Cookbook writers on eGullet

[Brioche57]

Chef Zadi - have you ever done a Google search on yourself? Quite impressive.

[tan319]

I think your idea is solid.

And I do think there is a platform for both pastry books and professional kitchen operation books.

'get on er'.

also asshole proficiency here

just no more platform

any advice regarding online publishing?

is this a realistic medium?

it seems to me to be a legitimate way to conceive and develop an idea.

i am currently working as a babysitter for my daughter, and would love to develop a means to produce while at home.

mix of basic pastry techniques streamlined and avantgarde food composition

any thoughts?

is there real demand for pastry books?

also, is there real demand for professional kitchen operations books?

great forum

will

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[chefzadi]

Chef Zadi - have you ever done a Google search on yourself? Quite impressive.

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I have. Lies I tell you, all lies! I did it last week to find out some new things about myself. I didn't know I have 6 brothers or that I moved to the States a few years later than I thought.

Seriously though this goes back to Mr Clifford Wright's comment upthread regarding the potential of the internet. The stuff that's been written about me in print doesn't show up. But the internet is immediate and accessible globally.

His site is fantastic by the way. Really informative. Clearly a scholar and teacher willing to share what he knows.

[LindaK]

I'm a latecomer to this thread and not sure why I even opened it, since I have no inclination to write a cookbook. But as usual the knowledge here--not to mention entertainment value--kept me reading.

But as a cookbook consumer, I can say this--a great cookbook is food porn, and who can get enough of that? The more I know the more I want to know, but the more you know the harder it is to find cookbooks that satisfy. So many seem derivative or unimaginative. And I'm often shocked at the poor editing and recipe testing that I run across, even in otherwise good cookbooks. Which is why for me at least the writing and stories are sometimes the best part of a cookbook. A genuine sense of place or spirit of the cuisine conveyed by good prose can get me in the kitchen as fast as any recipe.

I know how much work writing and research are, so I have tremendous respect for those of you doing this or aspiring to it.

[KSherer]

Hi Pam,

I was Rocco DiSpirito's cookbook collaborator on his first, Beard award-winning book, Flavor, and am now "deep ghostwriting" a book for a major hospitality company. Here's what I can share:

Cookbook writing--all stages of it--is a blast. As many in this thread have said, most cookbooks are not big money makers for their authors. This depressing situation is exacerbated by the fact that after years of record numbers of all kinds, the cookbook market is now in a bit of a slump. My agent has told me we're in a difficult selling environment, with publishers being much, much pickier about which projects they sign. The restaurant/celebrity chef category has been particularly hard hit.

Invest time researching competing titles. What will be unique about your cookbook? The competitive analysis of your proposal should be really tight.

Must you use a literary agent? If you want an audience with the big publishers, then yes, absolutely. But many middle-sized to smaller publishers happily review unsolicited manuscripts: you may want to try them first. A good first step is to visit a bookstore, identify which publishers seem to put out books like yours, then research and, if you deem it worth the effort, approach those publishers.

Good luck to you!

Kris Sherer

[andiesenji]

Chef Zadi - have you ever done a Google search on yourself? Quite impressive.

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I have. Lies I tell you, all lies! I did it last week to find out some new things about myself. I didn't know I have 6 brothers or that I moved to the States a few years later than I thought.

Seriously though this goes back to Mr Clifford Wright's comment upthread regarding the potential of the internet. The stuff that's been written about me in print doesn't show up. But the internet is immediate and accessible globally.

His site is fantastic by the way. Really informative. Clearly a scholar and teacher willing to share what he knows.

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Sometimes one is surprised by the things that pop up on Google searches when one types in their own name. chefzadi, you DO have impressive credentials! I didn't read anything about the brothers, but just reading your posts has told me that you have the expertise to do just about anything.

[pam claughton]

Hi Pam,

I was Rocco DiSpirito's cookbook collaborator on his first, Beard award-winning book, Flavor, and am now "deep ghostwriting" a book for a major hospitality company. Here's what I can share:

Cookbook writing--all stages of it--is a blast. As many in this thread have said, most cookbooks are not big money makers for their authors. This depressing situation is exacerbated by the fact that after years of record numbers of all kinds, the cookbook market is now in a bit of a slump. My agent has told me we're in a difficult selling environment, with publishers being much, much pickier about which projects they sign. The restaurant/celebrity chef category has been particularly hard hit.

Invest time researching competing titles. What will be unique about your cookbook? The competitive analysis of your proposal should be really tight. 

Must you use a literary agent? If you want an audience with the big publishers, then yes, absolutely. But many middle-sized to smaller publishers happily review unsolicited manuscripts:  you may want to try them first. A good first step is to visit a bookstore, identify which publishers seem to put out books like yours, then research and, if you deem it worth the effort, approach those publishers.

Good luck to you!

Kris Sherer

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Kris, thank you! Great advice, I really appreciate it.

:) Pam

[rgruby]

I was Rocco DiSpirito's cookbook collaborator on his first, Beard award-winning book, Flavor

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Kris, although Mr. Dispirito has taken quite a beating here on egullet (and elsewhere) in the past few months, I have stated at least a couple of times that I quite like the cookbook Flavor. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got that gig, and what your role was, compared to Rocco's.

If possible, can you, or anybody else who has worked on a cookbook by a celebrity chef, elaborate on what compensation, if any, might flow to a sous chef or pastry chef that contributes recipes?

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[KSherer]

Geoff, thanks very much for the kind words about Flavor. Whatever people may think about Rocco's career decisions, there is no doubt that he is an amazingly talented chef, and a real culinary pioneer to boot. Of course, by the time Flavor came out in the fall of 2003, Rocco's reputation had morphed from that of a culinary wunderkind to cheesy reality TV sell-out. Quelle dommage.

I had served time as Rocco's admin assistant before he began his book project; the relationship was there. I was the only unknown writer on his short list of potential collaborators, so I decided to aggressively undersell the competition to secure the gig. It worked. The flat fee I received amounted to less than 8% of his big fat advance. I wouldn't prostitute my services like that again, but it's what I chose to do to get my name on the title page of a major cookbook that went on to win a James Beard award.

I've been involved now in a few of these cookbook collaborations, and each project is completely different. Flavor took a ton of time: I had to sit with Rocco to get down on paper and then make home-cook-friendly each of the book's 120 recipes, plus material for the other sections. I also kitchen tested about 75% of the book's recipes (my ingredient costs were reimbursed). Though I got little sleep for a year, it was a thrilling collaborative process, and boy, did I learn a lot from him. The book I'm ghostwriting now is much easier, comparatively: the author has supplied me with edit-ready recipes in MasterChef form, and the front matter is light. Another young chef relied on me to turn his exotic food and rambling thoughts into a sellable concept. That didn't work so well. Each chef-author needs something different from his or her collaborator.

You've asked an interesting question about the compensation that might go to sous and pastry chefs for their contributions to these books. If the recipes are in your head (or notebook, or computer) and not as of yet known to the chef-author, then you're in a good position to negotiate. On the other hand, if it's more a situation where your recipes have been appearing on your restaurant's menus for years, and the lines of ownership are a bit blurry, well... that might be tough. There is probably some branch of law that covers whether employee-supplied ideas become the property of their employers. Any business attorneys out there?

Kris Sherer

[Swisskaese]

There is also Suvir Suran.

As for myself I am an aspiring one. The first one that I'm working on is on Algerian cookery with alot of historical information and personal narrative in it. The one I have on the back burner is about the Burgundy and the Rhone specifically Lyon and the Beaujolais.

It is alot of work. I couldn't do it alone while working full time. I'm fortunate enough to have a married a woman who has a deep interest in food, research and writing.

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I volunteer to be one of your test cooks. I write, too, if Touaregsand gets bored.

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I don't get bored. But I find that I'm putting too many of my own projects on the backburner, what I really want to do is direct.

The biggest challenge in ghostwriting is translating Farid's Franglish and writing the way he sees and speaks about the world. My own voice is more like Faulknerian drunken rants, interspersed with adaptations of Dylan Thomas poems with a touch of Borges and the attitude of Jeanne Moreau in a Black and White film smoking cigarettes while staring out the window saying, "we are all out of wine. life is sooo difficult."

After "The Beautiful Algeria" project is complete we'll begin working on the Lyon/Beaujolais book. We want to include other writers in this one and have been keeping an eye out on egullet. PM either one of us if interested. We have a lot of other projects that are being sketched out.

Test cooks and test readers of completed chapters are needed.

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I would be happy to test recipes.

[julski]

Please don't overlook the value of a great index! Many of us librarian-types will be sold on a terrific index. And as a book reviewer, I wish the cookbook galleys would have at least a draft index. It is an essential part of the book.

Julie

[chefzadi]

Can the people who expressed interest in testing recipes email me at chefzadi AT gmail DOT com?

It would be easier to communicate via email rather than PM.

[lamington]

I'm curious about what benefits people have really obtained in book-income terms from using an agent (I'm not questioning the agent's value, just what concrete differences result) -- 'typical' royalties in Australia appear to be 10% of recommended retail price, and agent commission is 15%, so the author would receive 8.5% in the end.

I *don't* know what the known author-chefs in AU get on their books, but the above percentages are the typical figures quoted in the publishing/writer sphere.

[BeefCheeks]

My cookbook has been out since August---Feel free to send me anything to test.

[chefzadi]

My cookbook has been out since August---Feel free to send me anything to test.

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I'm not sure if you are directing this at my request. If so I have to send it via email.

A bientot

Farid