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Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

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

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A Self-published Cookbook Author Gets Her Own Magazine

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Melissa Joulwan has always done things her own way. Now she gets her own magazine! She started a blog, built a following, wrote three award-winning self-published cookbooks, and recently, moved to Prague with Dave, her husband and photographer.

I’ve written about her success as a self-published cookbook author: 5 Things I learned from Selling Almost 300,000 Cookbooks, and Self-publishing Success wth a Paleo Cookbook.

But this! She gets her own magazine?

I didn’t find out about Melissa’s latest venture until a friend showed me [Read more…] about A Self-published Cookbook Author Gets Her Own Magazine

3 Reasons Food Writing Doesn’t Pay

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Actually there’s only one reason food writing doesn’t pay: Mostly women do it, and most do it as a hobby or on the side. As a result, they are amateurs or consider themselves as such, even after years of work or accomplishments.

Most of us don’t ask to be paid what we’re worth. So publications and websites can get away with paying very little, compared to [Read more…] about 3 Reasons Food Writing Doesn’t Pay

Raghavan Iyer Moves Beyond Indian Cookbooks

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After four Indian cookbooks and a book on Asian flavors, including Betty Crocker’s Indian Home Cooking (“Talk about gender-bender! That book is still in print!” he enthuses), Raghavan Iyer branched out. As a chef who, for the last 16 years, has trained other chefs for Bon Appetit Management company about Indian and vegetarian world cuisines, Raghavan wrote a cookbook about potatoes.

Until Smashed, Mashed, Boiled, and Baked–and Fried, Too!: A Celebration of Potatoes in 75 Irresistible Recipes came out last fall, pretty much everything Raghavan did had an Indian bent. That includes his [Read more…] about Raghavan Iyer Moves Beyond Indian Cookbooks

Activist Sandra Gutierrez: On Speaking Out Through Writing

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Q&A with activist Sandra Gutierrez on speaking out through writingWriter and activist Sandra Gutierrez knows what it feels like to be a stereotype, and to break through barriers. She is speaking out through writing — first about food, and now about stereotypes. She did it slowly, but with a belief that her story as a Latina, and the story of Southern Latino food could be told.

Now she’s a nationally recognized food personality, cookbook author, freelance food writer, and cooking instructor. Her articles and recipes have appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world.

The Smithsonian Institution recognized Sandra’s contribution to American culture through an example of community change. Sandra defined the New Southern-Latino culinary movement more than 20 years ago, after she convinced [Read more…] about Activist Sandra Gutierrez: On Speaking Out Through Writing

Food Bloggers Who Help Others

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Mega-food blogger Aimee Wimbush-Bourque of Simple Bites emailed me recently to say that, after meeting with another big blogger, they decided “blogging isn’t enough anymore. We want to use our platforms to help others, to do some good, to make a difference.”

So Amy contacted World Vision,  and began raising funds for hunger relief in Kenya. She created recipe cards as part of [Read more…] about Food Bloggers Who Help Others

Q&A: Jump Into Video and Make Mistakes, Says David Lebovitz

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And if you’d like to make this chocolate chocolate chip cookie, here’s the recipe. (Photo courtesy of David Lebovitz.)

I know video is the next new thing on the Internet. Food bloggers are supposed to get on it. So I turned to mega food blogger and cookbook author David Lebovitz for advice, who started making them years ago.

Here’s what David had to say about why to get involved in video, on the issue of quality versus spontaneity, and on which platforms to use:

Q. There’s so much focus on video at food blogging conferences now. Must food bloggers get into video to stay relevant?

A. It’s good to dip your feet into a variety of things, but doing a video can be an [Read more…] about Q&A: Jump Into Video and Make Mistakes, Says David Lebovitz

Damn Right: I Do Make a Living Writing About Food

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A guest post by Naomi Tomky

As a freelance food writer, when I saw Dianne end her post positing that, perhaps, food writers are their own worst enemy when it comes to demanding good pay, I knew she was right.

But it’s a deeper problem than that. Not only did her piece on how there’s no money in food writing not match my experience, but in a way, it [Read more…] about Damn Right: I Do Make a Living Writing About Food