Amanda Hesser's advice for future food writers

[Fat Guy]

Amanda Hesser's recent blog post on her Food52 site has been getting a lot of attention online lately. If you Google it, you get a ton of results. Her basic premise is that the profession of food writing is pretty much dead and that prospective food writers should do something else.

"Except for a very small group of people (some of whom are clinging to jobs at magazines that pay more than the magazines' business models can actually afford), it’s nearly impossible to make a living as a food writer, and I think it’s only going to get worse."

[Emily_R]

I've got to say I don't understand what all the fuss is about. I agree with one response I read (can't remember where), basically saying -- food writing has never really been a viable career choice for more than a very very small group of people. So while sure, maybe more people are dreaming of being food writers now, that doesn't make it any better of a career idea than it was 30 years ago or 60 years ago or 100 years ago.

[Fat Guy]

I think there has been a shift in the sector, where assignments that used to pay $2 a word are now paying 25 cents a word. It's possible to earn a good living at $2 a word. It's almost impossible at 25 cents.

[weinoo]

I actually think that the "profession" of food writing is very much alive. I mean, have you ever seen more food writers in your life?

[Honkman]

I actually think that the "profession" of food writing is very much alive. I mean, have you ever seen more food writers in your life?

Only if you count bloggers (which brings us back to the argument about who is a journalist/writer vs. blogger)- otherwise less and less qualified food writers

[Emily_R]

Steven -- I guess my point is, even if at one point there were people being paid $2 a word for food writing, the number of people making a living that way was very very small. Such that the relative difference today is in the number of people fantasizing about being food writers, rather than in the reduction in the small number of people who could support themselves doing food-writing full time. If anything, that number likely got larger if you include the (still very small) set of people food blogging for a living...

[TheTInCook]

Woah, she was quoting 80,000-125,000 salaries for food columnists in newspaper staff positions 10 years ago? Seems kinda over paid.

[TheTInCook]

Hmm, just took a look at one of my roommates gaming magazine's for submission guidelines. They pay 3 cents a word, and they're considered one of the premiere periodicals in the field. My roommate tells me they used to pay 5 cents. Some perspective to think about.

[gfweb]

$2 /word and newspapers were doing just fine fifteen years ago, even paying those rates! Now those newspaper profits and employee salaries are poured into Google.

There has been a lot of grousing about Walmart and its like destroying small towns etc. When I consider the Google effect it seems to dwarf Walmart in terms of effect on society. We've lost good writing and serious journalism and jobs in exchange for the ability to find the 1957 Phillies roster in less than a second.

Economics and innovation can be brutal.

[weinoo]

I actually think that the "profession" of food writing is very much alive. I mean, have you ever seen more food writers in your life?

Only if you count bloggers (which brings us back to the argument about who is a journalist/writer vs. blogger)- otherwise less and less qualified food writers.

Well, of course I do . I mean, the NY Times started employing non-food writers as their chief restaurant critics many moons ago. And when NY Magazine first hired Gael Greene to do their restaurant reviews, she was (iirc) writing for Cosmo.

Economics and innovation can be brutal.

Good point.

[TheTInCook]

Economics and innovation can be brutal.

I was just thinking about that this morning. Had to go out and buy a paper so I could have something to light my chimney starter. Twice as expensive and half the content from the last time I bought a paper.

[MaxH]

...Such that the relative difference today is in the number of people fantasizing about being food writers, rather than in the reduction in the small number of people who could support themselves doing food-writing full time.

Emily makes an excellent point, though I wouldn't be surprised if Steven's opening premise here is accurate too.

I was reflecting on different kinds of traditional "food writers." There have been, and never very many, serious reference food writers (Alan Davidson, Mariani, Harold McGee), and food historians or essayists (including authors of all those o-the-times critiques of the US food scene around the 1970s, possibly its gastronomic low point indeed). But I gather our focus is periodical writers. Not so long ago, the prominent ones (like the authors of other food works I just mentioned) seemed mostly career journalists of long general writing experience, not just about food. Mimi Sheraton said that she'd been a staff writer at NYT for years before rotating into restaurant writing (from gardening or some other such department). Obviously, the changing economics of newspapers damps all of that.

The volume of travel-leisure articles about food in destination cities seems to be undiminished in inflight, travel, auto-club, lifestyle, and general magazines. These articles often tap writers with some history and name recognition.