The making of my own cookbook

[gfron1]

And this is it my friends - the last picture for the cookbook. As of now we can no longer add any content.

[Shelby]

PERFECT ending   I love me some crawfish.

[chefmd]

Will there be a Kindle version of your book?  I like having access to MANY cookbooks no matter where I am.  My bookcases don't travel as easily as my iPad;)

[gfron1]

1 hour ago, chefmd said:

Will there be a Kindle version of your book?  I like having access to MANY cookbooks no matter where I am.  My bookcases don't travel as easily as my iPad;)

There were provisions for e-versions in my contract, but I don't know anything about that yet. So I think the answer is yes, but they probably won't even talk about it til the print version is off to China.

[gfron1]

I knew the book was going to the designer very soon so i asked my editor about back cover quotes. Here is her reply:

Quote

 

The quotes you’re referring to are called either endorsements or, more commonly in the industry, blurbs.

 

If you have people in mind, you can approach them and get a yes/no. If they say yes, you can get their contact information and I will send them an official request and materials to review when said materials are ready. We would want all blurbs by April 29, which would give us time to figure out where to put them on/in the book. (This will depend heavily on how many there are.)

 

Depending on how many people you ask, we could also reach out to a few cookbook authors. The bigger the platform, though, the harder it tends to be to get them to even return an email, so we tend to keep our requests… realistic, I want to say. If we don’t have a direct contact for them, it gets even harder (going through publicists, webmasters, agents, etc.), so if you know anyone directly, it’s best if the initial request comes from you.

 

If you have a list of people you don’t know personally, but who you want us to reach out to, just send those names (and contact info, if you have it) along, and I’ll send the request. We’ll see what happens!

 

If you have any of this ready and want to send it over, I’ll start immediately to give them as much time as possible.

 

As always...interesting process. I've reached out to a number of friends who are much better connected than me, asking them who they might know - but, without calling in favors. I also reached out to a high level chef friend overseas, but the book is North American-centric so I'm not sure how good that might be. We'll see what comes back.

[gfron1]

Today I received the ARC cover which will be sent out for pre-review. Not the official cover as you can see the dj doesn't wrap around. Its digital distribution only.

 

[Smithy]

Excellent! 

 

Er...will they need to change wording, given your impending move, to things like "is the founder and former owner of the Curious Kumquat"...?  Or is it commonly accepted that writers' circumstances change between the manuscript and publication?

[gfron1]

idk, but they are aware of my move.

[Deryn]

Weird - or maybe not since I don't think I have ever pre-ordered something on Amazon - but I cannot 'bookmark' that pre-order page right now. I hope to order soon but I need to decide if I will be in the States or Canada when it comes out - since I need to be there to get the book when it arrives. My worry is that it won't actually be available in early Sept - delays can happen - so not sure where I should order right now. I too hope it shows up on the .ca site I think, just in case - easier to have the Post Office hold it here.

 

p.s. You will need to come to Canso, Nova Scotia to autograph mine, gfron - so please put this haven on your tour schedule!  

Edited April 7, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[gfron1]

I would love to go there. Its a part of the world that I know nothing about.

[blue_dolphin]

Wow.  I'm curious what you thought when you saw that cover.  It looks so real, like a book left upside down on a table, the reader called away unexpectedly.  

And it has YOUR name on it!  Wow!  How does that feel?  Is it any more real to see this than all the work crafting these recipes and notes and the endless files you've been sharing back and forth with editors, proof-readers, photographers and who knows how many others? 

Well, I'm impressed, even if your eyes have glazed over by this point !

 

[gfron1]

Ha! My very first thought...if I'm being honest...was, wow, that font they chose for my name doesn't really work. Yeah, I've glazed on the cover. I'm excited about the inside which is coming soon. I'm also getting scared because now the I have to sell it. That's going to be a lot of work and for a long period of time. Interesting side note - they bumped my contributing author and moved my photographer to the cover. I think is appropriate but that was a decision they made. I assume its because my contributing author has 4 pages of the 275 versus the photographer who has 40%. Makes sense.

[gfron1]

I may have to revise my previous answer. Guys, look at this! We're trying to figure out how to designate recipes by season, difficulty, etc, and I gave them some hints from a Spanish cookbook I have (I think its Fluidita), and the designer came up with this. I gave the some feedback but conceptually I love what they've done. My eyes are not fully glazed over yet. I love how they want me involved in the design, and one of my goals is to push the limit of design in American books v. what I've seen in some European books. So much fun having a publisher who is willing to try new things.

 

Acorns_icons.pdf

Edited April 8, 2016 by gfron1 (log)

[gfron1]

Over on facebook people asked where the rest of the recipe was. This is just a design sample. There are two more pages to the recipe. Right now they're just trying to lock down the template before dropping in the manuscript.

[Lisa Shock]

I like the ingredients list on the left side, it makes it easy to scan quickly.

 

Are all the photographs for recipes printed on verso pages with the recipe beginning on the recto? If so, fine. Otherwise, I would have some concern about no identification on the photo. I have at least one cookbook with a stray photo inside that I simply have no idea what it's supposed to illustrate.

 

And, just because: do you explain the difference between red & green?

[gfron1]

They asked me to place photos (they choose among each recipe's photo), so they will correspond except in the beginning which are ingredients and nature pics.

 

And not sure what you mean about red and green. If you mean the code at the top, yes, there is a key at the beginning which makes it really obvious once you see the code.

[Anna N]

 I am intrigued by "1 fresh ginger, split in half"?

[Tere]

Presumably you go into what species of oak are OK and what, if anything, you need to do to get rid of the tannins somewhere else?

 

Reading through the recipe, I am not sure what you do with the panko fritter balls, is the intention to deep fry them and serve with, or do they bake with the cashews?

[gfron1]

Thanks Tere - someone mentioned that above. Its just a matter of page splits for the galley proofs. The rest of the recipe shows up on a different page. And Anna, the ginger thing...there a number of choices that the editor made for accessibility when common sense would keep flavors in line with the intention. So I'm assuming referencing a 1" ginger versus a whole quarter pound one. The actual recipe calls for 1" of fresh ginger and its something I need to double check when the proofs come back to me. That was a double edged answer - until I see the final proof I don't know if that was a choice they made or an editing error.

[Anna N]

I am assuming that ginger is marketed very differently where you reside then where I reside!  If I want to buy fresh ginger I  rummage through a display of "hands"  and choose one that appeals to me. It is then weighed at the checkout.  But I have never heard of "a ginger" or anything to do with a quarter pound  as constituting a whole ginger.   Very curious.  

[gfron1]

I'm not sure I understand what your concern is. Maybe you can state it more directly to help me understand. 

 

Ginger is not marketed any different at your store versus mine. You grab a piece out of the bin that suits your needs. Those pieces in the bin (which others have picked through already) range from small nubs to large hands of ginger. So if a recipe calls for "1 inch<tab>Fresh ginger, split in half," I can only assume that a cook would grab whatever size they want for a week's worth of cooking, and cut it to size. You also aren't seeing the next phase of the recipe where you find out that the ginger is for flavoring and will ultimately be removed - hence the split, and nothing more refined. Am I misunderstanding the concern?

 

Please remember that the image was put up to show the design. it's a low resolution image that even lead one of my friends to ask if the recipe called for dOrk mustard.

[Lisa Shock]

You've been living in NM for how long???

[Anna N]

8 hours ago, gfron1 said:

I'm not sure I understand what your concern is. Maybe you can state it more directly to help me understand. 

 

Ginger is not marketed any different at your store versus mine. You grab a piece out of the bin that suits your needs. Those pieces in the bin (which others have picked through already) range from small nubs to large hands of ginger. So if a recipe calls for "1 inch<tab>Fresh ginger, split in half," I can only assume that a cook would grab whatever size they want for a week's worth of cooking, and cut it to size. You also aren't seeing the next phase of the recipe where you find out that the ginger is for flavoring and will ultimately be removed - hence the split, and nothing more refined. Am I misunderstanding the concern?

 

Please remember that the image was put up to show the design. it's a low resolution image that even lead one of my friends to ask if the recipe called for dOrk mustard.

It is nothing more complicated than your reference to a "whole quarter pound ginger".  As if ginger comes in distinct quarter pound packages from the earth.  As if I could send my friend to the store and tell her to get me 1 ginger!  No worries.  I just found it very curious reference.  

[gfron1]

ahh. I thought it was a continuation of your previous comment about the ginger. 

[Deryn]

I think that we are seeing one (possibly unedited, or not yet completely edited) page completely out of the context of the rest of the book and therefore I (personally) would not take that recipe and try to recreate it yet. I presume all those niggling little details will be fixed before book printing/release. I don't think there really is a misunderstanding here - I think we really are just seeing a 'mock up' of a page for layout design purposes, as gfron1 is saying.