#52 - HOW TO WRITE GREAT COOKBOOKS WITH SARAH COPELAND

In today’s season 5 premier episode (52) of the EAT, CAPTURE, SHARE Podcast, I’m speaking with Sarah Copeland, an award-winning food writer, photographer and cookbook author, known on instagram as Edible Living. We chat about how to develop a career in food, what it was like working for Oprah, how to write great cookbooks and lots more. Here’s what else you can expect from today’s episode….

• Sarah introduces herself

• Sarah shares how she developed a career in food

• Sarah talks about her journey from working at Oprah magazine, to a chance encounter that led to the start of her cookbook writing career

• Sarah notes how the concept of her first cookbook was developed

• Sarah and I discuss what it’s really like writing a book

• Sarah explains how creating recipes and photography for a book is completely different than creating recipes for a blog or social media

• Sarah explains how she comes up with fresh new recipes and how she stays inspired

• Sarah shares the number one thing she avoids when she’s nurturing a new creative idea

• Sarah outlines her recipe development process

• We discuss what distinguishes excellent cookbooks from mediocre ones

• Sarah talks about how she deals with copycats

• Sarah explains how she selects recipes for her cookbooks

• Sarah’s first cookbook sold more than 200,000 copies and she shares what she learned from writing a run-away success like that

• We explore whether it’s always the best idea to photograph your own cookbook

• We chat about what role social media plays in ‘success’ within the food world

• We both open up about the pressure we feel to grow a following on social media

• Sarah outlines how she balances her ambition with the needs of her young family

• Sarah explains how she curates her instagram stories and why she enjoys it more than the instagram grid itself

• Sarah shares how she got a show on the Food Network Cooking App

LINKS MENTIONED:

• My book, Creative Food Photography is available here! It’s for food photographers who want to find their own unique style, who want to up level their photography and who are prepared to go on a journey to discover who they really are as creatives.

• Connect with Sarah on instagram or via her website

• Find Sarah’s books here

• Saveur, Food&Wine, GLAMOUR, Oprah, Real Simple magazine

• Chronical

• Clarkson Potter

• The Food Network

• Martha Stewart

• Good Housekeeping

• Dorie Greenspan

• Oatmeal yoghurt pancakes with blackberry crush

• Bon Appetit

• Epicurious

• James Beard Foundation

• Gentl and Hyers

• Christopher Testani

• Feed the Hungry

• Join my free creative community here

• Find me on instagram here

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