Marye Audet: From Food Blogger to Cookbook Author

Marye Audet

by Marye Audet

When Deb asked me to write about how to write a cookbook I was hesitant. There is a reason I don’t usually write for friends. What if I mess up in a big way?
But Deb is one of the people I would do anything (almost) for so I decided to try to collect my scattered thoughts into a cohesive mass and write. So, if you are thinking of writing a cookbook, or even writing a food blog, hopefully you can walk away with something.

The cookbook gig landed squarely and literally in my lap. Julie Fletcher emailed me with a link and said “This has you written all over it!” So, after some nervous deliberation with the rest of my personalities the resume was emailed and I waited nervously. A few days later I received an email asking for a Table of Contents and an index of 300 cookie recipes.

I scrambled through all my recipes, and my mom’s recipes, and my grandmother’s recipes until I had 300 titles I was fairly comfortable with. A week later I was emailed with the news that someone else had gotten the contract. Two weeks after that I got an email saying the other person had flaked, was I still interested?

I say all of this to let you know that cookbook writing is an emotional roller coaster and it doesn’t get better once the book is published… but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Knowing how to write a cookbook and knowing how to write a food blog are really two totally different things. First of all, I was on a strict deadline. I had to have the first two chapters and 125 recipes written and formatted in three weeks.
Hellooo? Excuse me, publisher? I have a life, remember? And freelance deadlines?

A week after I started on the book I received the contract in the mail from the cookbook publishers. Signed, sealed, delivered…I’m yours…

Those first three weeks were frustrating. I would knock out my freelance and blogging work and then start feverishly on recipes. I tested the ones that I wasn’t sure of. The biggest problem for me was formatting. The publisher that I worked with wanted the pages to be formatted for the copywriters. Any dreams I had of just typing it up and sending it off were dashed to the ground pretty quick.

Some nights I would fall asleep typing and wake up to something like “Melt the soldiers in sealing wax and cool before adding the mixture to the tea tree oil.”
I type odd things when I am asleep.

Emotionally I was not prepared for the radical waves of uncertainty bordering on hysteria:

• What if it is a total flop?

• What if I copied someone else’s recipe without realizing it?

• What if the publishing company goes bankrupt before they pay me?

Twelve hour days were nothing. I was working 20 hours and sometimes more all seven days. I was focused totally on cookies. We ate hot dogs, pizza, sandwiches, and tuna casserole.My family thought that they had become a participant family on Wife Swap and they had gotten the “Generic Boxed Mac and Cheese Mom.”

I made my first deadline a week early and had finished the book by the second deadline, a full month early. I sent it off, anticipating a return email that said “We hate it. You suck.”

But there was no return email. Not a bad one anyway. The book was submitted September 27, 2008 and it hit bookstores September 17, 2009. If you think that year was just a matter of waiting you are wrong.

There were edits to make; the copywriters had questions about the recipes and measurements. Then when they were done the book got sent back so I could go over it for typos and send it back with corrections…All in 24 hours! After that,  the book went to other editors, with more questions. Did you ever put a four year old to bed? For awhile it was like that; my email would get quiet and then I would get hit with several questions, some of them a little off the wall. Then it would get quiet and I would sigh with relief…and then there would be more questions. Finally all was quiet and I heard that the book was at the printer.

When I got my box of copies to send out for review I could not believe it. Seeing my name on a real book seemed so…surreal. You would think that with the book out and in stores I would be proud, happy, and confident. Not so. I was worse.

You see, now the book had to be reviewed. I had to send it to people so they could try the recipes and review it. What if the recipe didn’t work for them? What if it tasted awful? What if they hated it? I hadn’t had much creative input on the cover or the book, since it was part of a series put out by Adams Media. I was concerned that there were no images in the book, what would people think?

My fears seem to be groundless. Everyone has accepted the book, liked the recipes, and the reviews have been good. So far. Knock on wood.

If I was going to impart anything to you about how to write a cookbook, or any kind of book, I would want you to understand the need to prepare yourself emotionally for the biggest roller coaster ever. There are no tiny mistakes with books. There are big, glaring problems that stress you out one day and are gone like a Texas snow the next.
Other than that? Here are some tips I think might help:

• Be easy to work with. You are going to be working with several editors and being cheerful, kind, and helpful can give you an edge that a prima dona won’t have. You are not Julia Child. Work with them. Your reputation will follow you for a long time and you may need these people to speak well of you.

• Test your recipes or use recipes you have made many times before.

• Be specific and make the recipe steps as easy as possible.

• Be aware that the publisher may cut things you don’t want them to cut. They left in my acknowledgment but cut my dedication because of a scripture reference.

• Count up the number of pages (or recipes) you have to have done by your first deadline and divide it into days. If you don’t get much else done get your daily allotment of writing done.

• Try not to do what I did and work round the clock. The more rested you are the easier the process will be.

You will probably not feel like an author. You will just feel like you got one more project done.

If you have a food blog that is a good start. You are building up readers. Many of you probably have amazing food blogs, so what I am about to say will be redundant but for those of you who are just starting out, here are some things I look for in a food blog:

• Images! Work with your camera until you can take macros. Spend time at the antique shop picking up props. Work with lighting. Learn to take really good pictures and use more than one in your posts.

• Let your reader know you. Be real, share who you are, let them get a feel for what you are about.

• Don’t copy other people’s work. Give attribution if you use someone else’s recipe as a springboard for your own.

• Interesting recipes. I know how to make meatloaf, what can you offer me that is different than the normal meat loaf?

• Use social media like face book and twitter. Chat…a lot. Be approachable and available. Readers tweet me questions about recipes all through out the day sometimes.

• Email people when they comment the first time. Thank them for reading.

• Always answer comments!

If I can write a cookbook and have it published, trust me, anyone cane. Focus on the goal and head for it. You can do it, you know you can.