What Makes a Book Good Enough for Cookbook of the Year?
A bunch of the "best" lists for 2024, and reflections on critics' choices.
Happy New Year! Did you get new cookbooks as winter holiday presents? If not, peruse the links to the experts’ Best Cookbooks lists I collected below. These lists are important if:
You’re working on a cookbook and want to see what publishers have been buying and what critics think are good
You want to use your holiday gift certificates
You’re bored with your usual rotation and need new cooking and baking ideas.
Aside from your purchases and cooking, let’s look at what critics chose. Some of the books are world-centric, approachable cookbooks focused on newer-to-publishing geographical areas, such as Africa and the Caribbean. Publishers need these books to fill the gaps and to recognize the food of immigrant cultures in America.
I also found a conflation of two subjects, such as Asian baking. Then there are the general cookbooks packaged a new way, such as sheet pan dinners, sauces and charts — all organized to make familiar recipes feel fresh.
Here’s what Stained Page News publisher Paula Forbes said in her newsletter about her Best Cookbooks list for The Washington Post:
“They approach a well-trod topic with a new angle, for example, or they take a unique approach to teaching. They experiment with design, photography and concept. They cover cuisines that have never been covered in English before, or depict the evolution of more familiar cuisines in the 21st century. They inject humor and joy into what is often a staid category.”
In explaining why she rejected certain books, Paula noticed:
badly-written recipes
boring recipe lists and
authors who push out more of the same content.
What does this mean if you’re working on a cookbook?
One thing I emphasize to my clients and students is that, in the Table of Contents, you can’t offer vague recipe titles such as Stuffed Mushrooms. Agents and editors want to know that your recipes are new and fresh, and they want to visualize and salivate over your take. Mushrooms Stuffed with Fried Sage and Shredded Parmesan, for example, sounds more enticing. Plus, readers can imagine it. If you’re working on a cookbook proposal, review your titles and make sure they sound zippy and intriguing.
My literary agent, always asked, “With so many recipes available for free online, what would make a reader pay $35 for your book?” What is new and fresh about your familiar recipes, such as Banana Bread or Miso Soup? If you can’t answer those questions, or you just want your auntie’s favorite recipe published, you’re going down the wrong path.
And I hope you didn’t rush out a cookbook proposal, as my colleague Sally Ekus, a literary agent, writes, to make your 2024 deadline. I constantly tell my clients and students to back up and fill in the holes before they send out a proposal; and to polish, polish, polish. With such a high rejection rate (98-99%), there’s no point in deciding you’re tired of working on the proposal and it’s time to send it out. It has to be the best possible product.
January Doldrums Sale
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Let’s Chat about Your Work
Last month’s Substack chat with paid subscribers generated good questions and practical advice from me. There were more than 62 comments and replies that kept the conversation going for an hour. Among other things, we covered these important topics:
How to get more work
Whether a memoir idea has merit
Whether blogs still are a thing, and
How to tell if the publisher who wants your book is right for you.
As I said above, a paid consult with me costs $250, but during chats with paid subscribers, I am available for free.
Next, let’s chat about what you’re working on this year and how it’s going. Join me on Monday, January 5 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET on Substack. You’ll get an email notification that the chat has begun. All you have to do is click the button in the email to join.
What I’m Reading
The 16 Best Cookbooks of 2024. (Unlocked gift article from The New York Times.)
The Best Cookbooks of 2024 according to Paula Forbes, in The Washington Post. (Unlocked gift article)
The Best Cookbooks of 2024, says the Los Angeles Times. (Unlocked gift article)
The 26 Best Cookbooks of 2024, According to Serious Eats Editors.
The Best Cookbooks of 2024, According to Food & Wine Editors.
The Best Cookbooks of 2024 Are Perfect for Holiday Gifting, says Saveur.
The 19 Best Cookbooks of 2024, according to Bon Appetit.
The best cookbooks of 2024, according to Celia Sack. She’s the owner of Omnivore Books in San Francisco.
Five of the best food books of 2024, from The UK Guardian.
9 cookbooks I loved this year, from the Salt + Straw podcast.
How Will We Eat in 2025? 9 Predictions to Chew On. So many trends! (Unlocked New York Times.)
5 Pro Tips from Literary Agents. Straightforward, sound advice. (Possible paywall.)
Food & Wine's Weirdest, Wildest, Most Wonderful Holiday Covers of All Time. Fun to scroll through.
The Writing Business. The Real Sarah Miller complains about the way editors handled three of her freelance stories. (Possible paywall.)
How I Grew My Substack from Zero to 40K Annual Income in Just 12 Months. A long and complex read, if you really want to know.
The Joy of Old Cookbooks. Ruth Reichl expounds.
Can you Copyright a Vibe? One influencer is suing another. (Unlocked gift article, The New York Times.)
Food Media Is Getting the Workplace Sitcom Treatment in a New Comedy. A new show to watch!
Entries close January 30 for The Guild of Food Writers Awards 2025 in the UK.
Alison Roman: ‘I Want to Be Iconic.’ She talks to Elle about her upcoming fourth cookbook, her pregnancy and her career. She has over 308,000 subscribers here on Substack!
Stanley Tucci And Stephen Colbert Recall Their First Confessions at Church. Well not really. On this YouTube video, they banter about writing cookbooks and how hard it is.
Calling All Aspiring Food Writers. The Guild of Food Writers (in the U.K.) has a Newcomers award, plus 14 other categories. The deadline to apply or suggest someone is January 20, 2025.
Blurb No More. How to ask for a blurb for your upcoming book and more.
Party Foul. Or: Famous Food Critic Tosses Salad. “A famous restaurant critic throws a strange party and serves salad with a very unusual ingredient.”
Events and Consults
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 get better freelance assignments, I can help move you forward.
Coming Up This Year
I’ll be at the Oxford Food Symposium in July. Let me know if you’re going.
I hope to announce my first in-person writing workshop since 2018. Stay tuned.
While we’re on the topic of Best Cookbooks…
I review cookbooks, novels and memoir on Instagram. If you’re on the platform, click on the image to read the caption. Follow me at instagram.com/diannemjacob. Thank you!
Pat Gualtieri won a signed copy of Ina’s memoir (pictured above), in last month’s giveaway.
News from Clients and Students
Waitrose markets selected The Sweet Polish Kitchen by Ren Behan as the Best Baking Book of 2024. (I coached her on her first cookbook proposal.)
Clarkson Potter published student Natalie Jesionka’s new book, Malaya’s Southern Thai Table, which she co-authored. The New York Times named it one of its best cookbooks of the year.
Anna Mindess won first place in the profile category from the Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards, for her Berkeleyside feature How do you make 600 students from 80 countries feel at home? Ask Chef Abigail Serbins. (I coached her on freelance writing.)
Student Kate Ryan wrote the central chapter in the second book by Irish author Graham Herterich, called COOK: Traditional Irish Cooking with Modern Twists.
Student Guilia Scarpaleggia has a new edition of her cookbook, From the Markets of Tuscany, out in February.
Series Eats chose Patricia Tanumihardja’s Mortar and Pestle: Classic Indonesian Recipes for the Modern Kitchen as one of the best cookbooks of 2024. (I coached her on her first cookbook proposal.)
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:
Disclosures: I am an affiliate of Food Blogger Pro, Amazon and Bookshop.org.
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Dianne Jacob
Editor, Writer and Coach
Email: dj@diannej.com
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truly fascinating readings specifically for cookbook lovers who are neither US or Uk residents :) thank you for sharing