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Episode 394: The Cookbook Idea You Think You Shouldn't Write (But Maybe Should) · Cookbook Love Podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker: You're listening to the Cookbook
• 0:03
  Speaker: Love Podcast with Maggie Greene,
• 0:05
  Speaker: episode number three ninety
• 0:08
  Speaker: four.
• 0:10
  Speaker: Welcome to the cookbook Love
• 0:12
  Speaker: Podcast, a podcast that
• 0:14
  Speaker: celebrates cookbook readers,
• 0:16
  Speaker: buyers, collectors, writers, and
• 0:18
  Speaker: clubs.
• 0:19
  Speaker: And now your host, cookbook
• 0:21
  Speaker: author, culinary dietitian, and
• 0:23
  Speaker: cookbook writing coach, Maggie
• 0:24
  Speaker: Green.
• 0:31
  Speaker: Hi, everybody.
• 0:32
  Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of the cookbook Love podcast.
• 0:35
  Speaker: How's everybody doing?
• 0:36
  Speaker: Today.
• 0:37
  Speaker: Hope you're all doing well.
• 0:39
  Speaker: I am recording this episode and then getting ready to pack.
• 0:44
  Speaker: We're headed out of town for a family wedding this weekend.
• 0:47
  Speaker: So very excited about that.
• 0:50
  Speaker: Trying to decide the clothes and shoes to pack because we're
• 0:53
  Speaker: going to an area of the country that hasn't quite probably seen
• 0:57
  Speaker: a ton of spring yet.
• 0:59
  Speaker: But Regardless, I'll be prepared
• 1:02
  Speaker: and looking forward to having a
• 1:04
  Speaker: good time with family to
• 1:07
  Speaker: celebrate a wedding, which is
• 1:09
  Speaker: always great.
• 1:10
  Speaker: Uh. Lots of things going on over
• 1:12
  Speaker: the weekend to enjoy together
• 1:13
  Speaker: and I'm really looking forward
• 1:15
  Speaker: to it.
• 1:15
  Speaker: Plus, I love car trips.
• 1:16
  Speaker: I think it's great to hop in the car.
• 1:19
  Speaker: We'll be driving about four hours.
• 1:21
  Speaker: Oh, and then when we get there,
• 1:23
  Speaker: we'll be just in time to watch
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  Speaker: UK play basketball in the
• 1:27
  Speaker: opening round of the NCAA
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  Speaker: tournament.
• 1:31
  Speaker: We're not seated as highly as we
• 1:33
  Speaker: usually are, but nonetheless
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  Speaker: always look forward to the NCAA
• 1:38
  Speaker: basketball tournament.
• 1:39
  Speaker: And today there's actually some
• 1:40
  Speaker: games on too, so I might have to
• 1:42
  Speaker: tune in.
• 1:44
  Speaker: Um, as I'm packing and watch basketball today.
• 1:47
  Speaker: Also, some people that like
• 1:48
  Speaker: basketball think these are the
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  Speaker: greatest two days in sports,
• 1:51
  Speaker: this first two days of the NCAA
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  Speaker: tournament.
• 1:54
  Speaker: So, um, a lot of people take off work, go somewhere, watch
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  Speaker: basketball, uh, all day.
• 2:01
  Speaker: I know I have a friend who, uh,
• 2:03
  Speaker: goes with some friends, takes
• 2:04
  Speaker: his older sons to Las Vegas for
• 2:07
  Speaker: these two days, and they, uh,
• 2:09
  Speaker: sit and watch basketball all
• 2:10
  Speaker: day.
• 2:10
  Speaker: So a lot of lot of things going
• 2:12
  Speaker: on this time of year, obviously,
• 2:13
  Speaker: for March Madness around
• 2:14
  Speaker: basketball.
• 2:17
  Speaker: Okay, so I'm veering away from the podcast, but I'm going to
• 2:19
  Speaker: get us back here because I want to talk about something today.
• 2:23
  Speaker: When we come up with a book by
• 2:25
  Speaker: book idea, we often think it's
• 2:29
  Speaker: not the book we're supposed to
• 2:31
  Speaker: write.
• 2:31
  Speaker: Like we shouldn't write it.
• 2:33
  Speaker: Like something in our head is telling us, this is not the book
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  Speaker: you should write.
• 2:36
  Speaker: But my proposition today is,
• 2:38
  Speaker: what if it is the book you
• 2:40
  Speaker: should write?
• 2:41
  Speaker: And the reason a lot of people
• 2:44
  Speaker: come up with an idea, but they
• 2:46
  Speaker: think they should not write that
• 2:48
  Speaker: book is because it doesn't match
• 2:49
  Speaker: their profession.
• 2:52
  Speaker: But what if that's exactly why you should write the book?
• 2:58
  Speaker: This is very common and
• 3:00
  Speaker: something I hear a lot,
• 3:02
  Speaker: especially from health and food
• 3:04
  Speaker: experts, chefs, dieticians
• 3:07
  Speaker: worked with other health
• 3:08
  Speaker: professionals, people who have
• 3:10
  Speaker: spent years building real
• 3:12
  Speaker: expertise.
• 3:13
  Speaker: And in their professional life, they're known for something.
• 3:18
  Speaker: But then when it comes to writing a cookbook, they
• 3:21
  Speaker: hesitate because they really want to write what they love in
• 3:25
  Speaker: the kitchen, and it doesn't always match their credentials.
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  Speaker: Maybe they think it should sound more technical.
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  Speaker: It should sound more nutrition
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  Speaker: y. It should sound more like a
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  Speaker: textbook.
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  Speaker: Maybe it should be more serious.
• 3:40
  Speaker: Maybe if I'm a doctor and I want to write about barbecue, people
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  Speaker: won't get that.
• 3:45
  Speaker: They think that they have to
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  Speaker: write books that are aligned
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  Speaker: with who they are as a
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  Speaker: profession, and this creates a
• 3:50
  Speaker: lot of second guessing, a ton of
• 3:52
  Speaker: hesitation.
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  Speaker: And what I find often happens is
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  Speaker: the really strong idea that we
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  Speaker: want to write about gets put to
• 4:02
  Speaker: the side.
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  Speaker: And I care about this topic deeply because I lived this.
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  Speaker: Myself with my first book.
• 4:10
  Speaker: I was trained as a dietitian, I.
• 4:13
  Speaker: And not only that, but I went on
• 4:15
  Speaker: to get advanced training in
• 4:17
  Speaker: nutrition support.
• 4:18
  Speaker: I had a strong background in nutrition support therapy.
• 4:23
  Speaker: I was certified in nutrition support therapy.
• 4:26
  Speaker: I wanted to go to chef school, which I did.
• 4:28
  Speaker: I wanted to learn about food, which I did, but my book that I
• 4:32
  Speaker: wanted to write had nothing to really do with any of that.
• 4:35
  Speaker: It had to do with seasonal home cooking in Kentucky.
• 4:40
  Speaker: That's right.
• 4:41
  Speaker: Family meals, menus, stocking your pantry.
• 4:45
  Speaker: It's kind of these homey things,
• 4:47
  Speaker: but the way that people actually
• 4:48
  Speaker: cook and gather and eat, it's
• 4:50
  Speaker: what I cared about deeply and
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  Speaker: it's what I wanted to write
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  Speaker: about.
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  Speaker: But in the back of my mind, I kept wondering, am I like
• 4:57
  Speaker: betraying my profession?
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  Speaker: AM I stepping away from who I paid to be by going to college
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  Speaker: because there wasn't anything clinical nutrition related in
• 5:07
  Speaker: this book, and I wasn't writing for professional chefs.
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  Speaker: I was writing about my life
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  Speaker: right here in my Kentucky
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  Speaker: kitchen, and two things came up
• 5:20
  Speaker: for me.
• 5:20
  Speaker: I felt like I was indulging in something that I really loved.
• 5:24
  Speaker: Was I allowed to write about that?
• 5:26
  Speaker: And I felt like I was betraying my training.
• 5:30
  Speaker: But what I came to understand
• 5:32
  Speaker: and what I want to talk to you
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  Speaker: about today and how I see this
• 5:36
  Speaker: with so many people I work with,
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  Speaker: is you are not betraying your
• 5:40
  Speaker: training.
• 5:41
  Speaker: You are not being indulgent.
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  Speaker: You're expanding it.
• 5:46
  Speaker: You're expanding your training.
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  Speaker: Everything you learned doesn't
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  Speaker: disappear just because you
• 5:53
  Speaker: showed up.
• 5:55
  Speaker: Everything you learn doesn't
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  Speaker: disappear just because you show
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  Speaker: up differently and write about
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  Speaker: different things.
• 6:02
  Speaker: What you know and what you learn
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  Speaker: can show up in how you talk
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  Speaker: about ingredients, how you talk
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  Speaker: about food, how you guide your
• 6:09
  Speaker: reader.
• 6:10
  Speaker: And in many ways, I think having that expertise in the background
• 6:14
  Speaker: does make the book better.
• 6:16
  Speaker: I've had doctors, like I mentioned, want to write about
• 6:19
  Speaker: barbecue, worked with the pharmacist who wanted to write
• 6:22
  Speaker: about plant based comfort food.
• 6:24
  Speaker: Ayurvedic practitioners who just
• 6:26
  Speaker: wanted to talk about spices,
• 6:28
  Speaker: rice, lentils.
• 6:31
  Speaker: And underneath all of this
• 6:33
  Speaker: hesitation is pretty much the
• 6:35
  Speaker: same question am I allowed to do
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  Speaker: this?
• 6:42
  Speaker: Because there's pressure for experts.
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  Speaker: They're supposed to write something serious, something
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  Speaker: technical, you know, get an abstract published, go speak at
• 6:50
  Speaker: your professional organization.
• 6:54
  Speaker: That's what people think they should be doing, because there's
• 6:57
  Speaker: fear of being judged by our peers, fear of stepping outside
• 7:01
  Speaker: of how we're known.
• 7:02
  Speaker: Fear of not being taken seriously.
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  Speaker: And then what ends up happening
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  Speaker: because of this is they confuse
• 7:11
  Speaker: their credentials with the right
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  Speaker: book idea.
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  Speaker: But I want you to remember this.
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  Speaker: Publishers for trade cookbooks are not, uh, high.
• 7:27
  Speaker: High.
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  Speaker: They're not universities.
• 7:29
  Speaker: Now, sometimes university presses publish trade cookbooks.
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  Speaker: And they did my first cookbook,
• 7:34
  Speaker: but they're not looking for a
• 7:35
  Speaker: trade cookbook.
• 7:36
  Speaker: They're not looking for a professional cookbook from me.
• 7:39
  Speaker: Even if you published for a
• 7:41
  Speaker: university press, they're not
• 7:43
  Speaker: licensing boards.
• 7:44
  Speaker: They're not their businesses, and they're looking for books
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  Speaker: that people are going to buy.
• 7:50
  Speaker: So when the publisher looks at a cookbook book idea, they may not
• 7:54
  Speaker: only be asking, well, is this person qualified to write it?
• 7:57
  Speaker: But more importantly, are there
• 7:59
  Speaker: readers who are going to care
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  Speaker: about this?
• 8:01
  Speaker: And this ties into what we
• 8:02
  Speaker: talked about last week, because
• 8:04
  Speaker: readers don't choose a book or a
• 8:07
  Speaker: cookbook based on credentials
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  Speaker: alone.
• 8:09
  Speaker: They choose books that they need or feel pulled toward based on.
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  Speaker: Maybe they recognize who you are.
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  Speaker: They know who you are.
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  Speaker: Maybe on curiosity, maybe on emotion.
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  Speaker: Maybe on connection.
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  Speaker: Your credentials could help build trust, especially if it's
• 8:25
  Speaker: a book about a health condition, but they don't automatically
• 8:29
  Speaker: create reader interest.
• 8:31
  Speaker: And publishers sometimes want both.
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  Speaker: They might want someone with
• 8:35
  Speaker: credentials and a passion for
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  Speaker: the topic that they're writing
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  Speaker: about, but sometimes that
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  Speaker: doesn't really matter to them
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  Speaker: either.
• 8:42
  Speaker: One way to understand this a
• 8:44
  Speaker: little more clearly is to look
• 8:45
  Speaker: at how cookbook deals actually
• 8:46
  Speaker: tend to happen, and I think they
• 8:48
  Speaker: fall into one of three lanes
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  Speaker: cookbooks, cookbooks based on
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  Speaker: authority, cookbooks based on
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  Speaker: personality or cookbooks based
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  Speaker: on platform.
• 9:00
  Speaker: So let's talk about all three of these cookbooks based on
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  Speaker: authority is where credentials matter the most.
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  Speaker: This is if you have a dietitian
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  Speaker: writing about a heart healthy
• 9:13
  Speaker: writing, heart healthy
• 9:14
  Speaker: cookbooks, doctors writing about
• 9:17
  Speaker: specific conditions, expert led,
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  Speaker: information driven recipe
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  Speaker: containing books.
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  Speaker: Your credentials will probably
• 9:26
  Speaker: matter the most in a book like
• 9:29
  Speaker: this.
• 9:30
  Speaker: A personality driven book is
• 9:32
  Speaker: where the story and the voice
• 9:35
  Speaker: lead chefs, food writers, people
• 9:38
  Speaker: writing from lived experiences
• 9:40
  Speaker: build and write books about
• 9:41
  Speaker: culture, identity, and
• 9:43
  Speaker: perspective.
• 9:44
  Speaker: And quite frankly, it's often the hardest for people who have
• 9:48
  Speaker: credentials to turn their work into personality driven books.
• 9:53
  Speaker: I think it's great to do, but often the people who are the
• 9:57
  Speaker: experts feel the most out of alignment when they try to do
• 10:00
  Speaker: something like this.
• 10:02
  Speaker: And if you're listening to this
• 10:04
  Speaker: podcast and you have credentials
• 10:06
  Speaker: in the health space, but yet
• 10:08
  Speaker: you're wanting to write a book
• 10:10
  Speaker: about culture, identity,
• 10:11
  Speaker: perspective, story led, voice
• 10:14
  Speaker: led books.
• 10:15
  Speaker: Remember, if you're feeling some dissonance, it's not because
• 10:19
  Speaker: you've picked the wrong topic.
• 10:20
  Speaker: It's just because your book and
• 10:23
  Speaker: what's going to lead is your
• 10:24
  Speaker: personality and not your
• 10:26
  Speaker: credentials.
• 10:28
  Speaker: And then the third type of book is a platform driven book where
• 10:31
  Speaker: the audience is the leverage.
• 10:33
  Speaker: If you're a blogger and you have
• 10:35
  Speaker: a lot of followers on your food
• 10:37
  Speaker: blog, you're some sort of
• 10:38
  Speaker: creator.
• 10:39
  Speaker: You already have a community of
• 10:40
  Speaker: people engaging with your
• 10:41
  Speaker: recipes.
• 10:43
  Speaker: Your platform is going to drive this book, and you're going to
• 10:45
  Speaker: be writing a book based on what they like and respond to.
• 10:49
  Speaker: The strongest books actually
• 10:51
  Speaker: usually come from a combination
• 10:52
  Speaker: of these two, like authority
• 10:54
  Speaker: plus personality or personality
• 10:57
  Speaker: plus platform or authority plus
• 10:59
  Speaker: platform.
• 11:00
  Speaker: The combination, I think, is
• 11:02
  Speaker: when things really start to
• 11:03
  Speaker: work.
• 11:05
  Speaker: So let's get back to what you love and what you love to cook
• 11:07
  Speaker: and what you love to talk about, because this is the part that
• 11:10
  Speaker: people most often overlook.
• 11:12
  Speaker: When someone talks about an idea they genuinely care about, I can
• 11:16
  Speaker: always hear it in their voice.
• 11:18
  Speaker: When we are talking about it on
• 11:20
  Speaker: coaching calls, their voice
• 11:21
  Speaker: changes and their energy changes
• 11:24
  Speaker: and their story becomes more
• 11:25
  Speaker: clear, more specific, more
• 11:27
  Speaker: alive.
• 11:28
  Speaker: And that's because there's more emotion behind it.
• 11:31
  Speaker: And I promise that's the kind of topic you probably want to write
• 11:34
  Speaker: your first book about, because readers can feel that they will
• 11:38
  Speaker: respond to the energy that you are providing to write this
• 11:43
  Speaker: book, and not just the information that's in the book.
• 11:46
  Speaker: In addition to that, your energy and your love for the topic will
• 11:50
  Speaker: help you be a better person.
• 11:52
  Speaker: Marketing and selling this book.
• 11:54
  Speaker: Remember that people love
• 11:56
  Speaker: stories and they love to connect
• 11:58
  Speaker: with real people with real lived
• 12:00
  Speaker: experience.
• 12:01
  Speaker: And that is what's going to make your book stand out?
• 12:05
  Speaker: So I'm not saying that credentials don't matter.
• 12:07
  Speaker: They they might matter, but they do help build trust.
• 12:12
  Speaker: They could give your reader confidence in your guidance.
• 12:16
  Speaker: They could support your authority.
• 12:18
  Speaker: But credentials do not carry the entire book.
• 12:21
  Speaker: They enhance the message, but
• 12:22
  Speaker: they do not replace the personal
• 12:25
  Speaker: connection that you bring with
• 12:27
  Speaker: your topic and with your
• 12:29
  Speaker: readers.
• 12:31
  Speaker: So again, I think the strongest
• 12:32
  Speaker: cookbooks often bring two
• 12:34
  Speaker: together authority plus
• 12:36
  Speaker: humanity.
• 12:38
  Speaker: Authority might explain why
• 12:39
  Speaker: you're qualified, but humanity
• 12:41
  Speaker: explains why anyone should care
• 12:43
  Speaker: about the topic that you want to
• 12:44
  Speaker: write about.
• 12:46
  Speaker: And when those two things come together, you have a powerful
• 12:49
  Speaker: idea for a cookbook.
• 12:51
  Speaker: So if you've been holding back on an idea because you don't
• 12:54
  Speaker: think it's serious enough, I want to offer you a different
• 12:57
  Speaker: way to think about it.
• 12:59
  Speaker: You're allowed to write about what excites you.
• 13:02
  Speaker: Your profession that trains you does not limit you.
• 13:06
  Speaker: You're not stepping away from your expertise.
• 13:09
  Speaker: You're not betraying your college education.
• 13:11
  Speaker: You're not betraying any money that you or your parents or
• 13:14
  Speaker: somebody spent on you to get your certificate or your degree.
• 13:18
  Speaker: You're expressing what you love in a more human way.
• 13:22
  Speaker: And the idea that keeps coming up for you that you can't quite
• 13:25
  Speaker: let go of, that you're not sure you should write about.
• 13:28
  Speaker: The reason it's coming up over
• 13:30
  Speaker: and over again is because it
• 13:32
  Speaker: matters.
• 13:33
  Speaker: And the truth is, your
• 13:36
  Speaker: credentials got you to where you
• 13:38
  Speaker: are today.
• 13:38
  Speaker: They matter, but they're not what's going to always carry
• 13:41
  Speaker: your book forward.
• 13:43
  Speaker: Let's look at the connection and starting with something you
• 13:46
  Speaker: actually care about.
• 13:48
  Speaker: So that idea you're pushing aside could be the exact one.
• 13:54
  Speaker: That is the concept for the book
• 13:56
  Speaker: you need to write and might
• 13:58
  Speaker: exactly be what your readers are
• 14:00
  Speaker: waiting for.
• 14:02
  Speaker: So if you are interested in writing a cookbook of your own
• 14:07
  Speaker: and getting it published, please head to the show notes.
• 14:11
  Speaker: Join our waitlist for the next cohort of Get Paid to get
• 14:14
  Speaker: published and the URL is Cookbook writers Academy.com.
• 14:19
  Speaker: Get paid masterclass.
• 14:22
  Speaker: I will let you know the next
• 14:23
  Speaker: time the class opens up, and the
• 14:25
  Speaker: next time we open the doors for
• 14:26
  Speaker: the cohort of Get Paid to get
• 14:27
  Speaker: published.
• 14:28
  Speaker: And I'd love to have you on the waitlist.
• 14:31
  Speaker: So that is it for today's
• 14:33
  Speaker: episode of the Cookbook Love
• 14:34
  Speaker: Podcast.
• 14:36
  Speaker: This is your host, Maggie Green.
• 14:37
  Speaker: And until next time, have a
• 14:39
  Speaker: great day and keep loving your
• 14:41
  Speaker: cookbooks.
• 14:45
  Speaker: Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love Podcast.
• 14:48
  Speaker: You can find out more information at WW cookbook.