the round up: unexpected moments of writing a cookbook
plus an unlocked recipe from the book + a free month subscription!!!
So you probably know by now… I wrote a cookbook! And I’m absolutely loving tell you all about the behind the scenes of Don’t Think About Dinner. Writing a cookbook is a whole new world—which I found out by going through the process—and I’d love to tell you more about it. So, this week’s special edition of The Round Up highlights some unexpected moments from working on DTAD that I think you’ll find interesting.
Before we get into it, I want to sincerely thank you again for pre-ordering the book and sharing the links with your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, and beyond. This book exists BECAUSE of you. I wrote it FOR you. And I can’t wait for you to get it in your hands. If you haven’t pre-ordered your copy yet, do it now! I’ll wait here for ya 😊 Click here and get the lowest price guaranteed and you won’t be charged until the book ships to you in January. Pre-ordering is the best way to support the book ♥️
🚨 Even better? Pre-order by the end of the day today and I’ll give you a FREE month of the newsletter, on me. Get the details here to access your free month.
Okay, now let me tell you some more about the making of Don’t Think About Dinner!
unexpected moments from writing a cookbook
photography by Ashleigh Amoroso, BTS photos by Ish Holmes
1. Finding out how LONG the process takes from start to finish
I had always heard that writing a cookbook takes a long time, but I never knew what exactly went into it and why that was the case. Once I started to have interest in writing a book I soon found out—even preparing a book proposal and finding a publisher is a huge undertaking, and that’s before the book even really begins. When it’s time to start writing, you’re given a due date and in a lot of ways are left to your own devices for a large chunk of the time. That meant having a strict schedule, sticking to it, and coming up with everything with no big deadlines in-between. Once I broke out that 125-recipe schedule in my calendar, I realized how much time that would really take—many weeks, I was testing or re-testing 6-8 recipes to meet my deadline. And from there, there are LOTS more components—editing, copy editing, photography, interior design, exterior design, marketing, sales, etc. etc…
2. Learning how specific you really need to get… with lots of repeat measuring
Recipes in a cookbook need to be exact and make sense for everyone. Once it’s out there, no edits can be made. Developing and writing recipes for the book, plus working alongside the entire team supporting the book, taught me I had to measure everything and be very specific. I needed cup measurements, weights, and even estimated number of items (like 1 medium sweet potato, 1 1/2 cups peeled and diced, about 6 ounces, etc.) for many recipes and had to really take the time to make sure that was correct so the recipes were accurate. It completely changed the way I develop recipes now, and especially the way I write my grocery lists!
3. Seeing how a cookbook actually gets photographed (it’s insane)
The photoshoot had to be one of my favorite experiences—not just of the book process, but my entire life. There’s nothing quite like seeing your own recipes come to life in vibrant photos and seeing a cookbook come together. We shot for 14 days, shooting about 10 recipes per day, to get a photo for every single one. The days were long and everyone was so intentional with every shot. Seeing how the entire team works—photographer, photographer’s assistant, food stylist, food stylist assistant, and prop stylist—was eye opening. I’ll forever be grateful to the team that made DTAB the most beautiful book I’ve ever seen (in my humble opinion… 😉)
4. Enjoying the development and testing process without content creation
I’ve been creating content for over 7 years now—I started Jenn Eats Goood in 2018 and have shared my food and recipes from the beginning. So by now it’s my nature to create content out of basically every recipe I make. Developing recipes for the book was a complete change: I got to focus on the recipe, tap into my creativity, and start over as many times as I needed to… all without a camera recording or beautiful shot needed at the end. It made me fall in love with cooking even more and taught me how important sitting with a recipe before sharing it is.
5. Un-learning and re-learning the way to write recipes
Wow this was a big one. I’ll be honest, I had no idea how wrong I was writing my recipes before I started to work on Don’t Think About Dinner. Up until about 2 years ago I was essentially just jotting down the ingredients in any order and writing loose instructions for how to make the recipe, with no real consistent style. Well that changed very quickly and I learned SO much from the cookbook writing process. Maybe you even noticed over time if you’ve been following along for a while? Now, I follow a specific style guide for how to write ingredients, in what order to write them, in what form they need to be, and even which words come first depending on how it needs to be measured. My instructions are SO much different than before and follow consistent guidelines that make following along much easier—a visual cue always come before a timing cue so you know what to look for and become a better cook!!
I couldn’t have asked for a better experience writing my first cookbook, and I’m still not done! There’s a lot more to come between now and release date on January 13th, and I’ll continue sharing the process with you ❤️ Thank you for cheering me on!
Exclusive recipe: Salmon Bites with Coconut Rice and Cucumber Salad
This recipe is actually one of the FIRST recipes I developed for Don’t Think About Dinner. Why? Well I’m obsessed with a good salmon bowl, and I knew I needed an amazing one in the book. Every component perfectly complements each other—the salmon is savory and sweet, the cucumber salad is crunchy and acidic, and the coconut rice is so so creamy and delicious. Together, this is my perfect bowl. I hope you love this exclusive sneak peek from the book!
Get the recipe here:
And the FIRST recipe sneak peek I shared is up here 👇
This is so exciting!! So impressed by you and also love #4! It’s so nice to take a break from filming sometimes and just enjoy cooking
Loved hearing more about what it takes to bring a cookbook to life! I’ve
been following your content for about a year now and one of the things I appreciate about your recipes is how clearly written and well-structured they are. I’m such a nerd but I love it when a recipe lists the ingredients in order of use (which yours do). Such a cool opportunity to learn and develop your own creative spirit away from social media. Thanks for sharing your experience with us 😊