An interview with Lisl

In early October I had the opportunity to interview Lisl Unterholzner, cookbook co-chair for the Junior League of Tampa in 2010-11. I first met Lisl and her co-chair, Jaimie Brewer, during last April's Cookbook University, sponsored by FRP. We hit it off and have worked closely since then on the marketing of the 6 titles currently active with Junior League of Tampa but also on the launch of the newest title, Capture the Coast.

My purpose in sharing this interview is to let my readers hear it from someone who is "in the trenches" and not just sitting in an ivory tower espousing theory. Lisl and Jaimie are organized, pleasant, cheerful, and goal-oriented. To date, Capture the Coast has sold over 6,000 copies in it's first two months of existence.


Dave: Which of your marketing activities resulted in the most books sold?

Lisl: Easily the # 1 was our presales to membership. We have a membership requirement for each member to purchase 4 books each. We also ran a contest for sales through our members with discounts at different levels based on quantity purchased. The Top 5 sellers were invited to our exclusive Capture the Coast debut party. Since our general membership doesn’t usually attend these events, it made for a great incentive.

We've held cooking demonstrations at Datz, a local restaurant & wine bar, using recipes from Capture the Coast.

We also held a Cocktail party at Datz with a beautiful spread of food featured in Capture the Coast. We sold tickets for $10 each, with all of the money collected going back to the League.

Dave: What advice regarding sales would you give a new cookbook publisher?

Lisl: Have a really good team. There are too many tasks for one person to accomplish. We have a really great marketing team, consisting of about 9 women. They are great at getting out there and promoting the book and talking to potential new merchants. We created teams for every aspect of the book’s business from Public Relations and Communications to Social Media to Member Sales and Delivery.

Also, set realistic goals.


Dave: Is there anything different you are doing to market book the 4th book that you didn't do for book 1?

Lisl: Much of our marketing plan was based on EveryDay Feast’s plan. The social media would be the only difference. We have one person designated to social media, and she wrote a fantastic plan. We have a Facebook page, Twitter account, and blog.


Dave: How do you keep the enthusiasm for cookbooks going within the League?

Lisl: “The Culinary Collection” has kept the enthusiasm high, as everyone wants to hear about the newest books/trends with each book that's released. Gasparilla remains a classic.


Dave: How many wholesale accounts do you have? How do you maintain those accounts?

Lisl: Capture the Coast came out 4 years after the others, so we’re starting from a small base. We have seen a small decline, but Capture the Coast has allowed us the opportunity to re-establish those accounts.

Since Capture the Coast debuted, we’ve acquired 11 new accounts, and we’re expecting to increase that number with 5 or 6 more accounts soon.

We also have a part-time employee that maintains existing accounts, calls them when we have special sales or promotions coming up, and makes sure their requests are met.


Dave: What has been your best personal experience as cookbook chair?

Lisl: 1st meeting we had was really interesting for me. I’ve been on the committee before, but I’m now stepping into a leadership role for a committee of close to 50 ladies. That’s a really big group of people, and I’ve never managed anything on that scale. So, that first meeting was really inspiring to me to look out and see this room of people and to know it’s my job to make sure all of these women have a good year with the League. The responsibility of leading the committee is kind of terrifying, but it’s really exciting, too. I’m really grateful to the League for putting me in this position and entrusting me with this responsibility. So far, it’s been great.


Dave: Other than the money raised from the sale of the cookbooks what other intangible benefits are received?

Lisl: Part of our mission is developing the potential of women and the Cookbook Committee is a great place to try out new skills they might not have the opportunity to use in other parts of their lives.

We have lawyers serving marketing roles, teachers handling Public Relations… It affords them the opportunity to do something they wouldn’t normally do in their every day lives.


Dave: I notice that in Junior League of Tampa, being chair of cookbook has led to major Board of Director responsibilities and even the Presidency of the League—why do you think that is?

Lisl: For starters, “Cookbook” is one of the larger committees of the League. That’s an important stepping stone in terms of learning to manage large groups of people. Our League certainly has a commitment to cookbooks. Having 6 cookbooks currently on the market shows that we put a lot of emphasis on our Cookbook Committee. A lot of the challenges you face with “Cookbook” allows you the chance to expand your skill set.


Dave: Having sold over 50,000 cookbooks since 2001 what do you say to someone who says a community is saturated with cookbooks?

Lisl: I don’t think you can ever have too many cookbooks, personally. Certainly, in Tampa we love to eat and eat well. I haven’t seen any lack of enthusiasm for new cookbooks. I don’t think nationally, we’re quite to the point of saturation either. Especially with the popularity of Food Network and food blogs on the internet. I think people love recipes. You don’t have to be a cookbook collector to enjoy cookbooks. One of the advantages of Capture the Coast is that it is full of lots of great recipes, but it also tells the story of Tampa. It also makes a nice gift for someone simply because of the beautiful photography.


Dave: I know that your League always sends someone to Cookbook University—how did you rate your attendance there this year and would you recommend it to others?

Lisl: The timing was good for us. We had just gotten started in our committee in March. It was a wonderful chance for us to hear about the different aspects of “cookbook” that would come in the months ahead. We came back with lots of information.

Dave: What will you take away as your greatest memory from this year in the League?

Lisl: I’m hoping its going to be when we reach our goal. I think it’s too early what my greatest memory is going to be.

So far, the debut party was big for me. The Mayor of Tampa was there to declare “Capture the Coast Day”.


If I could add one more thing….

We’re focusing a lot on Capture the Coast now, but we will be looking at transitioning to promoting all of the books moving forward.

We’re selling some of the 4-book sets, but not as many as we had hoped yet. Holiday Gift Market comes up in November, and it’s a chance to reach the general public. That will really be a testing ground on how Capture the Coast affects the public.