Recipe Writing

Beautiful Cookbooks with Stories and Personality Sell Best, Says Editor

September 15, 2015 by diannejacob 29 Comments

Ten Speed editorial director Julie Bennett says readers want to learn more about the personality of cookbook authors through their lives, world, culture and food.

I’ve been bugging Julie Bennett, vice president and editorial director at Ten Speed Press, for an interview, ever since we met at a conference a year ago.

It’s because Ten Speed publishes so many terrific cookbooks. As the director of the editorial department, Julie manages nine editors who will put out approximately 70 books this year. She has worked at Ten Speed since 1999.

Julie edited New York Times best selling cookbooks Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson and My Paris Kitchen by David Lebovitz, and A New Napa Cuisine by Christopher Kostow (IACP Cookbook of the Year), just to name a few.

We talked about cookbook publishing trends, whether all cookbooks need color photos, and what she looks for:

Q. What are the latest trends in cookbook publishing?

A. Today cookbooks have more of a personal narrative element. The trend of blogger-to-book ties into it, and there are cookbook writers who have a lot to say.

There are so many recipes online, but books present readers with [Read more…] about Beautiful Cookbooks with Stories and Personality Sell Best, Says Editor

Blogger Finds Famous Cookbook Recipe Doesn’t Work, but He’s Happy

July 7, 2015 by diannejacob 37 Comments

When a high-end cookbook recipe doesn’t work, how can this story have a happy ending? Somehow, it does.

First, a little backstory. Remember when Julie Powell started her career-changing food blog, The Julie/Julia Project, in 2002? It was about a government drone who makes every recipe from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking over a one-year period. Her blog led to the first blog-to-book deal and a subsequent movie.

After that, a whole bunch of people started blogs about [Read more…] about Blogger Finds Famous Cookbook Recipe Doesn’t Work, but He’s Happy

Frustrated by Smaller Can Sizes for Recipes? I Am.

January 6, 2015 by diannejacob 77 Comments

Do canned goods makers have any idea how it affects recipe developers and cooks when they reduce their can sizes?

…and I was just baking, not developing recipes.

Over the holidays I made a pumpkin bread from a favorite recipe in an older cookbook. The recipe called for one 16-ounce can. Yet cans of pumpkin are no longer 16 ounces, but 15.

The manufacturer removed 2 tablespoons instead of raising the price! I repeat: 2 tablespoons. That’s all it takes to mess up [Read more…] about Frustrated by Smaller Can Sizes for Recipes? I Am.

When Writing Recipes, Do All Ingredients Have a Standard Size?

December 2, 2014 by diannejacob 31 Comments

Fitting dough to a pizza screen for one of around 80 pizzas I made for a pizza cookbook — including one with a questionable ingredient. (Photo by Kris Montgomery)

Based on all the great feedback and discussion on last week’s post about recipe copy-editing, I’m asking about writing recipes with non-standard ingredient sizes.

Case in point: How big is a lamb sausage?

One of the USA of Pizza’s recipes called for “1 lamb sausage link” (not merguez). I purchased the link at a butcher. It weighed 5 1/2 ounces.

The copy editor asked if it should be 6 ounces.

Okay, I thought. Maybe 6 ounces is a standard size. But I didn’t know for sure, so I researched it. I Googled “lamb sausage” and clicked on images. I found [Read more…] about When Writing Recipes, Do All Ingredients Have a Standard Size?

Questions from a Recipe Copy Editor

November 25, 2014 by diannejacob 62 Comments

This smoked salmon pizza in The United States of Pizza includes sliced red onion. This was a source of contention!

If a copy editor has ever touched your cookbook manuscript, you will relate.

And if you haven’t had the experience yet, you will be intrigued — and possibly worried.

Before I start this discussion, however, I want to be clear. I’m grateful for all the goofs our very capable copy editor caught in chef Craig Priebe’s and my new pizza book (The USA of Pizza, October, 2015) manuscript.

But man, some of the queries made us scratch our heads. Here are three [Read more…] about Questions from a Recipe Copy Editor

If You Can’t Write Truly Great Recipes, be Honest, says Veteran Editor

September 9, 2014 by diannejacob 19 Comments

Rux Martin in her kitchen with some of the books she’s edited. (Photo by Barry Estabrook.)

I met cookbook editor Rux Martin years ago, before she got an imprint in her own name. Now she is Editorial Director of Rux Martin Books at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

She specializes in cookbooks, narrative nonfiction on food, and diet books. She has worked with Dorie Greenspan, Mollie Katzen, Jacques Pépin, and Ruth Reichl, to name just a few, and has edited New York Times bestsellers including The Gourmet Cookbook; Hello, Cupcake!; [Read more…] about If You Can’t Write Truly Great Recipes, be Honest, says Veteran Editor

How to Write Recipes That Are Harder to Steal

March 18, 2014 by diannejacob 52 Comments

I’ve written many times about how individual recipes can’t be copyrighted here in the US. But did you realize that you can defend a copyright if parts of your recipe contain “substantial literary expression?”

What exactly is that, and why should you bother?

“Substantial literary expression” establishes the information in a recipe as yours. That could be just as important as copyright, when it comes to theft.

Let me explain. US copyright law defines substantial literary expression as: [Read more…] about How to Write Recipes That Are Harder to Steal