Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

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

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Should Freelancers Not Mention Their Blogs?

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That’s me, barely visible on the left, talking in the demonstration kitchen of Kendall College in Chicago. My book, Will Write for Food, came out in July and I’m still in promotion mode.

At a recent talk at a culinary school in Chicago, I told the audience of food writers about an outrageous request a company made of a food blogger, showing that food bloggers aren’t taken seriously when it comes to pay. A woman raised her hand and asked whether to omit that she is a food blogger when pitching a publication for a story.

“That depends,” I responded. “Are you already established in print?”

She said she was. And then I thought: This woman in the audience is brilliant. Because she will be taken more seriously and offered more money than if she says she is a blogger.

Signing books after the talk. That’s Scott Warner on my right, program chair of the Culinary Historians of Chicago, host of my talk.

How do I know this? Print publications sometimes ask bloggers to work for free. And while many print food writers have started food blogs to stay current, saying so might [Read more…] about Should Freelancers Not Mention Their Blogs?

BlogHer Food, the Love Fest

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Shauna James Ahern of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, Michael Ruhlman of Ruhlman.com and Molly Wizenberg of Orangette at the closing BlogHer Food keynote, talking about why they love to write and what it means to them. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Yu of Use Real Butter.

BlogHer Food ’10 this past weekend in San Francisco built on its second year as a love fest where 250 attendees (mostly food blogging women and gay men) thrill to be in each other’s presence. If you weren’t into hugging and making this noise called “Squeee!” you didn’t belong.

Southern California threesome: Carrie Vitt of Deliciously Organic, Brooke Burton of Food Woolf, and Gaby Dalkin of What's Gaby Cooking.

The two-day conference was less about the sessions and more about seeing friends, making new friends, partying, and swag. Attendees met heroes they had previously seen only on the page, and discovered [Read more…] about BlogHer Food, the Love Fest

Storytelling Panel Coming Up at BlogHer Food

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I’m preparing for my Friday panel for BlogHer Food on storytelling. As food writers, we are all storytellers, even though we can’t exactly say how we do it.

So I turned to some experts to tell me: What, exactly, constitutes storytelling?

“Storytelling passes on the essence of who we are,” say members of the National Storytelling Association. “Stories are a prime vehicle for assessing and interpreting events, experiences, and concepts from minor moments of daily life to the grand nature of the human condition. It is an intrinsic and basic form of human communication. More than any other form of communication, the telling of stories is [Read more…] about Storytelling Panel Coming Up at BlogHer Food

Outrageous Blogger Request, and the Outcome

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Food blogger Amy Sherman of Cooking With Amy

First I just Tweeted about this offer because it was so outrageous. Then I decided no, it’s worth sharing with you.

Amy Sherman of Cooking with Amy sent me an unsolicited email she received from a company that wants her to feature its product on her blog. That’s not unusual, right? But read on, and you’ll find some crazy requests. Here’s how the email begins:

“The event is at a culinary trade show in Italy. You would be picked up at the airport  for the event, lasting two days. We would put you up in a hotel and cover all meal expenses for the 2 days of the show. “

Sounds reasonable so far.

The Request

But now it gets suspicious [Read more…] about Outrageous Blogger Request, and the Outcome

New Writers Welcome at Saveur, says Oseland

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James Oseland, Saveur magazine editor-in-chief

Wondering whether to pitch Saveur magazine? If you’ve never written for the publication before, you’re in luck, says Editor-in-Chief James Osland. In a recent phone interview, he estimated that some 60 to 80 percent of Saveur is freelanced. Of that amount, he said at least 50 percent is not from regular contributing editors.

So, if you do the math, that means 30 to 40 percent of Saveur’s food writing is written by new writers. Moreover, new writers don’t have to pitch a small story first.

“No,” Oseland  reiterates when I express surprise. “You don’t have to break in at the front of the book. I’ll take a feature.”

Saveur has only nine issues per year, with an average of 72 to 74 pages to fill per issue. That’s three or four features, four to five departments, and four to five shorter pieces in Fare, a department at the front. “We don’t have a lot of real estate,” Oseland admits. “Sometimes you have to choose stories that go well together. I wish it wasn’t finite, but alas it is, so we have to be judicious.”

One Long Communal Story Meeting

The way to get into Saveur is to pitch (an email to the editors that [Read more…] about New Writers Welcome at Saveur, says Oseland

A Food Bloggers Union?

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I got an email a few days ago from the daughter of a famous cookbook author, who feels sympathy for how little food bloggers make and wants to do something about it. Here’s what she wrote:

“My mom and I have been traveling for her book tour. My mom is Pam Anderson, she is a food writer and cookbook author and has a new book out called Perfect One-Dish Dinners. I do most of her publicity and travel with her and in each city we’ve been meeting up with our blogging friends along the way.

“You might not be surprised to know that a lot of what we talked about was how bloggers aren’t getting paid anything near what they should be (if at all). The ladies were really fed up and frustrated. We all want to make a career out of this, but the money just isn’t there. We’re tired of e-mails asking for us to promote products for free or create content and photos for a measly $50.

Bloggers don’t know what to charge

“Part of the problem is that many people don’t know what they should be asking for. I think people don’t ask because they aren’t informed and there is no standard. We thought, what if we set up [Read more…] about A Food Bloggers Union?

Okanagan Food and Wine Writers Workshop

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One of the winemaker dinners about to begin at the Naramata Heritage Inn and Spa. The conference organizer, Jennifer Cockrall-King, welcomes us at the head of the table.

I’m just back from a few days in the Okanagan wine country of British Columbia, Canada, hanging out with Canadian food and wine writers and bloggers at the second annual Okanagan Food and Wine Writers Workshop.

Most of you are American, so I thought you should know about a food writing workshop in a gorgeous food and wine region of British Columbia, in case you ever need an excuse to visit.

I’m from British Columbia, born in Vancouver, and wanted to get back to the province to see the Okanagan again. As a kid, I remember driving up with my family (about a 4-hour drive inland) to enjoy the the fruit orchards, swimming, and to search for [Read more…] about Okanagan Food and Wine Writers Workshop