180: What's the Deal with Cookbook Publishing?

Kristin and Molly speak with previous Insider Series guest, Rebecca Eisenberg, about her evolution from blogger to author. After working in media for years, she eventually decided to write for herself and talks about turning The Practical Kitchen blog into a business and all that entailed. Ever practical and operating under the mantra 'do it messy, clean it later', she learned on the job and shares what her day to day looks like now, how she addressed going viral and the work it takes to keep up with the ever shifting demands of SEO, the algorithm and AI. Rebecca discusses her decision to write a book based on only a subset of her blog topics and the behind the scenes experience of crafting a proposal, getting an agent, going to auction, selecting a publisher and then the work of recipe testing, writing and photographing. Finally, she talks about her innovative and interactive marketing campaign and the lessons learned from her first cookbook experience.

We're turning the hosting reins over to Charlotte Druckman today to learn about Andrea Nguyen and Pim Techamuanvivit's experience collaborating on their new 'instant classic' cookbook, Cooking Thai. Pim shares her original idea for the book, how it evolved and the mission statement she settled on while Andrea explains why she felt drawn to work on her first collaboration with this project. They speak about recipe testing, the writing process and how they worked together, speaking on task division, communication styles and working through tension to create a product they're immensely proud of. Pim and Andrea each share what they learned from the other, how they challenged each other, the books they were inspired by and how they landed on an approachable yet educational tone before leaving us with some advice and a sneak peak.

Kate and Andrea speak with cookbook collaborators Joyce Tang and Soleil Ho about their new cookbook, Bake Sum. Joyce shares her journey from project manager to bakery owner to cookbook writer and why she wanted to write this book at this time. She describes how she got connected to Soleil who speaks about how working on cookbooks tends to be a relaxing break from running a media company. They share how they divvied up the work, the decision to include stories and histories in the project and insights behind the cover image. Joyce describes the recipe testing process and the challenge to 'smallerize' recipes while Soleil talks about the book's unique organization before they each share their thoughts on working through an 'Asian Americana' lens. Finally they share the audience they hope the book reaches and the lessons they each learned along the way.

Kate and Kristin speak with Frances Abrantes Baca about her wide ranging design experience in the food media space. The founding design director of the award winning magazine Gastronimica, Frances shares her thoughts about the design elements that go into a cookbook—color, contrast, titles, page numbers, typeface, layout, covers, spines and, don't forget the table of contents. She discusses what catches her eye, what the differences in specific design roles are and where she finds inspiration before revealing what design choices draw her in and which drive her nuts. She talks about her newsletter, her process and leaves us with a few ideas and tips for authors and aspiring designers both.

This episode is quite special. In fall 2025, Kristin and Kate spoke with longtime book designer Debbie Berne about her work in progress, Cookbooking: A Fan's Guide. She told us about the book in 2024, and we knew back then that it was a book for us. Author Michael Chabon called it a “theme-park ride through Cookbookland" — and he's right: the book is crammed with stories about food fads, hippy cooking, books for dudes, cooking "bibles," and so much more.