Cookbook Publisher Jenny Wapner Wants Lots of Storytelling
Cookbook Publisher Jenny Wapner Wants Lots of Storytelling
The richest cookbooks don't shy away from personal stories and honesty, she says.
What makes a cookbook stand out? For Jenny Wapner, publisher of Hardie Grant North America, it’s the storytelling.
Jenny spent nine years as the former executive editor at Ten Speed Press/Penguin Random House. She freelanced as a writer and editor for two years before becoming the publisher of Hardie Grant North America in 2021, opening the Australian company’s first office in the U.S.
A specialist in illustrated nonfiction, especially cooking and lifestyle books, Jenny has edited books nominated for 12 James Beard Foundation and International Association of Culinary Professionals awards. Winners include:
Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom, with Over 300 Deliciously Simple Recipes (by Deborah Madison)
Tokyo New Wave: 31 Chefs Defining Japan's Next Generation, with Recipes
Here’s Jenny’s story, and some insider advice:
Q. You freelanced after you left Ten Speed. What did you learn about being self-employed?
A. It was a huge transition. I got to work more closely with authors. I co-authored a Chronicle book with the owner of Fog Linen. I co-wrote a cookbook, Dinner Then Dessert, with Sabrina Snyder. I did a lot of editing, including the developmental edit for Marion Nestle’s memoir. I edited Black Food.
In my last job, I bounced from project to project and season to season. It was a nice change to go deep rather than go broad. I was spared the hard decisions like, ‘How are we going to sell this or prioritize one book over another?’ I learned so much, and wouldn’t trade that time. It was a mental reset, a time to step back and ask, ‘What do I love about this work and how can I do more of it?’
Q. How do you spend most of your time as publisher?
A. In 2021 I launched the U.S. imprint of Hardie Grant, which is an Australian publisher. I had to identify its scope, and then launch a first season in Fall 2023.
Now that we’ve created a list (of books), I acquire and edit and come up with the publishing strategy. I don’t edit all the books myself, but I am the editor for the whole list. It’s a lifestyle imprint, so it’s heavily focused on food and drink, but we also publish gardening, some craft, and interiors. We have a book on mahjong coming out. All the books are illustrated and all under that umbrella.
Q. Which recent cookbooks have you worked on?
A. Five books including Rintaro: Japanese Food from an Izakaya in California. The author is my husband. We’d been talking about this book for years, and when I went freelance, we could work on it. It was a very slow process, with two young kids and a restaurant.
When I got the job at Hardie Grant, he partnered with Jessica Battilana and I assigned a publication date. I was very nervous. I didn’t want it to seem like it was a back-door deal. I knew it was a worthy book. He had been approached by other agents and publishers.
Also I’ve worked on Sohn-mat, a Korean cookbook from L.A.; Slow Drinks, by a bartender on the East Coast; and the first two books on preserving, Preserved: Condiments and Preserved: Fruit. There will be six in the series.
Q. Where do you find new talent?
A. I get lots of submissions from agents, but then I’m always on the lookout, whether through Instagram or reading stories about people through magazines. I get lots of referrals.
Anything is fair game. Once you’re an acquiring editor, you’re always looking.
Q. What are today’s most exciting cookbook trends?