Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Restaurant Reviews, Articles, Memoir, Fiction and More - Softcover

Jacob, Dianne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1569243778 ISBN 13: 9781569243770

Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2005

Synopsis

Will Write for Food is for food lovers who want to express themselves, guiding them from their earliest creative impulses to successful article writing, restaurant reviewing, and cookbook writing. Dianne Jacob—journalist and food-writing instructor and coach—offers interviews with award-winning writers such as Jeffrey Steingarten, Calvin Trillin, Molly O'Neill, and Deborah Madison, plus well-known book and magazine editors and literary agents, give readers the tools to get started and the confidence to follow through. Comprehensive yet accessible chapters range from restaurant reviewing to cookbooks to memoirs. Focused exercises at the end of chapters stimulate creativity, help organize thought, and build practical skills. Will Write for Food is the first and ultimate ins and outs guidebook to the incredibly popular world of food writing.

About this title

About the Author

Dianne Jacob is a popular speaker as food writing conferences and workshops in America and around the world. She judges for both the James Beard Foundation annual cookbook awards and the IACP annual cookbook awards. The coauthor of Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas and The United States of Pizza, and the writer of The Good Pantry, she lives in Oakland, California.

Reviews

Passion is the theme of this informative guide focusing on the art of food writing. "Many food writers I've met are enthusiastic, intense, and energetic in an obsessive kind of way, and love nothing more than immersing themselves in research," writes Jacob, seasoned food editor and writer. The author devotes much of the book to outlining the elements of good writing, like finding one's own unique voice or knowing the most vivid adjectives to use in reviews. Covering all the various careers available in food writing, Jacob offers tips for creating a successful cookbook, writing recipes with clarity and even writing food-related fiction novels. The end of each chapter includes helpful writing exercises, allowing readers to put her advice to practice immediately, and the book also contains plenty of practical information (e.g., how much freelancers should expect to get paid). Less useful are the brief but generally uninteresting stories about how successful food writers got their start. Still, this comprehensive guide, though at times monotonous, is a great tool for anyone looking to make a career out of a love of food.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Food writing so often appears an enviable profession to the outside world. Jacob casts a cold light of reality on just how difficult making a living in the world of culinary journalism can be. For those yet undaunted by the challenges presented, she provides a practical guide for getting published as a cookbook author, restaurant reviewer, or food magazine writer. She begins with advice applicable to any professional wordsmith: the critical importance of research, fitting an article to a publication's needs, working with editors, and the like. She provides sound direction for those aspiring to restaurant criticism, a job many romanticize but for which very few have the requisite stamina, talent, and discipline. Addressing the sensitive area of remuneration for the writer's efforts, Jacob honestly confronts the role of competition and of limited publication budgets. Her observations and instructions on matters of writing style would well serve writers of all sorts. To make her points, Jacob records advice and guidance from a host of successful food writers and editors. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1569243778
• ISBN 13: 9781569243770
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320