Thanksgiving cookbooks

It’s an exciting time of year to be the author of a Thanksgiving cookbook. I spoke to three veterans about what kind of media they do to boost book sales, what they like about being an expert, and what they’ll be serving on Turkey Day. They are:

• Diane Morgan, author of The New Thanksgiving Table, has written 14 other cookbooks
• Kristine Kidd, author of Thanksgiving: Festive Recipes for the Holiday Table has written six cookbooks for Williams Sonoma
• Rick Rogers, author of Thanksgiving 101, has written too many cookbooks to count; see this list.

Diane: Magazines come the earliest with articles typically due by the middle of May. I am often asked to write stories in the early spring for the coming year’s publication. Newspapers are typically thinking about Thanksgiving stories in July, though pitching in June isn’t unheard of.

For my own website, I plan my blog featured recipes with coordinating video in August. This year, I was a judge on the Food Network Thanksgiving Challenge. That request came early last March. Interviews for Turkey Day stories happen in September or October. Radio interviews come right after Halloween. I was just on Martha Stewart Living radio talking about easy holiday appetizers.

Kristine: During my long tenure as food editor at Bon Appetit magazine, we started working on our Thanksgiving issue about six months before it was published. I created the recipes for my Thanksgiving book a year before publication. I did a book signing and demo at Williams-Sonoma at the end of October. With my blog, I work a week or two ahead, so I am planning and creating in the season when [Read more…] about 3 Thanksgiving Cookbook Authors Dish on Their Craft