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Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

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What Bloggers Need for a Book Deal: Reader Relationships

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A guest post by Literary Agent Maria Ribas

When I was an editor, my publishing house did one of the first blog-to-book cookbooks. We were only allowed to do one, because obviously, we had to wait and see if this “blog” thing was going to blow over.

Now, every one of my authors is a blogger or vlogger (except the chefs). It still amazes me how blogging can build deep and lasting relationships. Yet, too often, I get that inescapable question: How many [Read more…] about What Bloggers Need for a Book Deal: Reader Relationships

25 Fantastic Links for Food Writers and Bloggers

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Bahn-Xeo-Vietnamese-Crepe

What have I been eating lately? Thanks for asking: A tender Bahn Xeo (Vietnamese Crepe) with cannonball flowers found outside the restaurant.

Hey there, do you have time to research stories and posts about what’s happening in our industry? I thought not.  But I do. And people send me terrific articles and posts too, which makes me happy. That’s why I like to make lists like these.

I’ve thrown in a few silly things just for fun. Because let’s not take ourselves too seriously, okay?

As a reminder, you can get fantastic links like these — on [Read more…] about 25 Fantastic Links for Food Writers and Bloggers

5 Reasons Not to Bash Food Bloggers

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5-Reasons-Not-to Bash-Food-BloggersLast week the New Yorker featured a snarky piece on food bloggers, called So You want to Write a Food Blog. Yes, it’s cute and clever, but wrong.

My main gripe is that the writer — Julia Edelman, a comedy writer and filmmaker, according to LinkedIn –has reduced all food bloggers to goofy incompetents. That’s not right, or fair.

The piece made me want to defend food bloggers, so here are my points:

1. Most food bloggers are hobbyists. Edelman doesn’t seem to [Read more…] about 5 Reasons Not to Bash Food Bloggers

5 Killer SEO Tips for Food Bloggers

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Stephanie-Stiavetti- Anime

Tech guru Stephanie Stiavetti

A guest post by Stephanie Stiavetti

I’m sure you’re familiar with the term Search Engine Optimization (SEO), one of the biggest time sucks we food bloggers endure to get more people to our blogs.

There’s no way around doing this work, as all bloggers must bend the knee to Our Great Google Overlords, with the exception of a handful of folks who are so insanely popular that they transcend the realm of mortal blogging (*cough*Ree*cough*).

The problem with keeping our websites search engine-friendly, however, is that every so often, Google changes the rules. And inevitably, for months following these changes, my inbox is flooded with the doleful cries of bloggers who have lost a chunk of their traffic.

If you’re smart, though, it won’t matter how Google alters its algorithm. All you have to do is produce good content and avoid questionable SEO practices. There are countless finer points, a few of which I’ll get to in a moment, but the fact remains that you’ll need not fear even the most Machiavellian changes Google makes to its ranking methods.

Here are a few tips for maintaining your trusted liege status to The Goog. They’re easy enough so that even if you’re  [Read more…] about 5 Killer SEO Tips for Food Bloggers

Food Blogger Pays for Expensive "Freebie" Restaurant Meal, In More Ways than One

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The upscale eatery that invited the blogger to a meal.

Here’s a story that could have happened to any food blogger or restaurant reviewer who receives email invitations to restaurants.

A restaurant p.r. person invited a food blogger to a “food tasting session,”  where she said the restaurant would host him for lunch.

The food blogger couldn’t make it at the suggested time, and later sent an email saying he’d be in the following Sunday for brunch, not lunch. He did not confirm that he expected it would still be a “food tasting session” where he would be hosted.

Lesson #1: If you’re changing the game plan, seek confirmation that you can still be hosted. Just because a restaurant invited you to a specific event doesn’t mean [Read more…] about Food Blogger Pays for Expensive "Freebie" Restaurant Meal, In More Ways than One

First Bookstore Signing for the New Edition

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Photo by Heather Lunan

This is the best part of being an author: when your book comes out and you have a signing at a terrific food-centric bookstore like Omnivore Books in San Francisco.

Photo by Owen Rubin

It also helps to have a great interviewer like food blogger Sean Timberlake of Hedonia, who lives in the neighborhood, to make it fun and dynamic. We talked about food blogging, mostly, but also got in a little bit about restaurant reviewing and freelance writing.

Photo by Kirstin Halgedahl

And it helps to have a good crowd. Among those who came out were food [Read more…] about First Bookstore Signing for the New Edition

7 Most Common Recipe Writing Errors

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In the last week I’ve been editing recipes for two books by food bloggers. Both have short deadlines, and I’ve been working long hours.

That’s okay. It’s so much fun to see such creativity and invention, to fantasize about which recipes I’m going to try, and –yes– to nitpick. Such is the job of an editor. For one book, I make comments in pen and add little colored stickies to the paper copy. For the other, I make comments using Track Changes within the Word document.

And here’s what I’m finding: errors and inelegant phrasings. I thought you might want to know about  the most common mistakes. First though, let’s review the terminology: The list of ingredients is called (funnily enough) the “ingredients list,” and the directions are called the “method:”

1. Ingredients out of order. This is by far the biggest error. List ingredients in the [Read more…] about 7 Most Common Recipe Writing Errors