Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

Useful Tips, Interviews, and Stories to Inspire Food Writers and Bloggers

Food blogging

5 Writing Books for Holiday Marking and Underlining

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My highest compliment: A marked up first edition of my book. (Photo by Jo Stougaard)

You’ll probably get on a plane soon, off to see grandma, friends or kids. Why not spend your plane time reading a how-to book?

No, not the ones about making money or dieting! I mean books about writing and publishing. Put your tray table down and furiously underline, fold pages over, add sticky notes, and fill pages with highlighter. The only hard part is adding a beverage without spilling.

It took me years to mark up my non-fiction books. Now I take it as the highest compliment when readers tell me they’ve violated Will Write for Food in the same way.

Although sometimes it sounds a little extreme. One reader told me she tore the book in half so she could read the unread part on a plane!

After the first edition came out in 2005, Jo of MyLastBite, a respected Los Angeles blogger, sent me the above two photos of my book, with an email about her mark-up system:

“My copy of your book is never far from reach. When I read books, my system for flagging specific pages are: 1) Flagged page on top means “great quote.” 2) Flagged page to the right means “action” or “get more info.”

“After I read your book (the first time), my husband made fun of me because almost EVERY page was marked with a flag on top, AND on the right.”

What a huge compliment. And I encourage you to do the same with whatever book you’re juggling on your tray table. How-to books are made for destruction, and we authors don’t mind.

Here are five books to improve your writing and knowledge of the publishing industry, from the classics to the newcomers:

1. Bird by Bird: Some instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott. I never tire of recommending this book, just as I never tire of re-reading it. And most importantly, Lamott is the one who came up with “shitty first draft.” I never tire of using that term as a writing coach and teacher, either. It always gets a laugh, but mostly because [Read more…] about 5 Writing Books for Holiday Marking and Underlining

Tons of Conferences and Workshops Coming Up

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Why go to a conference or workshop? I can think of a million reasons. It’s fun. It’s a great way to hear speakers you admire, or people you only know online. You’ll be energized, you could make contacts leading to more writing assignments, and you’ll definitely get out of your usual routine.

In the sessions, even if you think you’ve heard it all, you could:

  • Be inspired to reach for a new goal
  • Remember something important that you need to work on
  • Think about a current project in a new way, breaking through clutter or obstacles
  • Hear messages you’ve heard before, but this time they sink in!

Whether you’re a food writer, food blogger, or food historian, here’s a big list of upcoming food-based conferences to tempt you (and some where I’m speaking):

December 9 – 10, Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Conference. Held at the University of Las Vegas campus, this conference attracts academics who speak on agriculture industry, geography, culture and aesthetics and policies. Las Vegas, NV

January 28, 2012, Food Blog South. This year’s one-day conferences features a keynote by Kat Kinsman, managing editor of CNN’s food blog Eatocracy, and vice chair of the James Beard journalism committee. I’ll be speaking on food blog ethics, a favorite topic. Birmingham, AL

February 9 – 11, The Roger Smith Cookbook Conference. Tracks on the past, present and future of the cookbook, with panelists from the cookbook, agenting, publishing and literary worlds. New York

March 16th – 18th, Food Sense: 8th Annual MU Life Sciences & Society Symposium. This symposium investigates “how our taste for food is shaped by biological triggers, cultural norms, economic activity, and [Read more…] about Tons of Conferences and Workshops Coming Up

Comparing

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You have a friend with more followers than you on Twitter. Another blogger gets more comments than you on her blog. Your friend who wrote a cookbook got nominated for an award.

You read the bios of food bloggers and food writers online, and feel envy about how much media attention they get, or whom they write for, or how clever they are. Or you spend hours on Facebook and Twitter, admiring how some writers craft a witty sentence, and seeing how many “Likes” and comments and RTs they get.

Then you try to comment but you find you don’t have [Read more…] about Comparing

9 Questions For When a Book Publisher Calls

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In the last few weeks, I’ve heard from lots of food bloggers who are getting calls from publishers, asking them to write books.

It’s thrilling to get one of these calls, but they didn’t necessarily know what questions to ask the publisher.

And of course, there’s no reason why they should know, since they have never been in this position before. So I compiled a list of questions, in case a call like this comes your way.

The most important thing is to not make commitments during the initial call. Get the answers to these questions, and then think it over.

1. What is the advance? The advance is the amount of money you are paid up front to write the book. If the publisher offers you $10,000, and your royalty rate is $1 per book (I’m just making the math easier), then you earn $1 per book after you sell 10,000 books.

Beginning advances for first-time book authors range from $3500 – $25,000, unless you’re a star or you have a big audience. Most of the time, they’re offering you [Read more…] about 9 Questions For When a Book Publisher Calls

Melissa Clark Works Her Tail Off, and Says You Should Too

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Prolific food writer Melissa Clark writes cookbooks, freelance articles and columns, and a blog.

If you looked up the opposite of “slacker,” you’d see Melissa Clark‘s name highlighted in bold.

The prolific freelancer writes weekly recipes for the New York Times and Gilt Taste, among other freelance gigs. She has also written 32 cookbooks. Many are collaborations with chefs including Daniel Boulud, David Bouley, and White House Pastry Chef Bill Yosses. Her latest cookbook, out in October, is Cook This Now: 120 Easy and Delectable Dishes You Can’t Wait to Make.

Oh, and in her copious spare time, she takes care of her young daughter and writes a blog.

In an interview, she spoke about her career as a food writer, including advice for those who want to be as successful:

Q. You’d been working as a cook and a caterer in New York. What made you want to become a food writer?

A. I always wanted to be a food writer. I started a catering business when I was in grad school. Food was in everything I wrote. It was my metaphor. This was the 1990s. People knew of restaurant critics and cookbooks writers, but food writing wasn’t a viable career. I felt like I was on an uncharted path.

Q. Is a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in writing a good way to learn about freelance writing and cookbook collaboration? Would you recommend it?

A. No. It’s a good way to find your voice as a writer. People don’t think about that. It’s just as important.

Q. As a freelancer, don’t you have to write the voice of the publication?

A. If you don’t even know who you are and what your voice is, it’s really hard to figure out how to make your voice fit into other molds. Voice has to have a point of view, the perspective that the piece is coming from.

It’s really good to know how to write in different perspectives (first person, second person, third person). You learn all different perspectives when you get an MFA.

I recommend that people take writing classes. It helps stretch you as a writer. It’s really good to challenge yourself.

Q. What was your first big break as a freelance writer?

A. I wrote for websites about food, including once a month for Hearst magazines. I wrote tons of content for Cuisinenet. They paid me real money. I could support myself if I catered on the side.

I also developed recipes for IMP, which put out recipe cards that went out in the mail, where they asked people to [Read more…] about Melissa Clark Works Her Tail Off, and Says You Should Too

5 Ways Bloggers Changed Restaurant Reviewing

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Does opinion still matter? Yes. (Photo by Stuart Miles.)

Now that the New York Times’ latest restaurant critic, Sam Sifton, has moved on, the hand wringing begins anew about whether career food critics are doomed because of Yelp and food bloggers.

Let’s ask a different question. How have food bloggers changed restaurant reviewing? Here’s what I see as the biggest shifts:

1. Food bloggers don’t wait to review. In the old days, reviewers waited a month or so for the restaurant to get its groove. Bloggers figure that if they’re open for business, they’re fair game.

I like this approach. It implies there’s no cozy relationship between the two. Except that sometimes, there is. See No. 2.

2. Restaurants have opening events for bloggers. Print reviewers go to restaurants undercover and hope not to be recognized. They have expense accounts or get reimbursed as freelancers, whereas most bloggers write for free, as a hobby. So restaurants pay for them to come sample a meal. The cozy relationship is back.

3. Bloggers are more likely to cover an event than to review the food. Cover means “I went there and this is what I had,” versus. reviewing, which requires opinions [Read more…] about 5 Ways Bloggers Changed Restaurant Reviewing

Selling Recipes Online for $2.49 Each

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Goldman’s Notting Hill Brownies. (Photo by Ryan Szulc.)

Eight years ago, Marcy Goldman stopped giving recipes away for free on her website, Better Baking.

“Everyone was vacuuming up my recipes and putting them on sites like Allrecipes.com, sometimes changing the headnotes, sometimes not,” she told me in an interview. “It was irksome.”

“Cookbook editors were asking if the recipes for forthcoming books would be original or could they expect to see them on other people’s websites. Plus I felt like my recipes were my children. I felt proprietary about them, both as a chef and a writer.”

So she put her recipes behind a wall, and charged for them. Readers can subscribe to the website “magazine” for 1 to 4 months, for $5 to $20, to access more than 2500 recipes. Or they can [Read more…] about Selling Recipes Online for $2.49 Each