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Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

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Will Write For Food

Of Dresses and Events Coming Up

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Omnivore-signing.2010

The 2010 signing of Will Write for Food, 2nd edition, at Omnivore Books in San Francisco. I still have that dress! Now I have to remember not to wear it. (Photo by Heather Luhan)

The third edition of Will Write for Food came out last week, and I’ve been busy with promotion. I love in-person events best because I get to see people in real life versus virtual, and wear dresses. Sometimes friends show up for support, which makes these events even more fun, kind of like parties.

So far my summer book promotion — that all-important six-week window — is going [Read more…] about Of Dresses and Events Coming Up

A New, Updated Edition of Will Write for Food

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At last! I started working on this edition last year and I couldn’t tell you about it until now. The third edition of Will Write for Food, completely updated and with a new chapter on making money, goes on sale July 14, 2015.

Much has changed since my second edition came out in 2010, most notably the rise of food blogging as a career. The biggest star is Ree Drummond, who got a cooking show on the Food Network, and sold almost as many books as Ina Garten in  2014.

(Ree wrote about my book: “I wish I’d read Dianne’s book before I started a tiny little food blog on a whim years ago. For current and aspiring food writers, it’s positively dripping with helpful advice and information!”)

Since my last edition, many food bloggers have made the top ten cookbook lists in sales, and more than a hundred U.S. food bloggers have book deals. A few food writers make a six-figure income from their businesses, and I describe how in this new edition.

While most food writers write as a hobby, a growing number would like to make an income and even a career from it. The new chapter in Will Write for Food addresses myriad ways to make money, including

  • Work that comes from a blog
  • How to negotiate pay
  • How to work with brands
  • How to create a media kit and rate sheet
  • Branding yourself and your blog
  • How some food writers earn a six-figure income (hint: online businesses).

I’ve also updated every chapter with new information and new voices, whether they’re covering cookbook writing, getting published, blogging, or making money. For the first time, I’ve invited a few respected authors and bloggers to contribute their stories of success. Some wrote insider how-to pieces on such subjects as negotiating pay and how to work with companies.

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So long, Will Write for Food, second edition, 2010.

And don’t you love my new cover? It’s fun to look at how the covers of my prior books have evolved.

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The first edition from 2005. I do feel kind of sentimental about it.

If you bought a previous edition, thank you. This new edition will refresh your skills and knowledge, and inspire you to up your game. My goal is to empower and inspire you.

If you are a new reader, welcome. You’ll find a smorgasbord of info about writing a blog, upping your social media and photography skills, writing a cookbook, or getting published in print or online. Get your markers and underliners ready!

Finally, take a look at this sneak peek introduction for Will Write for Food, prepared for you by my publisher. And please pre-order Will Write for Food at your favorite independent bookstore, or on Amazon or another online retailer.

 

When Your Partner Reads Your Work

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Last week at a panel on writing at BlogHer Food in Atlanta, David Leite said he never asks his partner to read his drafts.

“My husband cowers in the corner when I ask him to read something,” he confessed. He suggested people find someone else to review their writing, or just read it themselves.

“Do not give it to your partner to read,” he cautioned. “They’ll either fawn over caca or critique everything.”

I took the mic and respectfully disagreed. My husband reads almost every blog post I write. And I’m thrilled that, after 23 years of marriage, he is still willing to critique my work in a constructive manner.

It takes discipline to be just as respectful as he delivers the news, however. I’m still working on that. If I get out my annoyed voice and say, “What are you talking about? Of course readers will understand,” it doesn’t help.

Here’s what Owen reads for in a blog post:

1. Am I talking to myself? Sometimes I assume readers know, and he has no idea what I mean. In the rewrite, I back up and explain a situation or fill in a gap.

2. Is he bored? My post is exciting to me, but I notice if he’s not getting into it. While he is not my target reader, if he finds it difficult to concentrate, I figure out how to pump up the language, make the beginning snappier, or tighten the delivery. (Miraculously, he found this post riveting.)

3. Do long sentences need untangling? Sometimes he trips over them. That lets me know that I need more variety in my sentence lengths, to establish rhythm and interest.

4. Do I have typos, spelling or punctuation errors, or  extra spaces? He’s great at finding them.

I don’t ask Owen to read everything. For a cover story on food writing for the May/June Writer’s Digest (sorry, it’s only available on a newsstand), I enlisted two colleagues, both bloggers and freelance writers, to review a draft for me. I promised to read something for them in return.

Ironically, I realized recently that Owen doesn’t ask me to read his stuff (he writes product reviews for a Mac website as a hobby). When I asked him why, he said I’m too busy editing other people’s work. Sweet!

If you don’t have someone to read your work, try reading it out loud to yourself. And if you do use a partner or spouse for feedback, I’m curious to hear how, or whether, it’s worked for you.

Photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Barefoot Contessa's Dogged Recipe Testing

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Think your readers will make your recipes flawlessly simply because you’ve made them more than once?

Mega-star and cookbook author Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame doesn’t, even though she has worked in the food business for more than 30 years. She still relies on an assistant and her friends when developing new recipes.

In How Easy is That?, Garten says once she’s tested a recipe repeatedly, she hands it over to longtime assistant Barbara Libath. Then she watches Libath make it.

“Every time I do that, I learn something about how someone at home, with only the printed recipe in front of them, might make the dish,” Garten writes. She’s careful not to [Read more…] about Barefoot Contessa's Dogged Recipe Testing

20 Terms For Selling (I Mean Writing) Recipes

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Are his wares "Perfect for any occasion?"

Yes, recipe writers have to make readers want to rush into the kitchen. And readers need convincing. But must we sell, sell, sell?

I found these 20 terms below in a cookbook I edited recently.

What’s wrong with them? They’re generic. They’re overused. And I feel like I’m getting a sales pitch.

I put my least favorite term (no, not delicious) first. But “Perfect for any occasion” is delicious’s equivalent in value and vagueness. What exactly does it mean? Perfect for a funeral and your kid’s lunchbox? For a wedding or an after-school snack?

I bet the guy in the photo would use this term, if he thought it would work. It’s his job to snow you. But is it your job to snow readers?

Here’s my list of 20 tired sales pitches:

  1. Perfect for any occasion
  2. Minimum of time and effort
  3. You’ll rely on these recipes day in [Read more…] about 20 Terms For Selling (I Mean Writing) Recipes

Events Coming Up

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I’ll be in Vancouver, Penticton, San Francisco and Chicago in the next few weeks. Please come by to say hello, or consider attending a conference or event.

  • September 14, 2010
    Book Signing and Talk
    Barbara-Jo’s Books To Cooks
    Vancouver, B.C.
    6 p.m.
    $35 includes a copy of Will Write for Food     

    I’ll be interviewed by Nathan Fong, food columnist and TV host for The Vancouver Sun and GlobalTV.