Illustration by Annelise Capossela/For The Washington Post; iStock
Cooking content is a staple online, and social media has allowed for a new cast of creator chefs, many of whom are self-taught and lack the formal training of traditional cookbook authors, to become bestsellers.
For the publishing industry, the inherently visual nature of creators’ food content — vibrant flat lays of produce, overhead shots of hands and pans, and heaping plates of homemade dinner — translates easily into the cookbook with a built-in audience of buyers. For creators, a physical book offers a new level of validation, but often not much financial gain.
According to the Cookbookery Collective, more than 20 of the 125 cookbooks scheduled for release this past spring were authored by creators or influencers. This month alone there are at least nine creator cookbook releases, including Rachel Mansfield’s “More, Please!” and Alex Snodgrass, aka @thedefineddish’s “Everyday Eats.”
“The cookbook was kind of dead,” said Tineke Younger, crediting creators like herself for bringing them back. Known to her followers as “Chef Tini,” Younger is publishing her first major cookbook “Today We Are Cooking…” in November, which she said is focused on the fundamentals: “if you can’t boil a pot of water, this book is for you.”
Creators say they are tapping into a natural extension of how people consume information today: More people — from noncooks who want to start learning to experienced hobbyists looking to perfect a dish or technique — get information and inspiration on social media. For creators looking to grow their business, food content provides a springboard into new mediums. In addition to print, for example, creator-led cooking series are also having a moment, as streamers look to them for brand-safe and cheap IP and legacy brands tap creators for both talent and distribution.
With so many titles hitting the shelves, including a number of cookbooks authored by creators better known for content outside the kitchen, some in the industry are beginning to wonder if the genre is reaching a saturation point. It’s leading some creators to strategize new methods of reaching their audience and embrace new platforms for monetization to stay ahead of the curve.
The publishing appeal
For creators, cookbooks offer validation, but many warn not to expect much financial benefit. “If you are writing cookbooks for money, don’t. Do something else,” said Erin O’Brien, the author of “Dig In!,” published in May.
With food content so saturated, O’Brien said she found “attaching your own lived-in experience to” recipes was key — and led to unexpectedly viral dishes, like a simple salad of romaine, lemon and parmesan getting millions of views after she shared how it was a recipe from her grandma.
Her followers asked for a cookbook from the early days, and she was drawn to the idea of sharing her “family story in a tangible format instead of just on social media.”
Creator Jenn Lueke of @jenneatsgoood agreed that while not financially beneficial, publishing her cookbook “Don’t Think About Dinner” was “so valuable from a brand building perspective.” Being a bestselling author has been a “legitimacy builder” for her, helping her grow her audience and providing new opportunities with brands.
That validation is key for creators, who have been at the forefront of a democratization of food content, offering a new cast of talent beyond the days of Food Network and traditional restaurateurs, said Ray Hughes, a talent manager who worked with creator Tue Nguyen, @TwayDaBae, on her cookbook “Di An.”
He said Nguyen was “shunned and told no everywhere” and debated whether or not to continue working in the culinary field at the start of her creator journey. When she decided she wanted to do a cookbook, they met with a literary agent who laid out the typical checklist to getting a deal — the importance of buzz and press coverage, not typical creator brand partnerships. With those goals in mind they sold a cookbook around a year later, after creating “so much noise” that they had incoming requests and “were able to sell the book without a proposal done.”
The recipe for a cookbook
The lengthy cookbook drafting process is a major change for creators who are used to publishing on their own timeline and speaking directly to their audiences. They take years to draft and publish, and require intensive recipe testing to make sure anyone can replicate it from the book. And for some creators, it’s a steep learning curve.
“It’s one thing to be able to narrate what you’re doing on a [social media video] voiceover. It’s another thing to actually put that into very clear recipe text,” said Elysia Liang, a senior editor at Flatiron Books.
“Every step of the process was a completely different experience than what I'm used to … I’m so used to such instant gratification,” said OG YouTuber Remi Cruz Parsons, who released her debut cookbook “Let’s Get Cooking” this spring. Having learned from her mom, she said she was used to eyeballing recipes and tasting as she goes. She had to adjust her recipes accordingly for the cookbook.
O’Brien concurred as a home chef taught to cook by her mom and grandma, noting she didn’t know “how to perfectly, precisely write a recipe” before.
The pressure is high, and crafting the cookbook is different from the process of editing a video.
“When I'm making content, I'm thinking about — in the moment — the songs, the dances, the recipes I'm going to make,” said Emmanuel Duverneau, known for his aesthetic cooking videos set to music and featuring dance breaks. For his debut cookbook “Make It Excellent,” which will be published next spring, he’s focused on “making sure that these recipes are perfect, so that when people do purchase it, there's no error.”
Despite the challenges converting to a different format, creators say their online profiles and audiences are a huge asset to the drafting process — not to mention the promotion and sales of the final cookbook. Liang said she looks for authors with a strong sense of who their audience is and how to engage them — a particular skillset among creators, who can also stand out by feeling approachable as home chefs making do with the tools and spaces they have.
It can be a challenge to keep up with posting social media content while also working behind the scenes on a book, but O’Brien said she used her online audience as a focus group throughout the process.
“Not everybody has their finger on the pulse of what their audience really, genuinely wants. And my creators do,” said Andrea Barzvi, the founder of Empire Literary, who represents a number of creator authors.
Too many creators in the kitchen?
Not every food creator can or should publish a cookbook. And there’s growing concern among the industry that now there’s just too many, particularly as creators outside the cooking space are writing cookbooks as well.
“It's kind of feeling like a lot of the same,” O’Brien said. “Food is the greatest connector, and I think people, even who aren't in the food space, have kind of figured that out.”
More recently, big creators who don’t necessarily focus on food content have published cookbooks, but industry experts say that can be a hard sell. Barzvi said when she’s looking for creator talent to represent, if cooking isn’t their primary focus a cookbook is “a harder sell to the publishers, and it’s a harder sell to the community,” though she noted they can still be successful.
Lueke, who is known for her recipe development and budget-friendly meal plans, said it can be “hard to see” creators primarily known for content outside of the kitchen getting into the cookbook space, questioning if they are developing their own recipes. But she said it allows an opportunity for creators who make their own to build deeper connections on platforms like Substack, which she joined while working on her book proposal in attempts to monetize beyond inconsistent brand deals. Now she estimates 40 percent of her revenue comes from Substack, with one of her most popular paywalled meal drops — a short ribs recipe — bringing in an estimated $85,000 in revenue.
The competition and saturation, she said, “makes the stakes higher for me to take my business as seriously as possible, to focus on growing my community, making them feel heard.”
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