New Look, Same Newsletter

I moved to Substack.

Sep 1, 2021

It’s moving day, because I moved my newsletter to Substack.

By now you’ve probably heard about Substack. You probably subscribe to many newsletters produced on it already. They all seem to arrive in your inbox on Monday morning.

This free newsletter will now arrive once a month, on the first.

Substack is trendy these days. Currently Alison Roman pens the biggest Substack food newsletter. She’s probably laughing all the way to the bank after being cancelled on social media a while ago, because she has a paid newsletter with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

This isn’t a food newsletter, of course, although I could probably go on about what I’m eating, reading and making. For that, there’s my Instagram account.

I moved my newletter in part because David Lebovitz told me I should. He’s more of an early adopter than I am. He has done very very well with his new paid newsletter. He has done very well in general. Which is why I try to do what he says.

In case you missed it, that’s David and me having a blast, talking about food writing and my new edition.

One of the reasons to start a newsletter here is that Substack doesn’t charge to host it until you charge people to read it. And then, if you launch a paid newsletter and get a good audience, you could make a new monthly income.

I’ll probably start a paid subscription for a second newsletter. That’s the model Substack is known for. Don’t worry, this monthly edition will still be free.

One of the main reasons to start any newsletter, if you’ve never had one before, is to grow your own list of people who follow you. Yes, you can also grow that list on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and social media, but it’s not the same. Here, you collect people’s email addresses, so that your newsletter appears in their inbox. And the list belongs to you.

Another reason is that Substack is just like the old way of blogging, where it can be all about the writing. So if you mourn the loss of that kind of food blog, start one of your own!

Okay, let’s get started. Below you will find the usual sections: Events, What I’m Reading, What’s on My Blog, and News About Clients and Students. And if you feel so inclined, you can leave a comment, which you couldn’t do before. I look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for joining me here, and thanks for being a subscriber. Some of you have received this newsletter for years, and I appreciate that. See you next month.

Dianne

New Fall Classes!

Food Writing With Dianne Jacob
Monday, October 4, 2017
92nd St.Y, New York, New York
7-8:15 p.m. ET / 4-5:15 p.m. PT
$40 online

If you’re just getting started writing about food, and you’d like to know what’s possible, this class breaks down the most popular ways to write. There’s recipe writing for blogs and cookbooks, feature writing, and social media writing. Get an overview and get going on what resonates for you.

So You’d Like to Write a Cookbook?
Saturday, October 9, 2021
Civic Kitchen Zoom Class
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. PT/ 1 - 4 p.m. ET
$135

If you've always wanted to write your dream cookbook, and you're wondering what's involved in getting published (whether traditional or self-published), this is the class for you. We'll cover many topics -- including how traditional publishing works, what kinds of recipes editors look for, who does the photography, and whether to go traditional or self publish.

Jumpstart Your Cookbook Proposal
3 Saturdays, November 2, 9 and 16, 4 - 7 p.m. PT/ 7-10 p.m. ET
Saturday, October 9, 2021
Civic Kitchen Zoom Class
13 students maximum
$399

If you're procrastinating about writing your cookbook proposal, you're not sure what to write, or you need accountability and support, this is the class for you.

It’s full of practical and strategic advice. I'll cover how the publishing industry works and what editors and agents look for in a proposal. Then I'll discuss what goes in each section. You will write first drafts of several sections in class. At the end of three weeks, you'll have the start of a proposal, with the knowledge of how to make it irresistible to an agent or editor.

Book proposals have a 1 percent success rate, so it's critical to learn all you can before sending out your proposal.

Bonus: It's very difficult to get someone’s successful cookbook proposal, but I'll share one of mine, which led to a beautiful cookbook by Rizzoli.

Anytime
Learn to Be a Food Writer
Delicious Experiences
One-hour consult: $250

For years I've had a five-hour minimum for consulting. But now, through Delicious Experiences, we can do a Zoom call for just one hour. If you’ve wanted to figure out which cookbook to write, how to get your book published, or how to get better freelance assignments, let’s have an hour together to move you forward with your goals. Despite the title, writers at all levels have booked me for a variety of topics.

Coming Up Elsewhere
» IACP (the International Association of Culinary Professionals) meets IRL (In Real Life) in Birmingham, Alabama October 22-24. Sorry but I won’t see you there.

What I'm Reading

The One Where No One Will Read Your Book (and other truths about publishing). I just found this post recently. It’s long but worth a read, even though the writer is a novelist, because there are tons of gems here about the publishing industry that you can apply to cookbooks.
Q&A: Cookbook Author Kate Leahy. The author discusses her path to writing cookbooks and her thoughts on how to break in.
The Pastry Chef’s Lost Cookbook. When longtime Babbo chef Gina DePalma died unexpectedly, here’s what happened to her unpublished master work.
User Controlled Analytics: The 3 Most Important Types of Analytics in Your First Year of Blogging. It’s less about discovery and communication and more about meaningful patterns. More specifically, it’s about meaningful patterns you can control.
Stop thinking and just eat: when 'food adventuring' trivializes cultures. A taste for “authenticity” can easily become another example of cultural appropriation in the quest for trendy ‘exotic’ flavors.
Meet Food Blogger Erica Kastner. This food blogger started out writing guest posts for the Pioneer Woman’s website.
How to Go From Home Cook to Professional Recipe Developer. Wine Enthusiast tackles this career choice and how to attain it. Vindulge’s Mary Cressler (I coached her on a cookbook proposal) mentioned Will Write for Food in the story. Thank you Mary!
How to Develop and Write a Recipe. I’ve got a whole chapter on this subject in Will Write for Food, but I always like to see how others approach it. This is from the food blog Mike Bakes NYC.
A Late Summer Tart from a Misunderstood Master of French Cooking. Here’s the first of a series of women chefs and cookbook authors, based on Taste Makers, Mayukh Sen’s new book.
Soleil Ho Doesn’t Want to Be the First and Only. A look at the progress of BIPOC food writers.
Tastemaker Project Pricing Calculator. I haven’t tried this, but you might find it helpful if you want help to estimate rates for projects. It might make you feel more confident about them.
320: Learning By Doing – How Chelsey White Grew Her Online Community of Millions as a Solopreneur. A great interview that includes the going rate for sponsored posts on Instagram.

What’s On My Blog

How to Sell Recipes and Content. One of the questions I get asked most is how people can sell their recipes. Guest poster Jason Logsdon breaks down the answer for you.
How to Write a Great Recipe Headnote. Kate Leahy, writer of many successful cookbooks, details how to grab readers’ attention — and keep it.