Once a Month I'm Yours: Chat with Me!

Take advantage of my monthly office hours to talk about writing, motivation, career and more.

I’m available for an hour! Let’s text. (Photo courtesy Fran Innocenti on Unsplash.)

One of the great pleasures of Substack is when we get to chat by texts. Last month’s chat with paid subscribers generated good questions and practical advice from my guest, literary agent Sally Ekus. There were 164 comments and prompt replies from Sally and me that kept the conversation moving for an hour.

Among other things, we covered:

• What is a good idea for a cookbook?

• Which social media platform should authors focus on?

• What are the trends in cookbook publishing?

To read this chat, go to the Chat section of Substack and review the texts from February 10, 2025. It is open to all subscribers.

Paid subscribers can join me monthly for a one-hour texting session about food writing and whatever’s on their mind. (These chats or threads are just text, so no reason to comb your hair.)

I also changed my chat settings recently. Now paid subscribers can start a conversational thread — rather than just me. So, if you’re wondering where to pitch a story or how to write the competitive analysis section of a cookbook proposal, start a thread. Substack will notify me and other paid subscribers that you have done so. I want to create a community where we can jump in, talk with and support each other.

Access to me is a good deal here. A paid 1-hour consult costs $250, but chats are a bonus for paid subscribers, and you can bring up whatever you like. And if you’re not a paid subscriber, chats are an inexpensive way to get access to me for just $3.33 per month if you…

Next Office Hours

Let’s chat about what you’re working on a book proposal, newsletter writing, feature article writing — and how it’s going. Join me online on Friday, March 7 at 11 a.m. PT/ 2 p.m. ET on Substack. Paid subscribers will get an email notification that the chat has begun. Just click the graphical button in the email to join.

What I’m Reading

Every first of the month, I bring you irresistible links like these:

• The True Costs of Being on YouTube. What cookbook author Carla Lalli Music spent, earned and why she’s walking away, with real numbers. Also watch this interview about it: “Social doesn’t have to be core to your career.”

• Here are 13 Free Storytelling and Writing Courses to Help you Become a Better Communicator at Work in 2025. All kinds of good stuff.

• The Joy of Recipe Writing. Dan Pashman talks with Chandra Ram of Food & Wine magazine on The Sporkful podcast. (January 24)

• Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing About Food. An online class where Michael Ruhlman applies the lessons he’s learned from his trajectory. (Check out my recent interview with him as well.)

• Are We Living in a Post Blurb Economy? Simon & Schuster thinks so.

• Our white whale recipes and how we conquered them. The Washington Post says it “overcame issues.” (Unlocked story.)

• On Criticism. Alicia Kennedy explains why she loves art magazines and hates the food ones. (Possible paywall.)

• Jenn Yee’s comparison chart of measurements for all-purpose flour. The range is surprising and fascinating!

• Martha Stewart’s First Book Finds New Fans. One of her fans makes good point about how photos in cookbooks help with her own social media needs. (Unlocked New York Times article.)

• Fine-Dining Menus Are More Than Word Salad. A fun look at food writing through the lens of high-end restaurants. (Unlocked New York Times article.)

• Finding Edna Lewis, a documentary of the esteemed food writer and chef, by Deb Freeman. Also listen to this podcast by The Sporkful (February 17).

• The Andre Simon Memorial Fund Shortlist 2024. A U.K. list of best food and drink books.

• Fires destroyed their kitchens. ‘But you can’t take away the spirit of the cook.’ Food writers and cookbook authors recount what they’ve lost in the L.A. fire.

• Ruth Reichl on the state of food writing today. Her essay appears in the middle of her newsletter, titled Talk for Mesa Redonda, so scroll down.

• Audiobooks to Cook (or Eat) To, From Ina Garten to David Chang. A list of cooking memoirs, read by the authors. (Unlocked New York Times article.)

• First known cookbook by a Black American woman gets new edition 160 years later. Malinda Russell wrote the first edition in 1866.

• Paying for Recipes Reaffirms Their Value. Probably she’s speaking to the converted, but worth a read.

• Tom Fitzmorris, Colorful New Orleans Food Critic, Dies at 74. This guy spent fifty years in the spotlight, writing a restaurant review every week. He wrote 4000 words most mornings. (Unlocked New York Times article.)

• A cookbook author was called racist slurs for sharing her chocolate rice recipe. Was it a coincidence that the author was Asian?

• When Food Is Only a Portion of the Story. An interview with The New York Times journalist Kim Severson. (Unlocked New York Times article.)

---

Classes, Workshops and Consults

3 Spots Left! A Late-Summer Food Writing Workshop in Sicily

September 19-23, 2025

$2990 double occupancy, $3510 single occupancy

I announced this workshop just a few weeks ago and it has filled up like mad! So if you’re thinking about joining me in sun-soaked Sicily for Sicilian food, wine, and writing instruction, read more here. Rooms at the seaside hotel are limited, so don’t delay!

Jumpstart Your Cookbook Proposal

March 17, 24 and 31, 2025

Three 3-hour Zoom classes, 4-7 p.m. PST/7-10 p.m. EST

Cost: $425

Let’s get to work! Join a small group of just 10 students and increase your chance to land an agent, whether for a cookbook, memoir, or culinary non-fiction book.

A proposal tells agents and editors who you are, why you’re the right person to write this book right now, and who would care to read it. It details which books compete with yours, explains the target audience, and describes how you’ll promote it. And it’s what agents use to sell your book to an editor.

Start writing during class and you’ll have a rough draft at the end.

Private Consults Anytime

Through a partner, Delicious Experiences
One-hour consult: $250

Book a Zoom consult for just one hour (or more). If you want to write a cookbook, get published or find better freelance assignments, I can help move you forward.

Coming Up

I’ll be at the Oxford Food Symposium in July. Let me know if you’ll be there.

---

What’s Happening on Instagram

diannemjacob

A post shared by @diannemjacob

I review cookbooks, novels and memoir on Instagram, among other things. If you’re on the platform, click on the image to read the caption. Follow me at instagram.com/diannemjacob. Thank you!

---

News from Clients and Students

• Maryam Jillan’s book, Pakistan: Recipes and Stories from Home Kitchens, Restaurants, and Roadside Stands, is available for preorder.

• Anna Mindess had three feature articles (!) in the Spring edition of Edible East Bay.

• Dora Ramirez’s first cookbook, Comida Casera: More than 100 Vegan Recipes from Traditional to Modern Mexican Dishes, pubs on March 18. (I coached her on her book proposal.)

As for me, the Tip of the Tongue podcast has a new interview with me about food writing and how I got into it.

I like to brag about food writing accomplishments from clients and students. Send me yours at dj@diannej.com.

---

---

My Book

Here’s the latest edition of my multiple award-winning book, Will Write for Food: 2021: Pursue Your Passion and Bring Home the Dough Writing Recipes, Cookbooks, Blogs, and More.

I’m also the co-author of:

• The United States of Pizza

• Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas.

Disclosures: I am an affiliate of Food Blogger Pro, Amazon and Bookshop.org.

---

Thanks for Reading

Like this newsletter? Please forward it to a few people or share it on social media. I would really appreciate that. New subscribers can sign up here. Thank you.

If you enjoyed this post, please click on the little ❤️ below ⬇️.

Dianne Jacob
Editor, Writer and Coach
Email: dj@diannej.com
Website: http://diannej.com
X: https://twitter.com/diannej
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foodwriting
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diannemjacob

---