Author Vibes: Writing a Cookbook
Fun fact : the messier the photo the better the result!
After 5 years of blogging, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to write a cookbook to bring it all together. I thought to myself, I have been doing the publications process for work publications for years, how difficult can it be? Well…a few people have asked me what does it take to bring it all to fruition?
To be honest it has been a labor of love, but here is the process and some quick insights from it:
Who am I? So through the course of writing and creating recipes for RangooninRome, I found my kitchen identity. I like to cook a bit of everything, and decided the cookbook would be in the same vein. I wanted what I wanted.
When? My timing was more based on the fact that I had a collection of recipes that I felt good about and enough content to create cohesive chapters. I did not want a book of 200 recipes because I don’t think it is practical. Do you.
Where? Well since I blog from home, I did the photos, writing and brainstorming at home as well. There was no budget for renting a professional kitchen for a day.
Why? I enjoy writing and posting, but I wanted a full on packaged version of what I have created. I felt like it was time to level up. So this is my version of doing so. Another challenge. When one dream is attained, it is good to go after another, right? My first vision was to write a solid blog, and I am proud of what I have created. The cookbook was the next step in a lifelong dream of sharing my joy in the kitchen. If you can dream it you can do it.
How? I knew from my WaPo testing days, that there was quite a bit of work on the backend before a recipe is published. In this case I was a team of one for creation and initial testing. As the book came together, I was fortunate enough to have honest friends test and retest creations that I wanted to publish. It is one thing to publish for a cooking blog, I use iphone photos and yes, sometimes there are typos (gasp!) For this book, I knew I would have to have second and third sets of eyes looking at the material because it does start to look the same. Kill your darlings.
Reinforcements: I hired a professional photographer and graphic designer. Both have been wonderful to work with during the creative process. And recipe testers! I did test everything in the book multiple times, but an outside eye is essential. Feedback is everything in the process. And again, very honest. It is important to have critical eyes around you with solid taste, because that is when the best work comes out. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Publishing: I use Amazon. It is the easiest way for an author starting out. Amazon provides a great platform for self-publishing. I am grateful it exists. If it works, use it.
I can’t wait to share the book with you. It is a collection of stories, recipes and insights. It is truly me and that is both exciting, scary and wonderful at the same time. It is the full iteration of RangooninRome. Watch this space. Coming soon.