Everything Cookbooks

Picking up where last week's episode left off, Kate gets more in depth about the money side of the business with Kristin, Andrea and Molly. They share past mistakes and how they each tackle budgets, groceries, receipt management, expenses and more. They also discuss outside costs, tax know-hows and the exposure economy along with advice on how side hustles, anchor gigs and outside food work can he...

Kate discusses the money side of cookbooks with Molly, Andrea and Kristin. They each share what they wish they knew before starting out, lessons learned from past projects and what makes them choose to work on a book or not. They share insights on opportunity costs, cash flow timing, working with or without an agent and the difference between an auction and a preempt.   Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly S...

Kate talks with Molly, Andrea and Kristin all about recipe titles. They share what makes one stand out, what is an immediate veto and how these have evolved over the years. They discuss the importance of indexing, the challenge of translation and how grammar, structure and formatting are used in titling along with some of their own that they'd like to revisit.   Hosts: Kate Leahy + Andrea Nguyen +...

Kristin and Andrea chat with Emily Meggett, the matriarch of Edisto Island, and her co-author Kayla Stewart about their book Gullah Geechee Home Cooking. Ms. Emily shares her love for Edisto Island, the long journey to create the book and the mentors that inspired her along the way. Kayla describes the particular challenges of writing this book and recording the recipes along with advice for other...

Kate and Molly talk with Jessie Sheehan, "the self-proclaimed queen of easy-peasy sweets", about her varied career path, how she got into baking and what entices her about a recipe. She shares how the pandemic and social media contributed to creating her unique voice, her advice for writing with a co-author and how to avoid the dreaded "happy robot voice". She describes how she worked on an abbrev...

Molly and Kate dive deep into the journey and person that is chef/writer/artist/activist/culinary ambassador (and more), Toya Boudy. She shares how her talents as an artist and wordsmith, along with the interwoven nature of life, resulted in her latest cookbook, "Cooking for the Culture". She discusses her creation process, the unconventional schedule for the book and her family's contribution as...

Molly and Andrea talk with author and former Food Director at Bon Appétit, Carla Lalli Music, all about the voice in the void and finding an audience. She discusses her career path, performing as herself and her thoughts on social media along with the advice she received that helped create her unique writing voice. She shares some insights on economy in recipe writing, style sheets and self-editin...

Molly and Andrea talk with Kenji López-Alt, author and Chief Culinary Advisor for Serious Eats , about creating and maintaining a voice of authority. He shares his career path, where his interest in food got started and the work that has influenced his own. He describes the relationship he has with his followers, how (or if) to curb enthusiasm while doing topic deep dives and a glimpse inside the...

Kate and Molly chat with food stylist extraordinaire, Mariana Velásquez about their past working together, her career path and how she finally felt prepared to write her debut book, Colombiana. She describes the process of choosing the best agent for the project, how the pandemic altered the end result and where she starts the development of her recipes. She talks about some unique formatting choi...

Molly, Andrea, Kristin and Kate answer listener questions about recipe attribution, testing and self-publishing. The hosts reflect on the episodes and topics that have stuck with them during this first year of podcasting and share what they are looking forward to in 2023.   Hosts: Kate Leahy + Andrea Nguyen + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly Editor: Abby Cerquitella   Mentions Kristin's Cookbook P...

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...