Friday, April 20, 2012

New E-Cookbook Titles Available

As of this post, Favorite Recipes Press has four of its titles in the works and soon to be available in an electronic version on Apple, Kobo, Amazon, Lulu and Nook. Among the  most recent is Lemongrass and Limes by author Naam Pruitt. This is an amazing Thai cookbook from a native of Thailand who now lives in the U.S. (St. Louis) and teaches cooking, writes a blog and is actively involved in the culinary community.



If you enjoy Thai food or would simply like to explore a new cuisine check this book on one of the E-stores. In addition to Naam's book Chef Tim Creehan's Simple Cuisine is out as well. This is Tim's 2nd cookbook and SOOO good. Tim grew up in Louisiana and you can tell from his recipes how his roots inspired his cooking.


Be on the lookout for news of additional titles to be released electronically in the coming weeks and months.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Good Leadership



One of my favorite blogs is published by the Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Michael Hyatt. His blog postings have an overall theme of leadership. Last year, he wrote a post that shared 8  eight characteristics of abundance thinkers. From time to time if a piece of advice sticks with me I like to keep a note of it on my computer and re-read to make sure I am following the advice. 
As a leader of a cookbook committee, a marketing committee, your organization or your home, perhaps you will appreciate this philosophy that Mike shared.


  • They believe there is always more where that came from.
  • They are happy to share their knowledge, contacts, and compassion with others.
  • They default to trust and build rapport easily.
  • They welcome competition, believing it makes the pie bigger and them better.
  • They ask themselves, "How can I give more than is expected?"
  • They are optimistic about the future, believing the best is yet to come.
  • They think big, embracing risk.
  • They are thankful and confident.

Here's the link to the original post on Michael's blog.
What encounters have you experienced in your many roles where you could have use
d this advice?

Friday, April 13, 2012

Testimony to Community Cookbooks

Two wonderful media articles were recently shared with me regarding the ongoing popularity of community cookbooks.

The opening sentence of the first article, from Madison, WI, captures the essence of the article and subject itself - "If there’s a better way to remember vacations spent in faraway places than returning home with a cookbook featuring regional recipes, it is well beyond my imagination."

The article goes on to describe the writer's experience in discovering the three League community cookbooks from Panama City, FL, and her journey to a bookstore which markets them.

The second article is from Austin, Texas and is headlined by "Community cookbooks as historical relics: Detailing the past, present and where our community is headed".

We all understand that the world is changing and admit that how consumers purchase their books has changed drastically over the last two years; however, that does not mean that the genre has changed or is going away. In today's world the opportunities are still there, but we need to uncover how to take advantage of them.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Rejuvenation

Easter is a season of renewal and rejuvenation--everything begins anew. How about taking some time to update and spruce up your cookbook marketing endeavors? Many of you Junior Leagues will be changing over to new committee chairs soon -has the successor been thoroughly trained? Is she coming to Cookbook University? Have you taken her through a session on what you would do differently if you had your term to do over?

How about those of you who are individual publishers? When was the last time you gave serious attention to your overall marketing plans? What marketing activities are not getting results and should be deleted in favor of new endeavors? Sometimes we fall into the trap of doing things over and over and expecting different results. It doesn't work.  How about considering a renewal of energy and ideas by attending Cookbook University in May?

A successful marketing plan is constantly ongoing and changing. Invest some time now to lay out your plan for the rest of the year but always be open to new ideas along the way.