Food Writing A Weekly Ezine Volume VI, Issue 7 March 3, 2009 www.food-writing.com

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For writers who love food and food lovers who write. Subscribe and Unsubscribe instructions are found at the end of the e-zine. Our subscribers' privacy is important, I will not sell or share e-mail addresses or names with other businesses or publishers. This newsletter, in its entirety, may be shared via e-mail and on lists. Thank you!

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"Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out." - Samuel Johnson
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In This Issue: 1. Editor's Note: New York City! 2. Sell Your Recipes...One at a Time by Pamela White 3. How to Self Publish Your First Cookbook by Michael Senoff 4. Food Writing Jobs and Markets

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THE ART OF THE RESTAURANT REVIEW, THE ONLINE CLASS: A Six-Week Writing Course for All Who Want to Add Restaurant Reviews to Their Portfolios

Begins Monday, March 9, 2009 and runs for 6 weeks

To find out more, and to register while there is still space, go to: www.food-writing.com and scroll down.

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1. Editor's Note – New York City!

I lost a long time subscriber this past week because she didn't like the articles on writing recipes and the craft of writing. This made me quite sad. I certainly don't want to disappoint anyone.

I really hope that most of you are okay with how I present the information that I research for the ezine. Food Writing is a narrow niche of writing, and while some of the advice I present is new, much of it is information that is constantly changing and developing, and I do try to stay on top of it.

Next week I am hopping a train with my daughter to visit my other daughter in New York City. Today, as I was doing laundry (do we all keep up constant chatter in our minds when doing simple chores?) I realized that the last time I was in NYC was when I was newly pregnant with my second daughter, who is now 20. It was cold, dirty, and we had little free time. I also felt sick the whole time and didn't know why. It was only after getting home that I realized another baby was on the way.

This time, I am so excited. I am hoping for decent weather, and praying that my fashion designer daughter will not look askance at my sneakers I absolutely have to wear for walking. And that she will understand my longing to spend our days in museums instead of clothing stores. Most of all, though, this will be my first trip in probably 8 years that takes me further than 2 hours from home. Why has it taken me so long? I have fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, that makes it difficult to get out and around. I have found my own healing between writing and exercising and eating well, and I am determined to love this short vacation, and of course, to explore some eateries to see what's shaking there.

This week, I wrote another article about recipes, offering advice on how to sell more of our recipes, one or two at a time.

Keep in mind, the Art of the Restaurant Review is starting Monday, March 9, so register today at www.food-writing.com today!

AND if you haven't signed up yet for Ali Brown's teleseminar on "How to Create Your Own Strong Economy This Year" please do so now. She's great with ways to get yourself noticed online, and ways to create writing products that will provide you with ongoing income. If you are already intrigued, you can go here to sign up (and remember the teleseminar does not cost a dime. (By signing up, you will also receive a recording of the teleseminar, so don't worry if you cannot attend that day.) Sign up here: http://www.netofficetoolbox.com/app/?af=91485

As always "CHEERS" Pam White www.food-writing.com

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2. SELL YOUR RECIPES...ONE AT A TIME by Pam White

A few weeks ago, we discussed how to find inspiration for writing recipes. And by now I'm sure you've discovered how to write down your recipes (right?) and not let them remain stored in your brain.

You've learned the standardized way of writing the title, the list of ingredients in the order that they are added to the preparation, description of step-by-step mixing, sauteeing or baking, and suggestions on substitutions and how to serve up your recipes.

Next step? Sell them to magazines.

Today, when pitching to online magazines and print ones, you need to tell the story behind the recipe. Make the editor understand why your recipe will speak to her readers. Make sure you include who will eat your dish, when they will eat it and what it means to you as the recipe developer when you write your query letter.

But first you need to find out where you can sell your recipes.

Look for magazines that accept fillers. Think about an easy treat you can write up and pitch, or something seasonal – like best buffalo wings for Football season, blended fruit smoothies for summer, prepare ahead after school snacks for the fall.

Check over the editorial calendars (on magazines' websites). Use recipe fillers match the types of planned articles.

Other types of magazines to consider are:

Children and Youth oriented magazines, Publications and Sites for teens and college students Parenting magazines Travel periodicals Outdoor, hunting, fishing, biking Home, gardening Local magazines Health, Nutrition and Fitness Essays, fiction and contests

Expect to be paid between $25 and $300 per recipe. Why the large range? Many magazines pay just a little bit per recipe because recipes that are used as fillers or that are sidebars to another article are seen as additions, not the central attraction of the magazine or the article itself. The higher paying ones are generally larger circulation magazines that tend to pay over $1 a word for any type of submission.

If you feel the low pay in one magazine isn't to your advantage, try to create a simple recipe or pull a well-worn and dearly loved recipe from your collection.

Let's face it. As food writers, most of us spend time taking recipes and recreating them, or just finding a new ingredient and building a meal around it, creating a brand new way to enjoy that vegetable or cut of meat. If you develop recipes on a regular basis, then why not explore earning some extra cash by selling them to a wide variety of magazines.

Your readers will be the richer for it.

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ADVERTISEMENT

In 1998, I was hired to write a weekly food column for a newspaper. In 2000, I was hired to write a monthly column about food and family. In 2002 I was handed an assignment to write a monthly fiction and food column. Oh, I was also writing a bi-weekly column on writing as a parent of teens and tweens.

For each column, I wrote ONE pitch. That's it! One pitch turned into years of writing assignments, beaucoup de bucks.

Find out how you can turn your one idea into years of $$$: http://www.food-writing.com/welcometofoodwriting/pitchcolumn.html

For only $7 per week, you can take a one-on-one, six-week email course on developing, pitching and selling your column idea to websites, newspapers and magazines.

Why should YOU want to write a column?

* You will build up published clips like crazy. By the time I resigned from my weekly column I had amassed over 300 published clips.

* You will never run out of inspiration. Once you know what you will be writing about, you will find ideas, experts, and readers with questions popping up in your life.

* You will be a celebrity. You know you want it! Go for it. Accept the compliments that will come with being a columnist.

* You can use your column as a springboard to book publishing and public speaking success.

Can't wait to get started?

You won't have to! Register today and receive the first lesson (of six) next Monday. That's right, the course will begin for YOU the Monday following your registration.

Each lesson includes an assignment; send in your work and I'll review it and offer my insights and comments on each piece. All lessons and work is sent by email.

After I receive notification of your payment, I will send a welcome letter reminding you how the course works. Any questions? You can email me at pwhite05@twcny.rr.com

The total cost of Pitch that Column is $43 and six weeks of your time!

Register NOW; start pitching your column next month. http://www.food-writing.com/welcometofoodwriting

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3. HOW TO SELF PUBLISH YOUR FIRST COOKBOOK by Michael Senoff

Here's how one man made millions of dollars from publishing a cookbook... Cookbooks always sell. They're always number one sellers. People buy hundreds of cookbooks. It seems like anybody who comes out with a cookbook sells it. Before he wrote his book, he had not known much about the cookbook market, has just read something that said cookbooks always sell well.

He was thinking of the "hungry" market and at the same time, his love for science fiction movies. He says of his idea that he was "driving down the street. My twisted brain put these two ideas together, science fiction and cooking, special effects and cooking." This was back in 1990. He thought of what a great idea this could be for him: a special effects cookbook; how to create recipes that move and smoke and sing and glow in the dark and puff, and snap, crackle and pop and so on.

And so immediately, he went home and created his first recipe: a smoking dragon cake. This was a cake in the shape of a dragon that actually blew out safe, mysterious smoke. Because of his inventing spirit he was able to figure out how to do this on his own, and then from there, just created another one and another one and another one. It took him about two months to create 50 recipes and put them in a book.

He also decided to self publish, and with this sold 500,000 copies at a profit of $10 a piece. That's five million dollars, straight into his pocket, just by self-publishing! Do you have the makings of a good quality book? Here are a few hints for you. Unless you're a very well versed in desktop publishing or you're a good artist, I would hire it done.

In the cookbook, he wrote all the recipes out in longhand and did some rough sketches. He actually had a good friend who was a cartoonist and did the hand drawings that he for the cover of the book. He then just took it down to the print shop and cranked out 20 books. They were all soft cover, and had no photographs.

He didn't even have a formal copyright; just went ahead and printed copyright 1990. His plan was to sell this by space ads, but didn't have enough money to do it right, so did some publicity instead.

And this is another thing I think a lot of marketers don't pay enough attention to is getting publicity for their products, especially books. Books are hard to sell. If you go to a publisher and have them agree to publish your book, they're still not going to advertise it. He had never even considered going to a publisher with the cookbook. Instead, he always considered self-publishing to maintain complete control over the product.

If you've been collecting recipes or have a unique idea for a cookbook, self publishing with a sound marketing plan is a great recipe for success.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Sennoff is a sought after Internet marketer, interviewer and business coach with more than 50,000 studnets on four continents. For limited time, he is giving away over 120 hours of in-depth audio interviews with some of the richest and most successful marketers, copywriters and business experts in the world at his website: http://hardtofindseminars.com .

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This Week's Help for Writers

Discover how to "Become a Food Writer" today: http://www.FabJob.com/foodwriter.asp?affiliate=246

Discover how to "Become a Travel Writer" today: www.FabJob.com/travelwriter.asp?affiliate=246

Discover how to "Become a Book Editor" today: www.FabJob.com/bookeditor.asp?affiliate=246

Discover how to "Become a Published Writer" Today: www.FabJob.com/publishedwriter.asp?affiliate=246

Discover how to "Become a Technical Writer" today: www.FabJob.com/technicalwriter.asp?affiliate=246

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4. JOBS FOR WRITERS

FOOD WRITING is now a paying market for writers. We plan to purchase between 12 and 24 articles per year. We will pay $20 per article, each should run between 450 and 700 words.

Topics that we are particularly interested in:

How to create, and create a following for, a food blog. Personal experiences working with agents and or publishers. Tell us what you learned, the mistakes you will avoid next time, how you found your agent/publisher, etc.

Tried and true ways to keep on top of trends, to learn more about food, health, diet, nutrition, etc. issues. Include publications that you know would be of interest to Food Writing readers, whether the publications hire writers, buy articles, or are great for reference.

Personal success stories of how you EARNED money from your food writing, or writing that is somewhat related to food or food writing – travel writing, food styling and photography, teaching cooking or baking, publishing your own book or magazine and how you make it pay off.

Recently I received an email from a subscriber saying she was streamlining her reading material and keeping up with ONLY those publications that were bringing her income through these types of articles. This is what we ALL want to know these days – how can we work more efficiently, earn more money, and keep connected to what is going on in the magazine, newspaper, online, and journalism world.

Query first or send the entire article – either is fine. Give me a week or more to respond to emailed queries and articles. Payment can be through paypal or by check. Submission of article does not guarantee publication. In the same vein, a "no" about one idea you have does not mean you should stop trying to pitch your ideas.

Email queries/articles to Pwhite05@twcny.rr.com Thanks, Pam White

MARKETS

Markets

FARMING MAGAZINE Farming Magazine?PO Box 85?Mt. Hope, OH 44660 www.farmingmagazine.net email : farmingplc@farmingmagazine.net Guidelines: http://www.farmingmagazine.net/submitarticle.htm Pays more for longer articles, query first to make sure they are interested in your idea. Accepts recipes.

FOOD AND WINE ONLINE www.foodandwine.com

The website for the print magazine Food and Wine accepts queries. The editorial department is now trying to attract younger readers with a more casual approach. The magazine is on top of trends, includes personalities in articles, wants to be seen as fun. Only 'hot,' topical, newer-than-new ideas should be pitched by writers. They don't have guidelines, but do work with freelance writers. The site continues the Food and Wine tradition of celebrating American food, restaurants and chefs so think All-American! They look for writers with experience writing for a national magazine, and they like to use regular contributing writers for ideas developed in-house. $1 per word; exclusive rights for 6 months.

To make sure your query gets to the right editor check the masthead (and double check by calling the phone number) here: http://www.foodandwine.com/contact/

OUTDOOR CANADA online magazine

Think outdoor fun and food. Get familiar with the webzine and pitch to the right editor. U.S. authors welcome. Articles online so there is plenty of reading you can do to give the editors what they want.

www.outdoorcanada.ca

Guidelines: http://articles.outdoorcanada.ca/Mochasofa/client/en/homepage/ (copy and past into browser)

JOBS

Marketing Director for Taste of Home, NYC http://www.mediabistro.com/joblistings/jobview_custom.asp?joid=87795&page=1

Health Writer/Producer, San Francisco http://www.mediabistro.com/joblistings/jobview.asp?joid=87782&page=2

Associate Food Editor, Good Housekeeping http://www.mediabistro.com/joblistings/jobview.asp?joid=87717&page=3

Restaurant Reviewer, Sauce Magazine, St. Louis, MO http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1025971

Freelancer Needed, Arlington, VA, agricultural issues http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1021207

Communications/PR, Natural Food Producer, Palmyra, WA http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1026339

Food Blogger needed, Village Voice, NYC http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/wri/1053336898.html

Food Writer, NYC http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/wrg/1048967110.html

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"I will not eat anything that walks, runs, skips, hops or crawls. God knows that I've crawled on occasion, and I'm glad that no one ate me." - Alex Poulos

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Food Writing is copyrighted by Pamela White, 2009

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