Food Blogging

Exclusive Offer! Only 1000 Food Bloggers Qualify

April 27, 2010 by diannejacob 89 Comments

When three big food bloggers forwarded an email invitation to me within minutes of each other, I had to take a look. All three were insulted by this offer but knew that other food bloggers would take the companies up on it.

Here’s a condensed version of the invite, with sponsor names deleted:

“We enjoy your culinary blog, and share your passion for cooking and fine cuisine. To provide a fun way to try new recipes with your friends, we offer you the opportunity to host an Easy & Elegant Dinner Party in your home.

“Here’s how it works.You and 1000 fellow foodies across the country will simultaneously host Easy & Elegant Dinner Parties. If selected as a host, you will receive a generous party pack – including [Read more…] about Exclusive Offer! Only 1000 Food Bloggers Qualify

Friends, Food and Fun: What’s Not to Love?

April 25, 2010 by diannejacob

I’m happy and tired, just back from attending this conference. I’ve been going to International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) conferences for around 10 years. Every year I know more people, and much hugging and kissing and laughter ensues.

There are the people I only seem to see at this event. There are the people I want to get to know better, including book editors, magazine editors, and authors. There are the new friends I’m thrilled to see again. There’s the Bay Area contingency, always large. And for the first time, there are the people I’ve got to know here on the blog and on social media. Put them all together and it’s an ever-expanding party, [Read more…] about Friends, Food and Fun: What’s Not to Love?

I Have an Ad and I'm Okay With That

April 18, 2010 by diannejacob

$fractal cauliflower$ You’ll notice something new. It’s an ad, on the right, from BlogHer Publishing Network.

I know. I’ve crossed over to the other side, and I’m thrilled. It’s because I have redefined myself. I’m no longer just a blogger whose subject is food writing. I’m the publisher of my blog.

Being in charge overall is new for me. When I was a magazine editor, I [Read more…] about I Have an Ad and I'm Okay With That

Bloggers Fire Back on Working for Free

March 31, 2010 by diannejacob

Remember this guy from the movie “Network?”

Three food bloggers are mad as hell and they’re not going to take it any more.

I’m speaking of the idea put forth to them, in our social media-crazy world, they should be honored to work for nothing in exchange for exposure. (I’ve covered this subject before, from Putting the Free in Freelance to Links are the New Currency.)

In their responses, two writers use humor to get their point across, and one goes for it directly:

1. Matt Armendariz of Matt Bites made his point gently in a letter to a tire company, suggesting he [Read more…] about Bloggers Fire Back on Working for Free

Who Qualifies as a Beard Finalist, and What They Wrote

March 22, 2010 by diannejacob 34 Comments

Today the James Beard Association announced its finalists for the annual awards. I’m particularly interested in the Journalism Awards category: who the authors are and what they wrote.

The first thing I noticed is that most of the nominees are white men. They are full-time writers, reporters or editors at their publications. A few are freelance writers and long-time contributers to their publications. Some have already won awards. Some are book authors. Almost all seem based in the mid-west or the East Coast.

The few freelance writers nominated have a relationship with their publication. Translation: They didn’t write one piece for a magazine once.

Now, you can see the list of nominees on many other websites, but so far I haven’t found any sites offering links to the actual articles. It took me a couple of hours, and I didn’t find them all. But in service to you, who might wonder if you could ever write an award-winning article, here are [Read more…] about Who Qualifies as a Beard Finalist, and What They Wrote

Adapting a Recipe Doesn’t Make it Yours

March 17, 2010 by diannejacob 273 Comments

“My wife was browsing for a good burrito recipe and stumbled on a blog that posted a recipe strikingly similar to one on Food & Wine without giving any credit,” said my friend Ethan in a recent email. He didn’t know that we call it “adapting a recipe.”

“The blogger had modified the recipe a bit,” he continued, “but clearly a lot of the recipe was cut and pasted.” “I made a comment, as polite as I could, asking the blogger about it, but I suspect she won’t approve it.”

(I’m not providing a link because I don’t want you to tear this food [Read more…] about Adapting a Recipe Doesn’t Make it Yours

21 Ways to Get Comments on Your Blog

March 15, 2010 by diannejacob 19 Comments

Recently I asked food bloggers to tell me which posts received the most comments and why. I’ve analyzed the responses (thanks to everyone who commented) and created this simple list.

The next time you’re wracking your brain to come up with a blog post idea, choose a number below and see what develops. Or try one of the strategies to draw more people to your blog and increase your chances of comments.The suggestions are in no particular order.

Ask a question: “How do you use this vegetable?”
Write an essay that expresses your passion for cooking, such as how cooking connects you to your past, [Read more…] about 21 Ways to Get Comments on Your Blog