Everything Cookbooks

Kate leads today's discussion all about the holiday season; its joys, its tribulations and its desserts. Molly, Andrea and Kristin join in with memories, advice and ideas for traditions (to keep and to avoid), dishes, wine and favorite cookies. Finally, each host shares the book they plan to dive into this holiday season.   Hosts: Kate Leahy + Andrea Nguyen + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly Edito...

Andrea and Kate talk with chef and food writer Andy Baraghani about his debut cookbook and the varied career experience that prepared him to write it. He explains how he injects his personality into his recipes, who he writes for and the influences of his work. He shares the successful self-imposed rule for recipe writing he had while at Bon Appétit, the intricate process of title writing as well...

Molly and Kristin speak with writer JJ Goode about his career path, collaborating with chefs on cookbooks and what draws him to his projects. He discusses some past work, how he organizes his To Do list and his advice for others who want experience with co-authorship. Hosts: Kate Leahy + Andrea Nguyen + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly Editor: Abby Cerquitella   Mentions JJ Goode's Website Taste C...

Kate and Kristin talk with lead agent and co-owner at The Ekus Group, Sally Ekus, about her career path, what she brings to the table for her clients and peek into a day in her life. Sally shares a wealth of knowledge including what she looks for in potential clients, how agents help careers, the key items in a query emails and the homework authors should do before reaching out to agents. She tell...

Andrea and Kristin talk with Eric Kim about his intensely personal and remarkable book, Korean American. He shares his inspirations and motivations for the essay format, how he wrote his family as characters and the potential and limits of memoir writing. He talks about the idea of authenticity in food, what goes into naming recipes and the unpredictability of a viral recipe.   Hosts: Kate Leahy +...

Kate and Molly chat with cookbook teacher, author and editor Tori Ritchie about her career trajectory and how she developed her personal writing voice after years of working on branded cookbooks. She shares insights and tips about developing a voice and the bad habits to avoid in writing before revealing a few of the writers she assigns to her students. Finally everyone shares the three words that...

Today, Andrea tackles the topic of the ever elusive headnote with Molly, Kate and Kristin. They discuss what a headnote is, how they go about writing them and the pitfalls to avoid while composing. They bring examples of some favorites and also their pet peeves as they chat about the format, design and variety that goes into these important cookbook ingredients.   Hosts: Kate Leahy + Andrea Nguyen...

Andrea and Molly speak with recipe developer, editor, stylist and writer, Ali Slagle about her career trajectory, her debut cookbook and why she focuses on the home cook. She shares her inspiration for the book's unique format and language, the challenges she puts on her recipe writing and how she channels her voice with permission to be weird. At the end of the episode we (virtually) visit Andrea...

Molly and Kate talk with Adam Roberts aka The Amateur Gourmet, about his career path, what he's learned from working on his first two books and how he merges story with food in his work. He shares insights on voice vs tone, the role humor plays in his content creation along with stories from his earlier projects and the origin of his latest book. Finally, he shares the gospel of musical theater an...

Kate and Kristin speak with food stylist, photographer and author Anna Voloshyna about her debut cookbook, Budmo!. Anna shares how the war in Ukraine has affected her and her family as well as why she focused so much on joy in this book. She explains what she discovered about her own history while writing, how she got into food and her favorite dishes from the book. She shares some tips about the...

Kate and Molly chat with the founding editor of Food52 and the brains behind their Genius Recipes, Kristen Miglore. Kristen shares her career trajectory before becoming Food52's first employee and the inception of the "Genius Recipe" concept. She explains how she injects her own voice into the writing, what makes a recipe "genius" and how she keeps up the passion for her work along with a recent d...

Kristin and Andrea chat with owner of Tanorria's Table, author of Staples + 5, and co-host of Black Girls Eating, Tanorria Askew, about her career path, heart for hospitality and what cooking means to her. She discusses navigating her boundaries, food deserts in her hometown of Indianapolis and the process of writing her first book. She also shares some insights on appropriation in food, the impor...

Kristin starts out today's episode asking Molly, Kate and Andrea about the books that inspired them to follow this career path and how they'd define the idea of "voice" in writing. They discuss the difference between tone and voice, the tools they've use to craft their own and how to inject it into recipe writing. They reveal some writing exercises and advice on how to find and improve voice in yo...

Today's episode is a quick update about our summer hiatus and a thank you to our listeners for tuning in and joining our community. We share some standout resources from Season 1 and the dishes and books we are planning to dive into for our summer meals. Thank you for listening and be sure to follow us @everythingcookbooks or sign up for our mailing list for updates on Season 2!   Hosts: Kate Leah...

Kate and Kristin chat with the Marketing and Publicity Manager of Hardie Grant, Lorraine Woodcheke, to learn more about what goes on in the secretive world of marketing. Lorraine shares how she got started in the food and drink sphere, what her day-to-day looks like and what she loves about her job. She discusses the relationship between the sales, marketing and publicity teams, the importance of...

Andrea and Molly chat with journalist and food writer Charlotte Druckman to find out more about what it means to create "good" work and how to measure success. Charlotte shares where her love of cookbooks began, the invention of the Piglet awards and how she feels about "Tastemakers". She reveals why we shouldn't take awards too seriously, her dislike of categories and the fallacy of objectivity....

Kate and Andrea chat with cookbook critic Paula Forbes whose reviews have run in Eater, Epicurious, Lucky Peach and Food52. She shares how she got started on her career path, how she selects books to review and what she loves to see in a book (hint:charts!). She describes her audience, the affect bad reviews have on book sales and how writing her own cookbook affected her critiques. Finally, she r...

Molly leads today's discussion with Andrea, Kate and Kristin through the opaque world of book sales. They talk about the challenges of getting accurate numbers, NPD BookScan, frontlist vs backlist titles and what makes a book "successful". They provide insights on improving sales as authors, Amazon rankings and the dangers of constantly refreshing. Finally, Kate shares a recent cookbook she's been...

Molly and Kristin have a quick chat with surprise guest, Jenna Kutcher. Jenna is a photographer, podcaster, entrepreneur and her debut book "How are you Really?" is available now wherever books are sold. She shares her approach to writing, her thoughts behind the "why" of ambition and some of the strategies behind her unique approach to promoting her debut. She also explains how she honed her writ...

On today's episode Molly, Andrea, Kristin and Kate sit down to answer listener submitted questions. They tackle everything from title choices, choosing an agent, becoming a recipe tester, stolen ideas and trusting yourself as an author. Finally, each host reveals a key concept they've learned from the last 15 episodes. Hosts: Kate Leahy + Andrea Nguyen + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly Editor: Ab...

Molly and Kate chat all things food writing with Dianne Jacob, freelance writing coach, editor and the author of "Will Write for Food" . Dianne shares her career trajectory and insights into crafting the four editions of her book throughout an ever evolving food media landscape. She believes the craft of writing is foundational and tells us why some bloggers are scared of her, the importance of vo...

Kate starts off today's chat recounting some event horror stories while Kristin, Molly and Andrea chime in with some of their own. They discuss publicity timelines, tips for getting comfortable with self-promotion and insights into how to expand an audience. They share how involved the publisher can be in book promotion, what has changed since 2020 and sing the praises of librarians and bookseller...

Kristin learns more about life behind the lens as she interviews author, photographer and food stylist Yossy Arefi. Yossy shares her career origins, her habit of self motivated learning and how she uses her food stylist talents as a photographer. She describes the unglamorous side of a shoot and provides some insights into the cover selection process before sharing the upcoming photography trends...

Kristin leads today's conversation about photography, its importance in the world of cookbooks and how it can bring a book to life. Molly, Kate and Andrea join in with their own stories of shoots gone wrong, how to find the right photographer, what all is included in the photo budget and the (sometimes contentious) cover image selection process. Finally, Molly shares a book all about the evolution...

Molly gets more insight into the cookbook design process as she talks with Alice Chau, former Senior Designer at Chronicle Books and now independent designer and art director. Alice shares what her first step into a project is, how to balance various inputs and all the elements to juggle when creating the look and mood of a cookbook. With a unique educational background, she shares how she got sta...