Cookbooks

5 Ways to Expand Your Platform for a Book Deal

March 21, 2017 by diannejacob 17 Comments

More than two years before signing a cookbook contract for Eat This Poem: A Literary Feast of Recipes Inspired by Poetry, an editor at my would-be publisher said something like this: “We want to publish your book…but.” Although I had a solid book concept, the size of my platform wasn’t where the publisher hoped it would be. I needed readership building strategies.

In lieu of giving me a firm number to reach, my publisher was more interested in overall growth. This was comforting news for a blogger with around 2,000 visitors per month. After my initial disappointment wore off, I set out to [Read more…] about 5 Ways to Expand Your Platform for a Book Deal

How I Won 12 Book Awards for My Memoir

March 7, 2017 by diannejacob 10 Comments

A guest post by Judith Newton

Since independently publishing my food memoir, Tasting Home: Coming of Age in the Kitchen (She Writes Press) in 2013, my book has won 12 book awards. Once Dianne found this out, she asked me to speculate about why.

Tasting Home, to give you some sense of the book, is a feminist coming-of-age story about overcoming childhood and other traumas. Cooking for and dining with others had been fundamental to this process. Each chapter [Read more…] about How I Won 12 Book Awards for My Memoir

Americans are Cooking Less. What Does that Mean for Cookbooks?

December 13, 2016 by diannejacob 33 Comments

Today’s consumer is likely to buy ready-to-eat meals at the grocery store instead of ingredients.

Despite all the cookbooks we write and all the encouraging we food writers do –online and off — to get people to cook, Americans are heading to the kitchen less often, and cooking less.

And I’m not alone in that belief. No less than The Washing Post has described as “The slow death of the home-cooked meal.”

Here are four trends that show Americans are cooking less:

There’s now more eating out than cooking in. Last year was “the first year on record that Americans spent more on eating out than on buying groceries, according to the Department of Commerce,” said a tiny piece in California magazine. Packaged meals are the new focus. There’s even a new term called “grocerants.”
People are buying cookbooks for other reasons than cooking. They might aspire to cook from them, but then don’t. They might think cookbooks are beautiful enough to display as art. These reasons were clear in my examination of reviews and coverage of my own cookbook last year. It is now acceptable, in major publications and online, to recommend a cookbook without cooking from it.
The bestselling cookbooks are personality driven, not recipe driven. Ree Drummond of Pioneer Woman is last year’s queen, selling 782, 186 copies of her three books, according to Publishers Weekly. She sold more than three times as many copies of her books as Thug Kitchen and Ina Garten, who are also personalities.
Snacks are becoming more important than meals. Yet most cookbooks are focused on meals.

So Many Ways to Organize A Cookbook

November 22, 2016 by diannejacob 22 Comments

Worst table of contents ever. And it's a famous cookbook. Anyone know which one?

Worst. Table of contents. Ever. And it’s from a famous cookbook. Anyone know which one?

Have you decided how to organize your cookbook?

Well, I hope you’re more creative — and forthcoming– than this table of contents above. Recently I worked through five drafts of a [Read more…] about So Many Ways to Organize A Cookbook

Should You Co-Write a Book? 7 Tips to Help You Decide

November 15, 2016 by diannejacob Leave a Comment

A guest post by Casey Barber

Food writer Casey Barber wrote a few of her own cookbooks before exploring a co-writing opportunity. She interviews successful co-writers for this post.

It can feel overwhelming to take on a solo cookbook project versus co-writing one. You’ve got to hit on the right topic. You write and rewrite a proposal. You invest in a year or more of your life in the result.

Why not consider co-writing or ghostwriting instead? As a co-writer, I can vouch that it’s a refreshing change of pace. I like to dive into someone else’s world and work alongside a professional who’s not a writer.

Besides, “It’s crucial to have a writing pro at the chef’s side,” says Dorothy Kalins. A former Saveur and Newsweek editor, Kalins has worked with [Read more…] about Should You Co-Write a Book? 7 Tips to Help You Decide

Do You Think of Food Writing As a Business?

October 18, 2016 by diannejacob 10 Comments

Andy Schloss makes a 6-figure income as food writer despite the fact that he spends no time on social media.

Andy Schloss does. His business income has stayed steady for the last 30 years, hovering around $100,000 annually. He also thinks of his career in business terms, not as someone who works for fun, where income is secondary.

The bottom line: Andy has stayed on top financially because he shifts his food writing work as the market changes.

I had the opportunity to learn from Andy as part of a podcast panel on food writing and money. Andy moderated the panel for the Symposium for Professional Food Writers. A former chef and newspaper columnist, he is also the author of two dozen cookbooks. Plus he’s a [Read more…] about Do You Think of Food Writing As a Business?