What I Learned After Two Years of Growing and Sharing this Newsletter

It's been a blast to be part of this community.

Photo by Kelly Jiang on Unsplash.

It’s been two years on Substack! I thought I’d talk about what I’ve learned, and how it’s going. Many of you wonder if you should start a newsletter. I have a few observations to share.

But first, (fumbles with a piece of paper, just like at the Academy Awards), the most important people to thank are you, for being my readers. I’m also grateful to David Lebovitz, who suggested I move my Mad Mimi newsletter here. Doing so saved me hundreds of dollars and then created an income. And I’m grateful to Substack, which makes it easy and fun to write on this platform.

I’ve learned a few lessons about writing this thing:

1. It’s okay to write to you only twice a month. I subscribe to other Substack newsletters that arrive weekly, including one that comes every day! Yet, when I asked, you approved of this bi-monthly amount of communication.

   So, I write one free newsletter and one paid. This is the free one, which always includes a list of entertaining and useful links from around the internet, and follows the format shown here. The paid newsletters can be essays from me about recipe writing, or interviews from editors about how to get published. One of my most popular posts is Part I: A Big List of Cookbook Publishers. It’s essential if you intend to publish a book, especially a cookbook.

2. Another lesson I’ve learned is that while it’s great to interview editors about what they want in a book or magazine query, you also get to hear from me. Especially in the form of a rant or investigation. I’m grateful for all the thoughtful comments. I think of you as my peers, and it’s delightful to have a vibrant, engaged community.

3. Here’s something else I realized: I had the best time writing the two-part investigation about Chat-GPT, the AI software, simply because I followed my own interests. It was kind of random, an experience optimized for learning new things. Those two posts received lots of attention. Some of you even interviewed me as part of your work as writers and interviewers. (A fringe benefit of having you as subscribers!) The newsletters got me quoted in Wired magazine and interviewed for podcasts. Here’s the most recent one, with London food photographer Kimberly Espinel, about AI, Substack and the future of food writing.

4. So far writing this hasn’t felt like work. That’s a relief, as you know doubt know.

In other news, in terms of subscription growth, I’ve doubled my subscribers in the last two years.

And I’m delighted that recommendations come from Substack itself, where 85 newsletters have recommended mine. If you are a fellow newsletter writer who has done so, thank you!

My challenge now is to increase my paid subscriber base. It’s just a sliver of my overall subscriber base. It counts for about a quarter of my annual income.

I know that what’s behind the paywall here had better be something that you can’t find elsewhere. To those of you who hired me to do one of the best jobs ever, thank you for making me work at it. To free subscribers, it’s a small investment to support my work. I’m excited for what will come next, and I’d love you to be a part of it.

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I Got a Medal

How often can a person say that? This heavy thing arrived in the mail in a green velvet box. Nope, it’s not for the Olympics. It’s from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, for Member of the Year, 2022. Here’s what Lisa Hecht, IACP communications coordinator, wrote in an email:  

“We were happy to honor you... Your contributions to our professional development groups and your engagement with the community at conference has been so meaningful.”

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Books I’m Reading

Food writing coach

Food writing coach on Instagram: “GIVEAWAY! Up your freelance game with this book. It’s jam-packed with good tips from a former magazine editor, freelance writer and writing teacher. @estelleerasmus has a confident, can-do manner as she tells you what works for editors and why. She focuses mostly on pitching personal essays, reported essays, opinion pieces and how-to stories, with excellent insider analysis of why a sample pitch worked. If you wonder how to get writing credentials in advance of writing a book, Writing That Gets Noticed will help you get stories accepted. Erasmus advises you on how to mine your life for ideas, hone your voice, and protect your psyche from rejection. I’M GIVING AWAY 5 COPIES! Leave a comment and I’ll pick 5 winners at random, on August 5.”

July 26, 2023

I’ve been reviewing cookbooks and food memoirs on Instagram. Why not follow along? And you might win a copy of this book about freelancing. Enter by August 5.

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My Cookbook Proposal Class Starts in October!

Jumpstart Your Cookbook Proposal 
3 Tuesday, October 10, 17 and 24, 4:30 PT/ 1-4 p.m. ET 
3-hour Zoom Classes through Civic Kitchen
12 students maximum 
$399 online 

Ready to write a cookbook? Good. To have it traditionally published, you’ll need a stellar cookbook proposal. Cookbook proposals are long, a cross between a business plan, a sales pitch and an explanation of your book.

Perhaps you’re not sure what to write, or you would like accountability and support. Either way, this is the class for you.

You’ll get lots of strategic insider advice gained from my decades of teaching and writing about cookbooks, judging them for national awards, and co-writing two books with a chef. I'll lay out how the publishing industry works and what editors and agents look for in a professional proposal.

I'll discuss what’s included in each section of successful proposal. You’ll write first drafts of several proposal sections in the class and get valuable feedback. At the end of three weeks, you'll have a solid start to your proposal, and ideas of how to make it irresistible to an agent or editor. 

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

Here’s what one student wrote:

“One of the things that taking your class taught me was that I CAN make the time to write.  I have your book and try to do the writing exercises. Sometimes I freeze because I am unsure of my writing. Your class was the first time I spoke about the book to anyone that didn't know me, let alone a Zoom full of women writers. It was definitely validating and the push I needed to get this project going.” — Shachi Mehra, chef and owner, Adya restaurant 

Private Consults

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

For years I've had a five-hour minimum for consulting. Now you can book a Zoom consult for just one hour or more. If you want to start your cookbook, get your book published, or get better freelance assignments, let’s move you forward.

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What I'm Reading:

• How to Actually Find Good Recipes Online. A Wired magazine story that quotes moi!

• 58: David Lebovitz on the Writing Life in Paris. Everything I adore about David comes through in this podcast: Thoughts about his long career as a writer and recipe developer, delivered with charm, wit and passion.

• Lean In or Log Off? What content creators do when navigating online hate.

• Mother Sauce. “A new way to think about cooking: as a form of labor with distinct history and intellectual value, rather than an idealized pleasure center.” Long but worth your time.

• Sam Sifton is Depressed. A hilarious parody of the NYT Cooking newsletter. It’s quite old but I just found it.

• How and Why to Self Publish a Cookbook with Matt Briel from Lulu. Matt Briel is VP of marketing and communication at Lulu, a publisher that helps you get your book published. This is a Food Blogger Pro free podcast.

• How Drag Queens Use Cookbooks to Flip Femininity. An homage to the home arts, celebrities, dinner parties and more.

• The Merch-ification of Book Publishing. Esquire looks into this new form of book publicity.

• Why The Bear Starts Over in Its New Season. I have my issues with this series, but this piece says it’s all about teaching and being taught.

• Remembering Cara De Silva A Zoom Presentation. For anyone who knew this journalist and food historian.

• We Love to Hate the Travel Bucket List. Why? Probably for the same reason we hate food listsicles.

• Cooking with Elizabeth David. The author cooks from David’s book, Summer Cooking.

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News About Clients and Students

• Michele Becci launched her newest magazine, about Italian islands. (I coached her on starting a Substack newsletter.)

• Appetito magazine published Viola Buitoni’s article on Italian artisanal ingredients. (Viola is a former student.)

• Amy Collins of Miller Bowers Griffin Literary Management now represents chef Mia Castro. (I coached Mia on her book proposal.)

• Former student Kate Ryan presented a paper at the Oxford Symposium.

• The Washington Post wrote about Maggie Zhu’s book in Springy, slippery chow fun noodles turn any stir-fry into a favorite. The article is unlocked. (I helped Maggie shape her book idea.)

I like to brag about food writing accomplishments here. Send me an email: dj@diannej.com.

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Thanks for Reading

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

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My Books

The United States of Pizza

Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas

Will Write for Food: 2021 4th Edition

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