Latest / Cookbook Love Podcast / Episode 372: The Power of a Traditional Publishing Team

Transcript

Episode 372: The Power of a Traditional Publishing Team · Cookbook Love Podcast

0:02
You are listening to the Cookbook Love podcast with Maggie
0:04
Green, episode number 3 72.
0:10
Welcome to the Cookbook Love Podcast.
0:13
A podcast that celebrates cookbook readers, buyers,
0:16
collectors, writers and clubs.
0:19
And now your host.
0:20
Cookbook author, culinary Dietician, and Cookbook writing Coach Maggie Green.
0:31
Hi everybody.
0:32
Welcome back to another episode of the Cookbook Love podcast.
0:35
How's everybody doing today?
0:37
It has been a busy but quiet morning here in my cookbook Bunker and newsflash.
0:44
I didn't go to the supermarket this morning.
0:48
I am working on putting the finishing touches on my Publish
0:52
Your Cookbook Masterclass.
0:54
By the time you hear this, the masterclass will be live, but it
0:59
has been so much fun recording the content for the class and talking to
1:08
all of you cookbook writers by email.
1:11
I did the most amazing thing.
1:12
And if you have a business, uh, you might try this sometime.
1:15
In particular, if you're preparing a class and your email audience is the people
1:23
who would be coming to your class, write them an email and tell 'em you're putting
1:27
the finishing touches on the class.
1:29
And before you finalize everything, you wanna be sure that you incorporate
1:34
their questions and do they have any questions or objections or obstacles to.
1:40
Whatever it is you're talking about.
1:42
And in this case, it's cookbook writing.
1:46
It has been great to hear from you guys, and if you're not on my email
1:49
list, it's been great to hear from the people who aren't listening to
1:52
this that were on my email list, because a funny thing happens in life.
1:58
We, and I'll speak for myself here.
2:02
I know cookbook publishing inside and out.
2:08
Mainly because I've seen it from so many different angles.
2:13
I worked on the joy of cooking as an editorial liaison.
2:19
I helped edit other trade cookbooks.
2:21
I've written four cookbooks of my own.
2:24
I've self-published a cookbook.
2:26
I've mentored people through traditional and self-publishing.
2:32
Three of my students had books traditionally published this year.
2:37
Within the past, uh, this year and last year, I've probably had 10 or 12
2:42
students that self-published cookbooks.
2:44
You've heard many of them on this show, and we start to think that
2:49
we know what's on the mind of the people who we are helping,
2:58
but.
2:59
Sometimes we don't know what it is that they're concerned about and
3:03
what the struggles they are facing.
3:05
And I mean, struggles in terms of things may be in their life that are
3:08
preventing them from moving forward with a dream of creating a legacy
3:12
or a cookbook that contains, um.
3:18
Their knowledge, their expertise, ways they can help people in the kitchen.
3:22
So I just decided to ask this question.
3:25
I'm in a group program and, uh, it's a group coaching program for people
3:29
who run online businesses and they suggested that we do this and it
3:34
worked out great the first time.
3:35
And so I've actually incorporated it into a couple of different,
3:38
um, emails that I send out and I.
3:43
Just have had the best time, not only hearing what people have to
3:46
say, but writing back to them and actually talking to them by email.
3:50
You know, when we work online and when we teach online and when we
3:56
have a podcast online, I can't tell you what it means to actually.
4:02
Receive emails from people that I help, from people that listen to the show and
4:08
also how much fun it is for me to reply back and probably for them and you to
4:14
have the experience of knowing that I'm a real person here on the other end of this.
4:18
This isn't just like some kind of, um.
4:21
Chatbot talking into the microphone.
4:23
A real person with a real life doing real things, helping real people, cooking
4:28
real food, uh, very much like you.
4:31
And, uh, I just love this connection, uh, by email and all this to say,
4:35
I had a show a couple weeks ago all about building your email list.
4:38
Please, please, please, if you have a business, this is.
4:42
This is the way to continue to maintain connection with people
4:48
who want to be in your ecosystem.
4:51
They want to hear from you, and if they don't, they can unsubscribe, but it's
4:55
so much better than chasing followers in an algorithm that we cannot control.
5:01
That's not to say I don't use social media, and it's not to say
5:04
that I don't, uh, buy ads on social media, but email is the ticket.
5:11
And now I'm gonna segue to telling you a little bit about the class, and
5:15
then we're gonna talk all today, all about traditional book publishing.
5:20
So I do want you to know if you are a food nutrition or culinary pro who
5:25
is dreaming of writing a cookbook.
5:27
We are currently in the middle of our Publish Your Cookbook
5:30
Masterclass, but it's not too late to join us in this free class.
5:35
We're discussing the shortcut that most aspiring authors miss,
5:40
and that is how to publish your cookbook without writing your book.
5:44
First, you're gonna discover how to position yourself as the author that
5:48
publishers are looking for right now and follow these exact steps
5:53
to land a yes from a publisher.
5:56
So.
5:57
If you want to join in the fun head on over to this on demand masterclass,
6:02
I keep saying it's sort of like netflix@www.publishcookbooks.com.
6:10
Publish cookbooks.com, and there is a link below in the show notes.
6:17
Okay, so let's, if you ever wondered what really happens behind the scenes of, uh.
6:23
A cookbook once it's acquired by a traditional publisher.
6:27
And just as a real short summary, I typically talk about
6:32
publishing in three buckets.
6:35
Traditional publishing is where author writes the book.
6:40
Publisher publishes the book and pays the writer of the book in advance royalties.
6:48
But the publisher assumes all the financial responsibility
6:51
for publishing the book.
6:54
The second type of publishing is self-publishing or independent
6:57
publishing, where the author writes the book and they also assume the financial
7:04
responsibility for publishing the book.
7:08
The third type is hybrid publishing, where author writes the book and they assume
7:15
the financial responsibility and pay a publisher to publish the book for them.
7:22
Most of the time with most of my students.
7:25
Um, I originally was just helping people with traditional publishing, which is the
7:30
publishing we're gonna talk about today.
7:33
And my program get paid to get published, but then I had requests for people who
7:39
wanted to learn how to self-publish.
7:41
So if I hear something that might.
7:44
Audience wants, I try to fulfill that.
7:48
So I didn't know how to self-publish.
7:50
So the first time I taught cookbooks on KDPI taught every week what to do,
7:56
and I was learning as we went along.
7:59
Um, it was really fun.
8:00
Met so many amazing people.
8:02
They published great books and they, uh, have been on the podcast.
8:05
You've heard from several of them.
8:07
And, uh, I also learned to publish myself, and I'm still teaching that course.
8:11
I have a, um, program of cookbooks on KDP going on right now.
8:16
Um, behind the scenes, helping people learn to publish their recipes
8:20
and stories in a book on Amazon.
8:23
And then the hybrid publishing model.
8:24
I really do think it has a place, I think for people that have a built in audience.
8:28
Maybe it's restaurants, wineries, bakeries.
8:31
Uh, really, um, successful food blogs, people that want to invest
8:35
the capital in their own book so that they, uh, can make more profit off
8:42
the book than the publisher does.
8:44
And, um, it's a great publishing model.
8:46
Also hybrid publishing.
8:47
But I wanna talk a little bit today about traditional publishing.
8:50
'cause a lot of people wonder in traditional publishing, like
8:53
who edits, who decides about.
8:56
Layout, fonts, photography, what our job of the writer or the author
9:01
is, once the contract is signed.
9:03
And so I thought I would map this out for you today and you can see
9:06
exactly how the cookbook moves from manuscript to finished book.
9:12
So by the end, I hope that you understand who handles what, what's expected
9:17
of you as the author, and what you can focus on right now to actually.
9:22
Get paid to write a cookbook, which is the traditional publishing model.
9:26
So let's talk first about you before the book deal.
9:29
And you, meaning you as the author, if you have ever, uh, signed a book
9:35
contract, you know that the most valuable assets in your business or
9:41
in your life are the proposal and.
9:44
Platform.
9:45
Platform is a fancy publishing word for your visibility and engagement, um, in
9:50
the marketplace with people you leverage your connections that you already have.
9:55
This is what publishers love.
9:58
Publishers are not hiring us to design the book, photograph
10:04
the book, or edit the book.
10:06
They're hiring us and they're paying us for our book ideas and for our audience.
10:13
Your proposal shows them that you can organize a concept, create a list of
10:19
recipes, write a table of contents, prepare a sample chapter, and that
10:24
you have a vision, an end point for a commercially viable book that
10:29
you're willing to be the author of.
10:32
And the platform shows that you already have connections with
10:36
people who would read the book, people who would buy the book.
10:39
Publishers are in business to sell books.
10:42
Their product is the book.
10:45
So the more readership you bring along with you and the better your idea for the
10:50
book, the greater chance that you're going to hear a yes from a publisher and do
10:55
not confuse engagement and visibility and readership with followers on Instagram.
11:02
It is not the same thing.
11:06
This is evidenced by the fact that prior to the early two thousands, no cookbook
11:13
author had any social media presence because there was no social media
11:20
and we still had readership, we still had connections with people.
11:25
We still had ways that we connected with real people who wanted
11:30
to buy real cookbooks from us.
11:34
Classes, newsletters, uh, teaching, helping, uh, connecting, networking, all
11:42
these things that we do to really, um, connect with people and, and help them.
11:48
We could do that now in a lot of different ways, but you know, it hasn't been always
11:52
around that social media was part of that.
11:54
So I think that's the biggest thing that I want people to know is that.
11:58
Um, we don't wanna confuse again, our platform and our connection
12:02
with an audience and readership with just social media followers.
12:06
We're not chasing followers to build a platform.
12:09
We're building relationships, engaged relationships with people.
12:14
And this kind of goes back to what I was talking about
12:16
at the beginning of the show.
12:17
Okay.
12:18
And then the next thing is that, um, traditional publishers invest
12:21
a lot in each book project.
12:25
Often, tens of thousands of dollars go into creating this book before
12:30
the first copy ever prints, and they wanna know that the investment.
12:35
That they're making is going to be in an author who understands
12:39
the process, communicates clearly, and delivers their work on time.
12:44
So when you focus on the proposal and the platform, you get to build trust
12:48
with the publisher before you ever even step into their office, which
12:51
you may or may not even ever do.
12:54
I, uh, met the people on the publishing team for my first cookbook.
12:59
They were based in Lexington, Kentucky.
13:02
I met with them actually several times.
13:03
I actually saw them out and about too as I was out promoting my books.
13:07
Uh, love that team and it would be really fun someday to
13:10
write another book for them.
13:12
My second publisher is based in Montana.
13:13
I never met anybody in person, never now.
13:17
We communicated, we talked on the phone, we wrote emails.
13:19
We did our back and forth, but I never really met them, but
13:23
I still felt like I built a relationship with them because, um.
13:26
I learned to trust what they said was true.
13:29
They learned to trust me.
13:30
We had a great working relationship and I actually ended up referring,
13:34
um, some re people that I knew, some other food and culinary professionals
13:39
to them as a publisher for some books that they wanted to write.
13:43
And then my third and fourth books, um, I knew the acquisitions editor.
13:50
I had met her from a previous publishing house, but I never met the
13:53
people in person who were actually working on the production of the book.
13:57
So it's not uncommon in the 2020s to say that you may not meet everybody in
14:02
person who's on the team, but you'll definitely be in touch with them.
14:06
So lemme talk about this core team of the people that are
14:10
on the team of a publisher.
14:12
Sometimes we think of a publisher, just a business, a building, um, a name.
14:19
But a publishing team is what puts this book together.
14:23
First of all, you're gonna interact with an acquisitions editor.
14:26
The acquisitions editor is the person on the team that acquires
14:31
books and acquires authors to write books for the publishing house.
14:37
They are essentially your first point of contact with this publishing team.
14:42
They really become your champion inside the publishing house because
14:46
they're probably the person who fell in love with your idea, pitched the
14:50
idea to the editorial or marketing team, and fought for your book to get
14:55
published at an acquisitions meeting.
14:59
You'll stay in touch with the acquisitions editor throughout the entire process.
15:04
Every single book I've ever worked on as an editor or an author, an outside
15:09
editor, I was like a copy editor.
15:12
And then of course, as an author, I can always remember
15:15
who the acquisitions editor was.
15:18
And acquisitions editors sometimes move from publishing houses to publishing
15:23
house, so it's great to have a good relationship with them because if
15:26
they go to a new publishing house.
15:28
They take their relationships with them.
15:30
It's kind of like your hairstylist go into a new salon, you might, they
15:34
take their relationships with them.
15:37
It was great fun getting to know the acquisitions editors and they
15:40
really do become the point person for contact with authors who are,
15:47
uh, wanting to write books for them.
15:50
They probably also have a lot of relationships with agents, um, culinary,
15:53
literary agents that, um, help people find, um, book deals in publishing houses
16:00
that don't accept unsolicited proposals.
16:04
They have relationships with them and a lot of this is all
16:06
built of course on relationships.
16:10
The second person is.
16:12
The editorial team now there, once you write a book manuscript and you send
16:17
it into the publishing house, you, I mean, it literally looks like you
16:22
just, I always tell my students it's like you just wrote a big book report.
16:25
It's on Microsoft Word.
16:28
Typically it's uploaded through the internet to a server where they
16:35
can download your manuscript, and the editorial team gets to work.
16:40
On editing your book.
16:42
This is the first thing that I think is so important about the publishing team,
16:47
and editors often get a bad rap, but it's because of, I think the authors sometimes
16:52
our own insecurities about someone editing our work or our control over our work.
16:58
But editing is a process to help make the written work that we have better.
17:04
It's all about making it better, more clear.
17:08
More straightforward, less repetitive, um, and there's different levels of editing.
17:13
The developmental editor helps shape the big picture, the flow of the
17:17
chapters, the recipe organization, the storytelling arc, et cetera.
17:22
The line editor focuses on the craft polishing sentences, making sure
17:27
transitions are clear, and that the tone of the book fits the voice of the author.
17:32
The copy editor then is at the very, uh, most detailed level accuracy,
17:38
consistency in precision and recipes.
17:43
Cookbook editors then I think, are a rare blend of chef grammarian
17:49
and counselor Cookbook editors are special people, and that's why I often
17:57
say, if you wanna write a cookbook.
18:00
Make sure you're working with a publishing team that has published cookbooks before.
18:05
Make sure you're working with editors who have edited cookbooks before.
18:08
Make sure you're working with book coaches that understand cookbooks
18:15
because we have this thing in a cookbook called a recipe, and they can help.
18:23
Bring their food knowledge to the book, to refine it without losing your
18:29
voice and without removing your flavor.
18:34
And to help the people who are cooking from the book get the most excellent,
18:40
delicious results in their kitchen.
18:45
Being a cookbook editor was a ton of fun.
18:47
I, uh, did it.
18:48
Like I said, I, the joy of cooking, I did a lot of things for the joy of cooking.
18:52
But after that went on to edit, uh, several trade cookbooks.
18:55
Uh, the big one that I did was Bake Wise by Shirley Courier, which was
18:59
a companion book to cook wise and.
19:03
I helped, um, Shirley had everything written, but I was responsible for
19:08
like, getting it organized, getting it together, um, getting it into
19:12
manuscript form and helping mainly as a developmental editor for Shirley.
19:16
And it was a ton of fun and it just really suited the kind
19:21
of personality that I have.
19:23
I loved talking to people.
19:24
I loved talking to Shirley, loved being in touch with her
19:27
and her husband, arch loved.
19:29
Um.
19:31
Organizing the documents, keeping the files on my computer, you know,
19:34
making sure they were all in order.
19:36
It just totally suited my personality.
19:38
So editorial teams for cookbooks are important.
19:42
And again, I can't emphasize enough that if you're going to publish a
19:46
cookbook with a traditional publisher, we obviously are pitching ideas to
19:49
publishers that publish cookbooks because it's a special type of book.
19:55
The next part of the team is the design team, and the design team
19:59
brings the book to life visually.
20:05
I find it fascinating that people that wanna write cookbooks, and it's the same
20:09
for people that want to start businesses, we always start with the visuals
20:14
first, because it's what we can see.
20:17
It's what's on the outside.
20:19
People that wanna start a business would design a website and business cards
20:23
before they ever even had a product.
20:25
For example, people that wanna write cookbooks often are
20:30
worried about page layout.
20:31
They're dinking around on Canva, they're worried about how the pages are gonna
20:35
look, but they really haven't even written the book yet because we we're so driven
20:39
to wanna bring things visually to life.
20:43
Once we have an idea, because we're visual, a lot of us are visual people.
20:49
We don't have the heart of what we're doing even accomplished yet.
20:53
We don't have customers, we don't have a product.
20:55
We don't have a way to sell to them.
20:57
Um, so I understand if you really feel strongly toward this design aspect of
21:02
your book, but the design team for a traditional publisher are amazing people.
21:07
They handle the layout of the book.
21:09
That means the way that the pages are laid out.
21:11
They usually use, uh, software like Adobe InDesign.
21:15
There's book designers, that's what they do.
21:17
I've talked to a book designer on the podcast, um, book designers design books.
21:23
It's like interior designer designs an interior of a home or an office.
21:27
The book designer designs the layout of the book, pick the typography, how your
21:31
recipes are going to appear on the page.
21:33
And I think that was the fun thing because I like design, but I think
21:38
there's a lot of people in the world that are a lot better at it than I am.
21:41
And I believe that they really help create beautiful books.
21:45
And then the cover designer creates the cover, which is the
21:48
first impression of the book.
21:50
Sometimes the cover designer and interior designer are the
21:52
same, and sometimes they're not.
21:54
But that cover is so important to grab people's attention, to draw them over
21:58
to the cookbook table, or to draw them into the book if they're looking at
22:01
it online, and to make someone want to pick up and read about that book.
22:07
So don't sell yourself short.
22:10
If you really aren't that good at design, I think a publishing team is
22:14
a great way to get a beautiful book without even having to, without ever
22:18
even ever having to worry about it.
22:20
You'll get to give input, you'll get to, um, look at designs, but don't
22:23
feel like you have to do it all on your own if you don't want to.
22:27
Then there's the photography team.
22:29
Now the photography team works closely with the design team.
22:32
But this often includes a photographer, a food stylist, maybe a prop stylist.
22:37
The shoot sometimes happens in house, or it's done by freelancers under
22:41
the director of, uh, the direction of the art director for the book.
22:45
But the goal is to capture the emotional essence of your food.
22:49
Is it rustic?
22:50
Is it modern?
22:51
Is it minimalist?
22:52
And some people also in the beginning, and I have people that have written
22:56
to me even this week, the biggest obstacle they're facing with their
22:59
cookbook is their photography.
23:02
But I've got a news flash for everybody.
23:03
If you're working with a traditional publisher, you don't have to
23:07
worry about the photography.
23:09
They'll have, uh, money set aside in the budget for some photography for your book.
23:16
If you happen to be a photographer and you want to pitch yourself as
23:20
the photographer for your book, you can do that when you make your
23:23
proposal, but it is not a requirement.
23:26
I like food photography, but I don't particularly like doing it.
23:30
I've said this on the show before.
23:31
I was thrilled to have illustrators and photographers work on my books
23:36
for me, and it was so fun to work with them and watch it all unfold.
23:43
I believe it was in Maureen, a Bo's, uh, podcast interview that we did a
23:48
couple of weeks ago where she talked about the photo shoot and they went to
23:51
her house in northern Michigan and how much fun it was to actually produce the
23:56
photos for her book Lebanese Baking.
23:59
And that's exactly what I mean.
24:01
It's um, really being part of a team where there's photographers
24:05
that are taking your recipes and turning them into beautiful photos.
24:10
Illustrations are also popular in cookbooks.
24:12
So it's not that everybody's doing photos anymore, there's graphics and
24:16
illustrations, and working with someone who, uh, designs all those is also fun.
24:21
And that's exactly what happened with me with Kentucky Fresh.
24:24
My first book, um, all Hand Illustrated original illustrations designed by
24:31
Cricket Press in Lexington, Kentucky.
24:33
Um, there.
24:36
Husband and wife team that create, created the artwork for the book.
24:40
Really, really fun.
24:42
Okay, and the third thing then is the marketing and publicity.
24:45
Now there's a lot of confusion about marketing and publicity, and
24:50
there is no doubt that publishers help market and promote your book.
24:55
They want to because they're creating the product and they want it to sell.
25:00
They've probably even set a target for how many books they're gonna print based on
25:04
how many books they're planning to sell.
25:07
So once the book is nearing publication, the publishing teams, this marketing
25:11
publicity team steps in, they coordinate media coverage, influencer
25:16
outreach, book tours, promotional partnerships, work with the sales team.
25:20
Did you know there's a sales team, uh, that goes out and promotes
25:24
your book to the bookstores?
25:26
It's a great thing.
25:27
I had an experience about a year ago.
25:29
I went to a couple of the bourbon trail distilleries here in Kentucky.
25:37
They have really nice gift shops and my cookbook.
25:41
Was present in two or three of those.
25:44
But my second cookbook, which is also a Kentucky cookbook, wasn't.
25:47
So, I called my, uh, acquisitions editor at the publisher and they said they'd
25:53
get the sales team to go out and talk to some of them because I think my other
25:57
Kentucky cookbook needs to be there also.
25:59
Um, gift shops like that are perfect for, uh, the books that I have written.
26:03
They get you in the catalogs, book fairs, online retailers.
26:06
Um, there's also.
26:07
Sometimes people might submit for a book award, like IACP book
26:11
award, James Beard Book Award.
26:13
Um, and they help to coordinate all of that blog, podcast, tours,
26:18
radio shows, whatever it is.
26:20
Um, marketing and publicity are the people that do it, but the truth
26:23
is, is they really only focus on the front list books, which is what
26:26
your book would be, right when it's published for a set period of time.
26:31
So once they stop, which they ultimately will do.
26:35
It's up to you to pick up the ball and run with it, so that's why your
26:39
connection to real people pr, even as you're writing your proposal through
26:44
your platform is so important because you get to work on marketing and publicity
26:49
with the team, and when you first sign the contract, you'll probably fill out
26:54
a marketing and publicity questionnaire that helps to drive the work that the
26:58
marketing and publicity team will do once the book is actually published.
27:02
I can remember both the marketing and publicity person for my books, um, in
27:08
particular the first two Kentucky books.
27:10
And, um, it was really fun to watch 'em work because they
27:16
know their business so well.
27:18
They know where they can get their.
27:20
Uh, authors in for appearances, for speaking engagements.
27:25
They have a lot of ideas, and in particular, if you're doing a regional
27:28
title like I did about Kentucky, my publisher was tuned into the region
27:33
where the book was going to be.
27:35
Promoted the most, and that's in Kentucky and around Kentucky.
27:39
And they had some really neat connections that I could never have
27:42
begun to even have, uh, curated this list of people that they reached out
27:47
to was going to do radio shows, library programs, extension office things.
27:51
I was willing to go and do anything.
27:52
So be a willing participant in what they have to suggest also.
27:58
Okay.
27:58
The, the next thing that we, uh, do want to acknowledge is there
28:02
are freelancers and contractors.
28:04
That work with big publishers and a lot of, um, new authors don't realize this.
28:09
The developmental editor that you work with may also edit books
28:13
for several major publishers.
28:15
The food stylist might be known, uh, as a creative who freelances for
28:20
maybe magazines or television shows.
28:23
This flexibility of hiring freelancers allows publishers to hire specialists
28:29
who fit with our project specifically.
28:32
Whether that's someone who understands baking or plant-based cooking or regional
28:36
cuisine without having to have all of these specialists on their staff.
28:42
You might communicate with the freelancers directly or through
28:45
your acquisitions editor.
28:47
But either way, all of these people are here to bring the book to life.
28:52
So let's talk a little bit about your job as the author, what your responsibilities
28:57
are and what their responsibilities are.
28:59
And then there's some joint responsibilities because I think when
29:03
we set out to write a cookbook and we are going to get it published, um.
29:10
There is a lot that we perhaps want to control, but it's really better.
29:15
I have found through experience to let the publisher do the work that
29:18
they're experts in doing in order to get the best results on the other side.
29:24
So number one, our first responsibility after we sign the book deal is to deliver
29:29
our manuscript complete and on time.
29:35
Every word that's going to go into the book will be typed up and sent to them.
29:41
Now, some cookbook writers do this all on their own.
29:45
Some work with ghost writers, which is perfectly fine too.
29:49
Usually if it's a ghost writer, sometimes they're acknowledged on the cover.
29:52
Sometimes they're not.
29:53
Um, sometimes publishers actually h hire ghost writers to help some
29:57
authors finish their manuscript, but the manuscript has to be delivered, and
30:01
this is the Microsoft Word document.
30:03
It's very boring.
30:04
It's not designed, it just looks like a typed big book report.
30:10
The second thing we're responsible for is tested rec recipes
30:14
and accurate measurements.
30:16
We're saying, here's my manuscript, and I have tested and cooked.
30:20
And developed everything in here.
30:22
And if I haven't, I've given the proper, uh, attribution, proper
30:27
acknowledgements, proper permission from people whose work I have used.
30:32
Talked about that before in some of the recipe podcasts.
30:36
Number three, responding promptly and professionally to editorial feedback.
30:39
Your manuscript will be put on a schedule of editorial feedback,
30:43
they'll say, and you'll be given a production schedule for the book.
30:47
That they set up, you know it's gonna go to the editor.
30:50
You're gonna get it back at such and such a date.
30:53
You'll have X number of days to review the edits and get it back
30:56
to us by such and such a date.
30:58
My suggestion is, is when you get that production schedule,
31:01
put those dates on your calendar.
31:04
Don't plan to be taking a trip that you can't pay attention to your manuscript.
31:09
It's not that you can't be traveling.
31:11
Maybe you wanna go to a quiet place during that time and when
31:14
the manuscript edits come back.
31:16
You focus on reviewing them all, approving or not approving them and sending
31:21
them back to the publisher on time according to the production schedule.
31:26
And then the next thing that you want to do is, uh, do the same thing.
31:29
Once your book is in pages, you'll get it back to review.
31:33
It's gonna be the design layout.
31:35
Usually very few changes at that point, but we still do a proofread of everything
31:39
to be sure that it's all correct.
31:41
And then the, the final thing, of course, is supporting your launch.
31:45
Anything that you can do to support the book launch, you're
31:48
gonna be heavily involved in that.
31:49
But be a willing participant and supportive in what they're recommending
31:53
that you do to help make this book be as successful as it can be.
31:59
Now, what they're responsible for is they'll refine the work that you've done.
32:03
They'll make it better through editing and design.
32:07
They'll manage the timelines, the photo shoots, and the production of the book.
32:12
They'll manage the distribution of the book.
32:14
They'll make your work shine visually and editorially.
32:18
They'll guide the marketing, publicity, and distribution of the book, and
32:22
when both sides, the author and the publisher do their part well.
32:27
The product feels seamless and it creates a beautiful book that reads
32:30
well, looks stunning, and feels cohesive from start to finish.
32:36
I get many of those books across my desk.
32:38
Every one I see is different.
32:40
And for those of you that say, there's so many cookbooks out
32:44
there, what else do I have to say?
32:45
I just have to tell you that there's still room for you because
32:49
your story hasn't been told yet.
32:51
So why does all this matter?
32:52
Why am I talking to you about this?
32:55
Because I want you to see that traditional publishing is an opportunity for us
33:02
to release the reins of control and stop trying to do everything ourself.
33:10
Many aspiring authors, waste months designing mock layouts,
33:14
hiring photographers, taking the pictures themself before
33:16
they're even under contract.
33:18
But the truth is the publisher's going to probably most likely redo all of that.
33:25
If you want to write a cookbook and get a book deal with a publisher, the best
33:29
use of your time right now is two things.
33:31
Number one, develop your proposal, and number two, build your engagement
33:37
and visibility with readers.
33:40
Build your engagement and visibility with people.
33:44
Don't chase followers.
33:46
Build your engagement and visibility with people.
33:49
If you have a business and you have an email list or you have a
33:52
blog and they've become a little bit stale or stagnant, now's the
33:55
time to bring some life to those.
33:59
I always say it's a website.
34:00
It's not a COB website, it's an email list.
34:03
It's not, it's not dead or stale.
34:05
It's alive, and those are the things that sell the book to the publisher.
34:10
Once you get the deal, the publisher brings in all the pros, the big the
34:14
team to help you, and they're gonna create the book and it's a professional
34:19
team and you focus on your expertise.
34:23
And you trust the work that they are going to do.
34:27
And when you understand how traditional publishing works, you position yourself
34:31
as a partner, not a hopeful hobbyist.
34:33
You're a pro who's a professional partner with a publisher.
34:37
We let the pros handle the editing, design, photography, and we
34:41
bring the idea and the audience.
34:44
So if you are ready to learn how to position your proposal, so publishers
34:49
see you as part of their team, again, don't forget to go register for
34:53
our Publisher Cookbook Masterclass.
34:55
It's available right now.
34:57
You can watch it on demand just like Netflix.
35:00
Head to publish cookbooks.com to join us and until next time, have a great day.
35:07
Keep writing, keep cooking.
35:11
Keep believing in the power of your recipes and stories to make
35:14
an impact on other people, and most importantly, keep loving.
35:19
Your cookbooks.
35:24
Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love podcast.
35:27
You can find out more information@www.cookbooklove.co.