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Episode 416: Are There Too Many Cookbooks? · Cookbook Love Podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker: You are listening to the
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  Speaker: Cookbook Love Podcast with
• 0:04
  Speaker: Maggie Greene, episode number
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  Speaker: four sixteen.
• 0:10
  Speaker: Welcome to the cookbook Love
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  Speaker: Podcast, a podcast that
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  Speaker: celebrates cookbook readers,
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  Speaker: buyers, collectors, writers, and
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  Speaker: clubs.
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  Speaker: And now your host, cookbook
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  Speaker: author, culinary dietitian, and
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  Speaker: cookbook writing coach, Maggie
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  Speaker: Greene.
• 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 today?
• 0:37
  Speaker: Hope you are all doing well.
• 0:38
  Speaker: I am having a great day here in my cookbook.
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  Speaker: Bunker.
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  Speaker: Had a private coaching client
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  Speaker: earlier today, have been working
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  Speaker: on the podcast, and did a really
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  Speaker: nice summary of all of the
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  Speaker: podcasts that I have recorded,
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  Speaker: categorized them in terms of
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  Speaker: different topics, and I'm
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  Speaker: excited to talk with you more
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  Speaker: about that very soon, so that
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  Speaker: you can perhaps have a guide to
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  Speaker: the podcast that will help you,
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  Speaker: especially, um, search for and
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  Speaker: think about some of the older
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  Speaker: shows that I have that I know
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  Speaker: can definitely help people who
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  Speaker: love to read, write, and collect
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  Speaker: cookbooks.
• 1:20
  Speaker: So today on the show, I'm bringing you an encore episode
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  Speaker: of Are There Too many Cookbooks?
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  Speaker: This is a thought that many of my students and people on my
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  Speaker: email list have.
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  Speaker: It is holding them back from writing their own cookbook
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  Speaker: because they feel like there are too many cookbooks.
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  Speaker: So if this sounds like something that you maybe have been
• 1:42
  Speaker: thinking that you have thought, well, I'm not going to write a
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  Speaker: cookbook because that I believe that to be true.
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  Speaker: Or someone has told you you
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  Speaker: shouldn't write a cookbook
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  Speaker: because there's too many
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  Speaker: cookbooks.
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  Speaker: I hope that this episode will speak to your heart and help you
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  Speaker: to see that we always will need more cookbooks for people who
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  Speaker: are new to a particular diagnosis, perhaps new to a
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  Speaker: particular stage in life, or new to cooking or baking.
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  Speaker: So I hope you enjoy this encore episode.
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  Speaker: And here we go away to the show.
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  Speaker: I'm excited to be here to talk to you about the concept that
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  Speaker: there are too many cookbooks.
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  Speaker: I actually went through a period
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  Speaker: of time where I believed that
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  Speaker: there wasn't a need for any more
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  Speaker: cookbooks.
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  Speaker: I can't even really believe that I'm telling you this and that.
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  Speaker: I really sometimes thought that
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  Speaker: there wasn't a need for
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  Speaker: cookbooks written by me, or
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  Speaker: cookbooks written by other
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  Speaker: people.
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  Speaker: And why would anyone care what
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  Speaker: anyone else had to say about
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  Speaker: food.
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  Speaker: And if you are interested in writing a cookbook or if you
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  Speaker: collect cookbooks, I've even heard people tell me this when
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  Speaker: they come up to visit me at events where I'm selling my
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  Speaker: cookbooks, that they don't need any more cookbooks.
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  Speaker: I want you to know that you're not alone.
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  Speaker: I have an email that I send out
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  Speaker: to my email list, and one of the
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  Speaker: titles of the email was there
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  Speaker: are too many cookbooks, and it's
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  Speaker: always the email topic that I
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  Speaker: get the most responses from
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  Speaker: people who want to write
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  Speaker: cookbooks.
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  Speaker: Because what I'm here to talk about today is not to tell you
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  Speaker: that there are too many cookbooks, and not to convince
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  Speaker: you that there are too many cookbooks, because I really
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  Speaker: don't believe that that is true.
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  Speaker: Because after some soul searching and reflection, I soon
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  Speaker: realized that there is plenty of room for cookbooks.
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  Speaker: There's plenty of space for cookbooks, and that's what I
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  Speaker: want to talk about today.
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  Speaker: I don't think we've ever heard
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  Speaker: anybody say there's too many
• 3:53
  Speaker: romance novels, too many cozy
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  Speaker: mysteries, too many children's
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  Speaker: books.
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  Speaker: Too many self-help books, too
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  Speaker: much historical fiction or
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  Speaker: business books.
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  Speaker: Marketing books.
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  Speaker: The only people that really
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  Speaker: think that that's true are
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  Speaker: people that genuinely, genuinely
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  Speaker: do not like that genre of book,
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  Speaker: or people who want to write
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  Speaker: those books.
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  Speaker: If we were to set out to write a
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  Speaker: romance novel, or a cozy
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  Speaker: mystery, or a children's book,
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  Speaker: or a self-help book, or a
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  Speaker: historical fiction, or a new
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  Speaker: business book or a new marketing
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  Speaker: book, we truly might think the
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  Speaker: same thing.
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  Speaker: We may start to think, oh, there's already too many of
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  Speaker: those books anyway.
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  Speaker: Why would I ever need to add to
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  Speaker: this pile of business or
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  Speaker: marketing books or historical
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  Speaker: fiction?
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  Speaker: But what I like to think about, though, is that we only really
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  Speaker: start to see this plethora of cookbooks as a reason not to
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  Speaker: write the book, instead of truly a reason to write it.
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  Speaker: What if the fact that there are
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  Speaker: so many cookbooks out there is
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  Speaker: the best reason to write a
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  Speaker: cookbook?
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  Speaker: Because the fact that they're out there and they're still
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  Speaker: printed and they're published and they're selling should be
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  Speaker: something that says to us, hey, this is a book that people are
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  Speaker: interested in because I want you to remember something.
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  Speaker: Every single person that is alive needs to eat.
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  Speaker: It doesn't matter how old you are, how big you are, how small
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  Speaker: you are, what your sex is, what you identify as, what the color
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  Speaker: of your skin is.
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  Speaker: Whether you eat meat or whether you eat vegetables, it makes no
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  Speaker: difference at all.
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  Speaker: Every single human on the face of this earth needs to eat, and
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  Speaker: food touches everyone's life.
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  Speaker: And there may come a time in
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  Speaker: someone's life when they don't
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  Speaker: care about cookbooks, when all
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  Speaker: of a sudden they are diagnosed,
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  Speaker: perhaps with a chronic illness,
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  Speaker: or they suddenly have a desire
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  Speaker: to cook more at home, they maybe
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  Speaker: want to save money on their
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  Speaker: groceries.
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  Speaker: They want to prepare better meals.
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  Speaker: They want to have a healthier body.
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  Speaker: They want to connect more with family and friends.
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  Speaker: They want to learn about a new technique, and all of a sudden
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  Speaker: that person that faces this particular issue or desire will
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  Speaker: reach out to cookbooks to help teach them something that will
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  Speaker: help them heal or learn or have fun in the kitchen.
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  Speaker: So with all these eaters out
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  Speaker: there, and with the realization
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  Speaker: that a cookbook could help them
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  Speaker: with something that they need
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  Speaker: books about how to prepare
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  Speaker: vegetables, how to reduce
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  Speaker: fasting blood sugar, how to make
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  Speaker: cupcakes, how to use air fryers,
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  Speaker: how to have fun planning a
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  Speaker: week's worth of meals, how to
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  Speaker: save money on grocery store
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  Speaker: expenses.
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  Speaker: These kinds of things matter
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  Speaker: because people are always
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  Speaker: looking new.
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  Speaker: People are always looking for updated and relevant information
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  Speaker: on these types of topics.
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  Speaker: And a lot of people, just like
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  Speaker: you, like to buy cookbooks, to
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  Speaker: read them, to learn about
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  Speaker: something new or a new culture,
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  Speaker: or a new food, or a new take on
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  Speaker: things.
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  Speaker: Even when you're someone that genuinely loves cookbooks.
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  Speaker: So there's never too many cookbooks.
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  Speaker: And I also want to say that our
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  Speaker: perspective as cookbook writers
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  Speaker: really matters.
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  Speaker: I just went through an exercise where I'm looking at cookbooks
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  Speaker: that are coming out this fall, people that I want to interview
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  Speaker: on on the podcast, I'm receiving emails from public relations
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  Speaker: people at publishing houses, and I want to tell you that the
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  Speaker: topics of cookbooks are not that much different than they've
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  Speaker: always been, but they're being written by new people.
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  Speaker: We have baking books, we have
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  Speaker: vegan books, we have cookie
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  Speaker: cookbooks.
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  Speaker: We have some debut authors, which is very exciting, I think.
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  Speaker: I love talking to debut authors,
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  Speaker: so there's always someone out
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  Speaker: there that this is their first
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  Speaker: cookbook.
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  Speaker: We have more sheet pan work.
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  Speaker: We have books about different
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  Speaker: kinds of equipment, and I did a
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  Speaker: whole podcast on all the
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  Speaker: different stories we tell in
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  Speaker: cookbooks.
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  Speaker: But I just want you to remember
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  Speaker: that your perspective on a topic
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  Speaker: matters.
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  Speaker: Even if a hundred other people have written a cookie cookbook
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  Speaker: and you love cookies and you want to write a cookie cookbook.
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  Speaker: Your perspective on the topic
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  Speaker: matters, and my perspective on
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  Speaker: the topic matters, and someone
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  Speaker: else's perspective on the topic
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  Speaker: matters.
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  Speaker: Because you know what?
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  Speaker: We can't each reach all the
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  Speaker: people that need to heal or
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  Speaker: learn or want to have fun in
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  Speaker: their kitchen.
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  Speaker: Any of us individually cannot do this alone, so we kind of have
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  Speaker: to do it together.
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  Speaker: And I really think that
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  Speaker: cookbooks offer this opportunity
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  Speaker: for us collectively to impact
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  Speaker: people with our books in a real
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  Speaker: way, because food that people
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  Speaker: eat becomes part of their bodies
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  Speaker: and part of the life that
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  Speaker: they're living, and part of
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  Speaker: their life experience in a way
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  Speaker: that other books never will be
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  Speaker: able to.
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  Speaker: They could feel better when they eat the food that you talk about
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  Speaker: in your cookbook.
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  Speaker: They could experience food in a new way.
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  Speaker: Their family could experience food in a new way.
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  Speaker: They could have some fun.
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  Speaker: They could learn something new.
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  Speaker: Our books really, truly impact people, and cookbooks do in a
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  Speaker: multitude of way.
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  Speaker: So yes, there are tons of cooks.
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  Speaker: There are tons of things to
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  Speaker: learn, lots of things for us to
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  Speaker: teach.
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  Speaker: But if we don't write the books,
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  Speaker: that's going to help people when
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  Speaker: they need it, who's going to do
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  Speaker: it?
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  Speaker: If we all sit around and think
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  Speaker: that there's too many cookbooks
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  Speaker: being written and there's
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  Speaker: already too many books written
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  Speaker: and there's already too much,
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  Speaker: then we aren't motivated to want
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  Speaker: to continue.
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  Speaker: So even if others are writing books for the people, and you
• 9:32
  Speaker: see them now being published and now being for sale, and you're
• 9:35
  Speaker: going to see more this fall, and I'm going to talk to more
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  Speaker: cookbook writers on the podcast.
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  Speaker: It doesn't make any difference.
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  Speaker: There's always more people who
• 9:43
  Speaker: are eating, who are waiting for
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  Speaker: your perspective on the topic,
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  Speaker: and you have a unique message to
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  Speaker: share with someone who's
• 9:50
  Speaker: probably a lot like you, shares
• 9:53
  Speaker: a lot of the same values that
• 9:54
  Speaker: you share, and there isn't any
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  Speaker: reason that you should stop
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  Speaker: pursuing the thought that you
• 9:59
  Speaker: could write a cookbook and get
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  Speaker: it published just because you
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  Speaker: think there's too many cookbooks
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  Speaker: out there.
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  Speaker: There are not too many cookbooks out there.
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  Speaker: There's the perfect number of cookbooks out there, and there's
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  Speaker: always room for more.
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  Speaker: So I want this podcast to motivate you to document your
• 10:17
  Speaker: recipes, document your stories, record what your family does,
• 10:22
  Speaker: pay attention to everything that you cook and bake.
• 10:25
  Speaker: Let a cookbook concept unfold.
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  Speaker: And as always, if you are
• 10:30
  Speaker: interested in writing a cookbook
• 10:31
  Speaker: of your own, please reach out to
• 10:34
  Speaker: me.
• 10:35
  Speaker: Get on my email list.
• 10:36
  Speaker: You can join that by going to w w w dot cookbook Writers academy
• 10:40
  Speaker: dot com slash free.
• 10:42
  Speaker: Signing up for my fun free
• 10:44
  Speaker: training you'll get on my email
• 10:46
  Speaker: list, and you'll start getting
• 10:47
  Speaker: these emails where I start
• 10:48
  Speaker: talking about cookbooks and
• 10:51
  Speaker: cookbook writing to people who
• 10:53
  Speaker: are interested in writing a
• 10:54
  Speaker: cookbook.
• 10:56
  Speaker: So thank you to those of you who have responded to this email.
• 10:59
  Speaker: You were the reason that I
• 11:00
  Speaker: decided to record this podcast
• 11:02
  Speaker: episode.
• 11:03
  Speaker: And thank you to those of you who have written cookbooks, and
• 11:06
  Speaker: to those of you who buy cookbooks and collect cookbooks
• 11:09
  Speaker: and have cookbook clubs and support this genre of books.
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  Speaker: There is not too many cookbooks.
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  Speaker: We need more cookbooks.
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  Speaker: We need more people like you to write cookbooks.
• 11:19
  Speaker: We need to collect cookbooks.
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  Speaker: We need to keep this genre of book alive and thriving.
• 11:25
  Speaker: And that's exactly why I'm here.
• 11:27
  Speaker: And I think that's exactly why you're here.
• 11:30
  Speaker: And I want to thank you again for tuning in to the show today.
• 11:35
  Speaker: As always, this is your host, Maggie Green.
• 11:38
  Speaker: Have a great day and keep loving your cookbooks.
• 11:45
  Speaker: Thanks for listening to the Cookbook Love podcast.
• 11:47
  Speaker: You can find out more information at w w w dot
• 11:50
  Speaker: cookbook dot co.