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Welcome to the liveblog of the BlogHer Food '10 panel "Vocation - Do you have a cookbook in you?."
Here's the description:
If you're developing recipes, you may be harboring the dream of publishing your own cookbook. Whether you're a food blogger, or any other kind, for that matter, blogging and authoring a book are different beasts, each with its own unique challenges. In this session, we’ll discuss the distinctions between writing a food blog and a cookbook, all while maintaining an authentic voice and engaging separate, simultaneous audiences. Join authors Shauna James Ahern from Gluten Free Girl, Nancy Baggett from Kitchen Lane, Dorie Greenspan from DorieGreenspan.com, Susan Russo from Food Blogga, and Justin Schwartz, Senior Editor at Wiley, to discover whether you have a cookbook in you.
Day 2 Session II: Do you have a cookbook in you?
Susan (Su)
Dorie (D)
Nancy (N)
Shauna (Sh)
Justin (J)
(Q = Question from audience member)
Su: Introduces panel of successful cookbook authors and editor (J)
We want to share our individual stories with you and share our individual approaches. Want it to be interactive, so ask lots of questions. We will talk about how to transition to writing cookbooks from blogging; recipe writing; editor's perspective, etc. Panelists, please introduce yourselves.
D: I'm a cookbook author. Yesterday was the official pub date for my 10th cookbook, Around My French Table (AMFT), which came out 5 weeks prematurely. Savory foods, but I'm primarily involved in baking cookbooks. Wrote Baking with Julia. 3.5 years ago, started blogging, doriegreenspan.com
N: I specialize in baking, too. My 2nd side is healthy, low-fat. Philosophy: eat prudently at meals, and then indulge in dessert. Have been writing about food longer than some audience members have been alive. The business has really changed.
Sh: Gluten-free Girl: I didn't know people would read the blog. Blossomed into something extraordinary. Was high-school English teacher. Justin was editor on the cookbook. If you are a blogger, you have no idea what awaits you if you follow your heart.
J: Just Cook NYC blog. Have written a couple books. Senior editor (cookbooks) at Wiley.
Su: FoodBlogga. Freelance food writing. 2 cookbooks, including Recipes Every Man Should Know. Was also high-school English teacher.
Shauna, could you address transitioning from blogging to writing a cookbook?
Sh: You don't transition. You're constantly doing both. One of the most beautiful and hardest experiences I've ever had. A lot of people have a dream to write a cookbook and get rich and famous. You don't make any money off cookbooks. Started my blog when no one knew what a food blog was, so there was no expectation of a book, etc. An agent contacted me. My first book, I met my husband, and my editor told me "He's not testing the recipes; he's the last chapter of the book" and he was.
Su: N, you have been writing cookbooks since before there were blogs, right?
N: Yes. I came into blogging as a result of Justin. I had a website so long ago, it was pre-blogging. The idea was your website was like a brochure, for people who wanted hire you, etc. Blogging's a beautiful help desk. My latest book, people have questions and come up with ideas. It's been a great way to find out what my readers are thinking about and want to know. Once in a while, I'll do a blog post gathering up questions people have asked, and answer them. A recent one, a reader took my method and turned a conventional yeasted recipe into a kneadless one, and it was really good, so I'll post about it.
D: I find it so interesting that people are talking about the death of print -- newspapers are going under, publishers are having problems -- bloggers have huge audiences, and still people want to write cookbooks. I was a child bride. Got married in college, ABD (all but dissertation) in gerontology, and baked/cooked the whole time. I had to cook; we couldn't afford to go out. I loved it. I didn't love doing the dissertation. When the kid was born, he was my excuse not to go back to work. Husband encouraged a job as baker, and I got it, and got fired. Friend said why not write about food. Got my first assignment in 1983 for food & wine magazine. Mother was mortified. Not Dr. Dorie, but a food writer, and no one knows what that
