Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food
Useful Tips, Interviews, and Stories to Inspire Food Writers and Bloggers
A Guest Post by Raquel Smith of Food Blogger Pro
Choosing a recipe plugin is an important decision for a food blogger. After all, your recipes are why you have traffic, why advertisers pay you, and why people subscribe to your email list.
It makes sense, then, that choosing a recipe plugin would take time. With all the options, how do you know which will [Read more…] about 5 Tips for Choosing a Recipe Plugin
Ever tried a mac and cheese pizza? It’s fantastic! If you have the correct recipe. Ouch. (Photo by Jeff Kauck)
An email arrived about an error. It was the kind all cookbook authors all dread. Someone was making the Mac and Cheese Pizza recipe in the cookbook I co-wrote, The United States of Pizza. But something was wrong.
“The ingredient list calls for [Read more…] about When a Reader Found a Cookbook Error
Is this how you think of your target reader?
Some food writers tell me indignantly, “I’m not dumbing down a recipe!” They think it’s insulting to to simplify their three-layer cake recipe or a lasagna with 20 steps.
They think their readers should want to cook exactly the way they do.
Your readers are not you. They don’t have your skills. They don’t cook as much. They don’t want to [Read more…] about Please Don’t “Dumb Down” a Recipe
No, this isn’t Suzanne. But she’s probably pulling her hair right now, if she’s copy editing a cookbook.
A guest post by Suzanne Fass
Cookbook writers may hate me at first if they think that—once they’ve turned in their manuscript to a publisher—they’re done. I make them do more work. I want every cookbook to be the best it can be, the most useful for anyone cooking—and learning—from it.
As a copy editor, I try to save writers from embarrassment. I correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I fact-check. I query missing ingredients, missing steps, cross-references to recipes, and anything else that looks weird to me.
How many subrecipes does it take to make this Buffalo Chicken Pizza from The United States of Pizza? Two. You have to make the dough and the sauce, and then put it all together. (Photo by Jeff Kauck.)
When I read this line, I felt a shudder of recognition: “How many times have I begun working through a recipe only to realize halfway through that I needed to have started yesterday? F*ck2 that!”
You’re probably nodding. This writer hates not being warned about steps to take in advance. He probably also dislikes [Read more…] about A Revolutionary Way to Handle Subrecipes
Humorist Betty Teller, an accomplished cook, at a cooking party.
A guest essay by Betty Teller
It’s not my fault, not really. I will admit that I procrastinated to the last possible day. But I do that every week. I always put off writing, in the hope that I’ll have an adventure, or inspiration will otherwise strike, so I don’t have to write about raking the yard yet again.
But I woke up early this morning with every intention of jumping right in. I’d cleared my calendar in preparation. I had only one small item on the agenda before I could sit down at my computer.
I had to go buy a few ingredients for the moussaka I was making for the cookbook club dinner tonight. And then I needed to cook [Read more…] about Making a Chef’s Recipe? Don’t Cook Alone!
As the food director at Real Simple magazine, responsible for all recipes, Sarah Copeland has lots of opinions — and experience — about [Read more…] about Writing a High-Quality Recipe is Like a Report, says Real Simple Editor