Comments

One of the few at the conference comfortable with a mic, apparently. (Photo courtesy Jonathan Pollack Photography))

I’m just back from St. Louis, MO, where I taught an all-day food writing workshop for about 70 people.

(The sold-out Food Media Forum came about after Stephanie Pollack of The Cupcake Project invited me to teach. Then it morphed into a 2-day conference. My workshop was the most elaborate I’ve done yet, with coffee to order, wine at lunch and a guy who pedaled in on an ice cream cart during the break.)

I like to start the day with writing prompts, while people are fresh (as opposed to after wine at lunch). I ran around the tables asking for volunteers to read. Some people were so nervous that they shook. Some stammered. Some hesitated. Some even tweeted about being nervous:

Robyn Wright of Robyn’s Online World was the first to read her writing out loud, and the crowd [Read more…] about When Food Writers Read Their Work

The Divide over "Divided" in a Recipe

July 24, 2012 by diannejacob 117 Comments

Three figs, divided. Will your readers get it?

Food blogger friend Stephanie Stiavetti, who’s working on a cookbook, likes to use “divided” when listing ingredients in receipes. Then she got this email from her editor, shooting down its use:

“Recipes into Type advises against using ‘divided’ in ingredient lists. These kinds of instructions belong in the recipe steps below ’97 where it will be clear HOW the ingredient is to be divided.”

“I’ve always used “divided,” she emailed me. “What do you think?”

Sorry. I don’t like divided either. Here’s why it doesn’t work:

1. People don’t know what it means. “Divided” is some kind of code that is left unexplained. When readers see “3 tablespoons honey, divided,” they might think it means cut in half, which is not necessarily so.

2. They have to read the method to find out. When they continue on to the method, it gets complicated. It says to use 2/3 now, and the remaining amount later, or gives [Read more…] about The Divide over "Divided" in a Recipe

Are You Making These 3 Mistakes on Your About Page?

July 17, 2012 by diannejacob 206 Comments

It happens all the time and it drives me crazy. I discover a new food blog. I go to the About page to find out more about the writer. There is no photo and no identification. Here’s all it says:

Welcome to my blog. It’s really original.
This is a yummy chronicle of my exploits and experiments.
I created this blog because I love kittens, butterflies and strawberry yogurt.

Argh! A blank page would be an improvement over this generic stuff. I go back to the Home page to look for more clues but find none. I’m losing interest…

If your About page is anonymous or generic, you are losing readers. Right now a piece is missing. That piece is you. I won’t become a regular reader until I know you.

It’s easy to come out of the closet. Just fix these three things on your About page:

1. You’re anonymous.

Please. I want to know your full name. Don’t just tell me your first name. Tell me [Read more…] about Are You Making These 3 Mistakes on Your About Page?

Self-publishing Success with a Paleo Cookbook

July 10, 2012 by diannejacob 40 Comments

Melissa Joulwan started out selling only on Amazon, but sales are so good she’s publishing the books herself and sending them to a distributor.

You may have heard of the latest craze, the Paleo diet. Cookbooks on this subject are selling like crazy since they started appearing in 2010.

Austin, Texas-based Melissa Joulwan started a paleo diet three years ago. Both she and her photographer, husband David Humphreys, worked in ad agencies for 20 years and have a background in marketing, social media, and web development. She quit her job this year, after the success of her cookbook Well Fed: Paleo Recipes For People Who Love to Eat.

Q. How long were you on the diet before deciding to write a cookbook?

A. I started eating paleo three years ago, and I started posting recipes on my website two years ago. It was more of “what I ate last night.” Once I started writing that you could substitute [Read more…] about Self-publishing Success with a Paleo Cookbook

Promoting Your Cookbook with a Virtual Potluck

July 2, 2012 by diannejacob 28 Comments

Debbie Koenig hosted a potluck for her book, selling out on Amazon in a day. (Photo by Bennington Photographers)

Your cookbook’s coming out and you’d like lots of bloggers to cover it. How about an event where all their posts appear on the same day and drive sales?

Debbie Koenig coordinated a potluck party for her first book, Parents Need to Eat Too: Nap-Friendly Recipes, One-Handed Meals, and Time-Saving Kitchen Tricks for New Parents (Morrow, 2012). A book marketing executive turned food, diet, and parenting writer, Koenig sold out Amazon in one day, when bloggers reviewed her book and posted recipes.

In this guest post (the first on my three-year-old blog), Koenig explains how a virtual potluck for bloggers works, and why hers succeeded.

By Debbie Koenig

I first heard the term “virtual potluck” three years ago, when Monica Bhide was preparing for the publication of her cookbook Modern Spice. Monica hosted the potluck as a one-night-only, online gathering of food bloggers, all cooking from her book and

Nora Ephron, My Writing Mentor

June 28, 2012 by diannejacob 42 Comments

When I was in journalism school in the 1970s, we looked to Esquire magazine, not the New Yorker, as the pinnacle of long-form narrative non-fiction. Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer and other Successful White Male Writers were our gods.

The ’60s and ’70s were a time of Ms. magazine, supposed bra burnings, and Gloria Steinem. It was also when Nora Ephron became the first female columnist in Esquire. Ephron, a feminist, burst upon the national scene writing essays like “A Few Words About Breasts” in this magazine for men. She visited a feminine hygiene plant, explaining how testers [Read more…] about Nora Ephron, My Writing Mentor