A Rant About Cookbooks and Cookbook Publishers

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at 1:12 am

Recently, I’ve heard a lot of cookbook writers complaining about the Internet in general and food blogs in particular. The complaints run along the lines of: “They’re reposting our recipes without our permission and hurting our sales!” and “They’re just throwing up awful, untested recipes so people will make bad food instead of turning to good sources like our cookbooks!”

First let me say that I love cookbooks, and I prefer to cook out of them than to cook recipes that I’ve found online. I find it a lot easier to open a cookbook on my kitchen counter than to print out a recipe or risk getting melted butter on my computer. I turn to food blogs for good writing, gorgeous photos, ideas and tips. And the occasional unusual recipe that I haven’t seen anywhere else. If a food blogger I like adapts a recipe from a cookbook they like, I’m actually more likely to remember and buy that cookbook.

The Internet is nothing more than a gigantic recipe exchange, and recipe exchanges have existed for as long as there has been cooking. instead of passing down recipes orally or writing them on index cards, we now type them into our computers. All that’s changed is the technology, which makes it easier to share and access recipes. Cookbook writers and publishers have absolutely no hope of controlling or limiting an activity that cooks have been engaging in forever, so they should just stop fretting about it.

But I have a real beef with cookbook writers and publishers — probably the publishers more than the writers. last time I walked into the cookbook section of a bookstore, I was overwhelmed. there were just so many cookbooks, most of them newly published. I believe it takes a lot of time and expense to write a cookbook. you have to test all the recipes, which probably means hiring assistants, and you have to have photos to be at all competitive, another big expense. how do they hope to make any money when the outlay is so high and the market is so glutted?

I actually like to cook out of my cookbooks. And I only cook so many meals for which I need recipes. So I can expect to consume one or two new cookbooks per year. Even cookbook addicts can only buy so many. maybe sales aren’t good not because of the Internet but because there’s so much competition in the cookbook section for what really can’t be that huge a market of cookbook buyers.

It’s gotten so I won’t even consider buying a cookbook unless it’s highly recommended by a source I trust. there are so many cookbooks out there, I’m not going to waste my money on poor ones any more. I have also instituted other criteria in order to winnow down my choices:

unique, interesting recipes — I don’t need another frittata or risotto recipe at this point
thorough, well-written recipes — I want lots of notes on how long the recipe takes, what I can make ahead, what to do with leftovers, and how to vary or adapt the recipe
emphasis on seasonal, healthy, fresh ingredients — because that’s what I like to cook
beautiful photographs — because I also like to browse through my cookbooks

So my advice to all those hand-wringers out there who are worried that food blogs are making it impossible to sell cookbooks: Try publishing fewer cookbooks! is it really necessary for every celebrity chef to have a new cookbook out every year? Rachael Ray‘s section alone contains more recipes than anyone can possibly hope to cook (and her cookbooks aren’t even all that good). Try concentrating on quality rather than quantity, focus on promoting those high-quality cookbooks, and actually work with food bloggers, who are a big part of your market that you really shouldn’t alienate.

Filed under: Cookbooks

A Rant About Cookbooks and Cookbook Publishers

Tagged with: cookbook publishers • recipe exchanges