Most Cookbooks Are Terrible. Why It’s a Positive Thing for Food Writers
Tell me the truth: Do you flip through new cookbooks and wonder how they even got published?
Are you confused about why people love certain cookbooks you find mediocre? And does it make you sad wondering how you can write a book that’s actually good? Do people even want a cookbook they can’t put down?
As a cookbook coach who helps food creators and influencers with their book proposals, it’s a little bleak out there. Most cookbooks are more of an introduction with a hodge podge of recipes and a few headnotes that are kind of a connective tissue, but not really. It feels like people attempt to do something cool, but by the third chapter, they’ve forgotten what they started out with. Essays are thrown in haphazardly, and QR codes are place holders for “I’m going to do some recipe demos that are going to look like everyone else’s”. You’ll find some blurbs from a few of their cool friends and a handful of emails about pre-ordering the book, and wipe your apron off because it’s a wrap.
It’s boring.
And the wild thing is that I know most of these people are not boring at all. But food writing has become precious. People only want to hear praise for the work of others because they ultimately only want glowing reviews for themselves. So, if you have the smallest piece of constructive criticism, keep it to yourself. Especially, if it’s about the cool kids who seem to get all the attention at the moment.
These are the conversations people in the industry are having behind closed doors and over cocktails. But publicly, it’s a different story.
So, what does that mean for the one who wants to write a compelling cookbook that means something?
You’re the unicorn, and it’s exactly what agents and publishers are looking for. Even if it seems like “all cookbooks are the same”, there are ones that stand out, and it’s typically because they have a strong point of view, unique expertise, or they’re top-tier storytellers, like you. So, let’s see how mediocre cookbooks are a good thing for you and your dream book.
Creates a wide open space for something new
When I was an editorial fellow at Cooking Light, we had recently started creating hands and pans videos. It was a newish format, and we were one of the first (if not the first) to make them. Before, you were looking at straight recipe demos with your personality of choice. These videos often took longer to shoot because of logistics, and you had an actual person who had intros and outros and lines in-between.
But with a hands and pans video, you could use a single food stylist (with maybe an assistant) and create a few within a single day. We were playing with music, graphics, and speed. It didn’t take long for other outlets to create the same videos and fill up folks' social media feeds. By that time, though, we were moving onto other things.
Food media has a problem of looking at everyone else’s paper to see if something is or is not “approved”. So, you start making the same recipe videos, have a blog that looks like anyone else’s and have an Instagram grid that could be copied and pasted for almost any other creator. The funny thing is, you want to write a cookbook, so you can tell your story, not someone else’s.
You need a “blue ocean strategy”, a term coined by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne: the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid.
In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. A blue ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential to be found in unexplored market space. A blue ocean is vast, deep, and powerful in terms of profitable growth.
Creating your blue ocean can give you the freedom to imagine a space only you can occupy. Make a list of all the things you don’t love about cookbooks right now. What are the things you’re bored by and wish everyone would stop doing? It could be content, recipe writing, design, and even promotion.
Now, write down how you’d do things differently. Instead of recipe demos for QR codes, will you have a behind the scenes look at how you created the recipe? Or will you have a series of pop-ups around the country only for people who pre-order your book, and every event will feature a surprise guest? And will you have a strong narrative theme for your cookbook, so people will want to curl up with it?
Quick note: Yes, there are things that are more marketable or accepted, but in my opinion, you can convince anyone of anything if you’re able to sell it well enough. You have to believe in everything you do though, so you know how to champion it. If you’re coming up with ideas just because it’s the opposite of what other people are doing, it won’t work.
Trust your instincts and take risks. Let everyone else fight over the limited market space for what’s trendy and just keep swimming in your blue ocean. It’s more fun out there anyway.
Allows you to voice your spicy opinions
Everyone wants to be like Anthony Bourdain, until it’s time to voice opinions like him. I’m not saying you have to burn it all down, but you should turn the heat up now and then. One reason why cookbooks are terrible is because everyone’s saying the same thing.
Gathering around the dinner table…
Food is how we connect…
Creating memories in the kitchen…
I want to hear about the worst meal you ever made…or ate. Tell me about the time you knew your sister had messed up Thanksgiving dinner, but you didn’t say anything because you wanted to watch her fail. Or why you’re tired of everyone’s obsession with tacos because burritos are where it’s at. (But seriously, I don’t want to order or make 10 tacos when I can one massive burrito that’ll give me two or three meals for the price of one.)
It was Bourdain’s disdained for brunch (I feel you on that one too) and sharing why you should never order the fish special on Mondays that made his voice clearer than everyone else’s. He said it with his chest, but wasn’t saying it just to say it—he believed it. From there, he was a shining light in an overcrowded market that seemed to sing everyone’s praises without offering a critical look at how the culinary industry shapes, destroys, and reinvents itself.
Most of my clients will play nice in the beginning. They’ll want a book anyone could read, which will make it immediately boring. It takes a few deadlines for me to pull out their hot takes. Maybe it appears in a headnote, or the overview of their book proposal. But once they do, there’s no going back.
You can have loud opinions and still be kind. The trick is to know what you’re saying and why you’re saying it. Personally, I get tired of people being surprised California is mostly made up farms, when it grows the majority of the country’s crops. And what do you think all those wineries are? Farms, my friend.
This isn’t a wild opinion, but it does tell you more about my point of view. Which is as a California native, I feel like I have to explain the “real” California to people who have no clue what the Golden State is really like. (But it doesn’t matter because they’ll still love to hate it while they’re sipping our wine and enjoying Lake Tahoe.)
You have a point of view that’s shaped by your background, experience, and even where you live. So, share your thoughts with people and let us hear what you think. It’s the easiest way to separate yourself from everyone else. Sure, some people may not like it. That’s okay. Because if everyone loves everything you do, you’re doing something wrong.
Opportunity to write the book you need
Someone told me the other day that there’s no one writing about a specific topic and how frustrating it was. In the words of Toni Morrison: If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.
Often, our dissatisfaction with publishing comes from our desire to write a book we need ourselves. That’s how most things are made—just watch Shark Tank. There’s a problem one person has, and they decide to fix it, which helps a bunch of other people.
But how do you know if people are interested in your book idea?
Well, you can test it by pitching a magazine article. It’s the first exercise I work through with book proposal clients and is a phenomenal way to hone and test your idea. You can get feedback from editors and readers if your pitch is picked up. If you want your voice to be heard, you have to give people a chance to hear it.
How to use your voice as a food writer and make it stand out now
This isn’t sexy. But once you’ve set your mind on creating your own space in the market, owning your spicy opinions, and writing the book you need yourself, practice is the only way to make your voice heard and stand out. It’s incredible to me how many writers don’t actually write; they just love to talk about writing.
No, you’re not always going to want to show up to the keyboard or notepad. The more you do though, the easier it is for inspiration to hit you. And if you’d like help with this, you can join my free course, Writing Gold: 5 Days to Kickstart Your Cookbook Writing and Grow Your Audience of Raving Fans. You’ll not only find out how to use email marketing to shape your cookbook idea, but you’ll find a guide on creating your own editorial guidelines plus some sweet bonuses. Sign up here, and let’s get you writing a non-terrible people will have heart eyes for.
