Dianne Jacob, Will Write For Food

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

Will Write For Food

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. 

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

Here it Is: The New Edition of Will Write for Food

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Last year, based on the success of the film Julie & Julia, my agent persuaded my publisher that Will Write for Food needed an update. “EVERYONE who has seen the movie wants to write a food blog,” she said, “and Dianne has already been received as an expert on the subject.”

Published in in 2005, the first edition of Will Write for Food needed an update, as it did not say much about food blogs. Back when I wrote it in 2004, the print world ignored bloggers as unproven and unedited. And I had a background in print.

How things have changed in five short years. Now food bloggers are the darlings of the food writing world, and some blogs have higher readerships than national food magazines. Some bloggers have higher incomes than the executive editors of those magazines too. And then there are the blog-to-book deals, the opportunities to write for print, and all kinds of other doors that opened as bloggers blasted into international consciousness by embracing easy blogging software and appearing online immediately. Now, every print publication and most general websites have begun blogs as a way of staying relevant.

A year ago I launched this blog as a way to research my new version of Will Write for Food and to build a platform for its sales. I couldn’t say so because I didn’t want sales of the existing version of my book to come to a halt, so all this time I’ve been waiting to make this announcement.

Meanwhile,  it’s been fun learning how to blog, build an audience, figure out what resonates with readers, and become part of an enormous online community. Along the way, I interviewed the most successful food bloggers, writing a 17,000-word chapter on  food blogging (about 70 pages double spaced) that will answer your questions, inspire you, and provide resources and insider information.

In addition to the new chapter on blogging, the new edition of Will Write for Food incorporates tips on using social media as a freelancer and a blogger; updated info on book publishing, whether traditional or self-publishing; and updated info on the newer, more competitive freelancing market. There’s a foreword by the multi-talented David Lebovitz, a successful food blogger, author and freelance writer and one of the first to champion my book (and note comment from Cooking With Amy, way back then too). You’ll also find insider information based on 75 interviews with the most successful authors, writers, editors, agents (and bloggers) in our business, plus a bibliography of more than 200 books, and a resource guide of magazines and websites that take freelance writing.

I hope you’ll check it out. The new edition is 25 percent bigger, clocking in at around 100,000 words, and the price of $15.95/$20 Canada has not changed. I’ve grown to appreciate the new cover, a departure from the oh-so-journalistic typewriter keys.

My new edition should be in stores by the end of this month, or pre-order it online or at your local independent bookstore. And as soon as it’s out, I’ll be running around the US and Western Canada to appear at conferences and bookstores to promote it, so I hope you’ll come by and say hello.