Charting the highs and lows of cookbook writing

And what to watch, read and listen to

While there are plenty of ways to get your ideas, recipes, thoughts and memories out there, few are as compelling as writing a book. You can make videos, publish newsletters, record podcasts, or perhaps spend hours making a ten-second TikTok cooking video. 

Photo by Alfred Kenneally on Unsplash

But publishing a book is another matter. It's a physical reality. A calling card. A record of where you are in your life. I’ve published two books, Cook Wrap Sell, a guide to creating and running a successful home-based food business, and Cook Wrap Export: Selling Your Food to the World, a guide to exporting. The latter was written before Brexit when it was a simpler time to export foods (and import them!). They both took about six weeks each to write, during which I was at the laptop for hours at a time, experiencing those highs and lows familiar to writers, artists and creators. Little plug, you can buy the books here: Cook Wrap Sell and Cook Wrap Export.

But these books are not creative nonfiction—the genre that includes cookbooks, travel writing, and memoir—which I’m currently teaching and exploring with my work. I play with the idea of writing a cookbook, so last week, to get an idea of what it might be like to focus on writing a cookbook, I gathered with around 60 fellow members of the Guild of Food Writers at luxury kitchenware and appliance company Smeg's swish showroom and cooking theatre in London's Regent Street. 

In front of us were four published cookbook authors, including host Felicity Cloake, known for her 'How to cook the perfect …' column in The Guardian newspaper. Felicity has published several cookbooks and travelogues and is no stranger to the publishing process. Still, there is always something new to learn.

The other authors included Indonesian-born Petty Pandean-Elliott, who has a storied writing career in Southeast Asia. Her first book to be published in the UK, The Indonesian Table, published by Phaidon in April 2023, offers fascinating insights into the pressured days of writing a cookbook.  

South Korean-born Su Scott has an amazing three-book deal. She delivered her first book Rice Table: Korean Recipes and Stories to Feed the Soul in March. It's published by Quadrille Publishing Ltd and is available here. 

The third panellist was Philip Khoury, head pastry chef at Harrods in London, whose book A New Way to Bake:Re-imagined Recipes for Plant-based Cakes, Bakes and Desserts was published by Hardie Grant Books (UK) in August 2023.  

So, how did the conversation evolve over the hour or so of the evening? There were many common threads, from finding the right agent and understanding that you have more say in the design and editing of your book than you might think, to choosing and testing suitable recipes. 

Everyone agreed, however, that the editing process is intense and relentless. No new author ever presses send on a manuscript without a regular dialogue with agents, editors and designers. It's very much a collaborative piece of work with covers being a popular point of discussion. The final cover of Phil's book took many conversations, rough sketches and seven full mock-ups before the final cover was greenlighted. Su agreed, saying it was thrilling to have her vision realised in the cover artwork. 

On the subject of agents—the intermediary between writer and publisher—the consensus was that it’s best to work with one to smooth your journey to publication. Agents are familiar with contracts, copyright and, most importantly, negotiating with editors the difficult questions about money. Writers can be shy about asking for money and often undervalue themselves. Many writers dream of advances, of thousands of pounds that will allow them to rent a cottage by the sea and scratch out their beloved cookbook. No! The advance for a recipe book is generally minimal and ends up being used to buy recipe ingredients. Some advances have included money for photographers and food stylists, both expensive costs. So don’t be surprised if, for example, your book has 90 recipes and they all need to be cooked, styled and photographed in the short span of three or four days. As I said, relentless. 

Food writing coach and teacher Jenni Muir says, "Publishers are looking for more than simply having a high social media following, because those numbers don't necessarily lead to more sales. You need a great, sellable concept that either solves a problem for readers or fulfils a deep longing they have." 

Jenni adds: "Many new cookbook authors forget that writing is only part of the process. You need to plan a career, which may or may not include an agent, and realise that you will need to sell the book when it's published, not simply rely on the publisher and retailers to do all the work.

"The most appealing pitches tend to come from people who are on a bit of a mission. They have an energy about them that permeates the book and all their social media and publicity efforts."

One of the questions asked was about the use of social media and whether an aspiring writer needs tens of thousands of followers on an app such as Instagram, Facebook or TikTok. To the relief of many in the audience, the answer is no. You can have 1,500 followers on Instagram or a million. It's more important to build a community of supporters. These are the people who will buy your books, not the lurkers or casual followers. 

These topics were just a sample of what was discussed on the evening, and one takeaway from the night was that focus and hard work are what’s needed to lead you to a book deal. Read around your subject, cook a lot and deeply consider why anyone would buy your books. What are you offering them, are you inspiring them, and ask yourself if now the right time for your book. Oh, and to borrow a phrase: just do it. 

Suggested Classes

There are many online and real-life courses available to budding cookbook writers. Here are five recommendations for food writing courses that either I or my colleagues have experienced:

ffoice 

These classes are run by an experienced food writer and editor, and offer group or one-to-one training. 
Online. 
www.ffoice.com

Dianne Jacob
Doyen of US food writing teachers
www.diannej.com

Food Writing for Publication
Le Cordon Bleu
Respected class. Comprehensive but pricey.
Click here for more details.

Gilly Smith
Very experienced writer and podcaster. Runs retreats in southern England.
Click here for details.
Click here for more details.

Guardian Masterclasses

Tutors and writers include Polly Toynbee, Tim Dowling and Felicity Cloake.
Click here for the Masterclasses page.
https://membership.theguardian.com/masterclasses

CULTURAL BITES: READING, LISTENING AND WATCHING

ATTEND:

Cranbrook Literature Festival. Saturday, October 14, 12.30pm

Food journalist Cat Black (Sex & Drugs & Sausage Rolls) and food author Jenny Linford (The Kew Gardens Cookbook, The Missing Ingredient, Food Lovers London) will join in conversation about food writing and Jenny’s considerable literary output, specifically her latest book, The Kew Gardens Christmas Book. Hope to see you there. 
Tickets £8.00. Get yours here. 

WATCH: 

Boiling Point. Filmed in Manchester and set in London, this is the UK's version of Chicago's The Bear, showing fast-talking, sweary and very hardworking chefs and front-of-house professionals cooking and surviving in a hot, tightly spaced professional kitchen. Fast, stressful and available to watch on the BBC, this show is probably best not shown on recruiting days for catering colleges. 

READ & COOK:

CKBK. There's so much to read in the world of cooking and food books, not least of all the books I’ve referenced above. But this week, I’ve been using the ckbk.com app and website to seek out new recipes and ideas for dinner. (ckbk recently published an article about my love for lemons, which you can read here). The idea behind ckbk is to become the Spotify of cookbooks, and the site regularly adds new books to its roster.

LISTEN:

This week, I'd like to recommend some podcasts I feel you'd enjoy and could maybe get inspired by. These three examine the cooking, political and cultural stories that define the contemporary food world. Seek them out on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. 

The Food Chain is a BBC show whose premise is unwrapping food and drink's cultural relevance through the lens of business and science. It's broadcasted on BBC World Service. Recent shows have included talking with Bonnie Garmus, author of the hit novel (and soon-to-be released movie) Lessons in Chemistry, and 'Can you eat your way to 100?', in which presenter Ruth Alexander speaks to 100-year-old Betty Webb to find out how much food has played a role in her becoming a centenarian. The show also discovers more about Blue Zones, a topic enthusiastically covered in last week's The Lemon Grove newsletter. 

The Full English by chef and food writer Lewis Bassett and musician Forest DLG is focused on English food and it won the Guild of Food Writers' award for Best Podcast for 2023. I'm working through series one, which includes well-researched topics on breakfast, while more recent episodes ask, ‘Is English Wine Any Good?’, and 'Should We Nationalise Wetherspoons?’ And ‘Is It Wrong to Love Meat?’.

KCRW's Good Food is broadcast from the US as part of the National Public Radio (NPR) network. The show offers a different perspective and sensibility to its popular topics, which include harvesting indigenous ingredients, home brewing beer from wastewater and getting deep into tortillas. It’s an exciting take on the country's and the world's foods and food systems and it offers us a reminder to listen to podcasts from around the world, and not just to those that are more familiar. 

BRUCE & THE LEMON GROVE’S EVENTS DIARY

Hosting & Cooking on the Demonstration Stage at:

Tonbridge Farmers Market (every second Sunday of the month, 9.30am - 1.30pm)

• Next market in Tonbridge, Kent is on Sunday, October 8.

Aylesford Farmers Market (every third Sunday of the month, 9.30am - 1.30pm)

• Next market in Aylesford, Kent is on Sunday, October 15.

I'll be sharing recipe ideas using food from the farmers market and interviewing many great local growers and producers making wine, bread, jams, marmalade, and much more. Follow Tonbridge Farmers Market for updates. 

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