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?