Episode 343: Self-Publishing A Cookbook Early In Blogging Career with Tyanne Johnson

EBT343_Tyanne Johnson

Tyanne Johnson: Hi, this is Tyanne from Cooking with Tyanne and you are listening to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. 

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Megan Porta: Hey food bloggers. Welcome to Eat Blog Talk, the podcast for food bloggers looking for the value and confidence that will move the needle forward in their businesses. This episode is sponsored by RankIQ. I am your host, Megan Porta, and you are listening to episode number 343. I have Tyanne Johnson with me today. I am going to ask her all about her story with self-publishing a cookbook in 45 days. Super excited to chat with her about that and have her share her knowledge with all of us about how to do that. Tyanne has been a food blogger for two and a half years at Cooking with Tyanne. She began her blog on the platform Wix, a year ago, she made the switch to WordPress. Tyanne wrote and published a cookbook in under 45 days right after graduating from college last. So impressive. I’m super excited to hear your story Tyanne, but first you have a fun fact to share with us. 

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah. My fun fact is that I have a pet cow named goat who is 11 years old now.

Megan Porta: Okay. Wait, what? You have a pet cow and you call him goat.

Tyanne Johnson: It’s a her.

Megan Porta: She is 11.

Tyanne Johnson: She’s 11 now. Yep. Her only purpose in life is to make me happy. 

Megan Porta: I love it. Is she your only cow? 

Tyanne Johnson: Yep. She has two friends, but she’s our only actual pet cow. 

Megan Porta: Oh, I love this. Why did you decide to call her goat?

Tyanne Johnson: We brought her home from a sale barn and she just looked really small and my first thought was goat. It has stuck ever since. 

Megan Porta: I love it. What’s the lifespan of a cow? 

Tyanne Johnson: So she’s our oldest cow right now, we have had some live to be like 15, 16 ish, but so far she’s doing pretty well.

Megan Porta: That’s awesome. Tell Goat hello from the Eat Blog Talk audience. 

Tyanne Johnson: I will.

Megan Porta: Okay. I’m super excited to hear about your story Tyanne because you just made this decision that you needed to self-publish a cookbook and you did it in 45 days, which is extremely impressive and ambitious. So I wanna hear, and everybody else wants to hear, what prompted you to take on this project in the first place. 

Tyanne Johnson: So last year I moved from Wix to WordPress and it takes a really long time to generate traffic and to get into an ad network. So I thought graduation’s approaching. Trying to get a job right now is very difficult. So I thought I should make a product to go with my website. Throughout college, I would make my parents freezer meals. So they could have something to eat when I wasn’t cooking for them at home. Both my parents absolutely hate cooking. So it’s very ironic that they have me as a child. Then I figured I should make a freezer meal cookbook because I have all these freezer meal recipes I make for my parents. I know it freezes well. I did all the research already on how to freeze it. So I decided that is what I should do after graduation. 

Megan Porta: Okay. So that’s super ambitious. Had you ever published anything prior to that? 

Tyanne Johnson: No. I took a week after graduation to figure out how I was gonna self-publish it. And a way I went, 

Megan Porta: wow. Where did you go first to research this? 

Tyanne Johnson: I went to Google and I put in how to self-publish a cookbook and there’s actually not a lot of information on how to do it self-published wise as opposed to using a traditional publisher. Then I looked at how to publish a regular book, say if it was like fiction or nonfiction. I read Published by Chandler Bolt on how to actually get it written and then different launching ideas with his book. I also enrolled in the Self-Publishing School webinar. Those are all really great resources on self-publishing.

Megan Porta: Nice. Okay. So you had freezer meals as a topic because you had a database of these recipes and you knew they worked. Did you know that this is something that your audience wanted? Or did you have to do a little digging to figure that out?

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah. So one of the things I found while researching was that before starting a huge project is to always survey the audience, just to make sure that where a product you’re gonna make, there is a need for it. I did a survey on my Instagram and I had people fill out a questionnaire regarding whether they wanted a book in ebook, hard copy. If they’re interested in both. Different pain points they had while cooking and how much they were willing to pay for a product, like a cookbook. That’s how I gauged my pricing.

Megan Porta: Then you took all of that information and made sure to include it in your book. Okay. So you did self-publish a printed version, correct? Or did you do both? Ebook? 

Tyanne Johnson: I did both. 

Megan Porta: Interesting. So which one do you feel like did better? Which one did people want? More? 

Tyanne Johnson: Honestly, the hard copy, which actually really surprised me. I feel like a lot of people do like eBooks. Then they see a hard copy. They’re like, oh. And it’s a lot easier for me to sell a hard copy in person. I do a lot of book signings throughout the summer and over Christmas I did some. It’s a lot easier to promote when you have both, I think.

Megan Porta: Yeah. I’ve heard that too, from people who do both that they’re always surprised when people want the hard copy over the ebook because they don’t necessarily go in expecting that. So that’s really interesting. Okay. So what was your next step? So you figured out a topic, you surveyed your audience, you got some details hashed out. Then what did you do next? 

Tyanne Johnson: I created a deadline and a schedule on how I was gonna meet the deadline. I was gonna give myself about 30 days to write it and publish it. It ended up taking a little bit longer because I didn’t know how much time to account for the administrative side of things on the Amazon KDP website. Then I created a schedule and with the schedule, I didn’t really stick to the schedule as well as I should have, but I think it’s great to always have a schedule. So at least, you know where you’re going and what else you have to do to get there. 

Megan Porta: 30 days is quick for a cookbook. How many recipes did you include in the book? 

Tyanne Johnson: So I included over 30 recipes. My goal was to get 50 recipes, but I started with a different publisher first called Blurb and Blurb was charging a lot of money for the color. So I started to cut it down because it got to be really pricey. In the end I ended up switching to Amazon KDP because I didn’t like the way that the colors looked on Blurb. So in the end, if I would’ve started the right publisher, I would’ve had over 50 recipes. 

Megan Porta: What do you feel like the options are for self-publishers? So it would be KDP, Blurb. Are there any other options out there that you considered? 

Tyanne Johnson: I don’t think so. I was really stuck between Amazon and Blurb. The only reason I chose Blurb to begin with was that they have an app you can like to your computer and they had a cookbook template. That’s what I used. It was really nice, because then it was basically all set up for me and everything already said ingredients and directions and had a title. I didn’t have to do a lot of self making of a template as I would have if I would’ve started with Amazon first. 

Megan Porta: So, if you could go back, you wish you would’ve started with Amazon first.

Tyanne Johnson: Oh yes, definitely. 

Megan Porta: Okay. Are there any additional reasons why you would choose Amazon over Blurb? 

Tyanne Johnson: I think the color quality is really great on Amazon. With Blurb, it was gonna cost me about $15 a book for the color. Then Amazon, it only cost me like $4 for the color per book. That’s a huge difference and the Amazon color’s like really good and I get a lot of compliments for my picture quality. 

Megan Porta: That’s awesome. So you figured out your publisher and then you had a schedule. So you had 30 ish recipes in 30 days. So that meant you had to create one recipe a day, correct? 

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, I had most of them pre-made but then some of them I did make in those 30 days, I probably made 20 of the recipes in the 30 days.

Megan Porta: Wow. That is so awesome.

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah. As I created, I would just put it in the app and a way I went.

Megan Porta: That’s super impressive. So you were really determined to do this. Do you feel like it stretched you? Was it doable? Would you do it again? Do you recommend that tight of a schedule for others? 

Tyanne Johnson: No, I definitely don’t recommend that tight of a schedule. It was mostly 14 hour days for a month. 

Megan Porta: Oh my goodness. Oh, Tyanne. That’s crazy. Were you burnt out at the end? 

Tyanne Johnson: Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah. But towards the end though, it slows down with waiting to hear back from Amazon, and then you can relax a little bit before it’s ready to go for the launch and promotion.

Megan Porta: So really, even if you extended this by another 45 days. So if you made it 90 days and did the same amount of recipes, that would be a lot less stressful. But still a really great turnaround. 90 days is still great. 

Tyanne Johnson: It is. Yeah. 

Megan Porta: So you had an ambitious schedule, not recommended, but you did it. You got it done. So what did you do after you decided on your platform and you had your schedule set? 

Tyanne Johnson: After that, I started to put everything into the app. I had everything written on my computer. How I wanted the categories to go. It starts with chicken, then it moves to beef, then pork. Then it goes to soups and pastas. Then I put everything in the app and then I uploaded all the pictures and I had to run all my pictures through the Adobe lightroom to make sure everything looked good. I color coordinated each category with little triangles on the sides. So I had to line up all the triangles to make sure it looked cohesive when you flipped throughout.

Megan Porta: So you did page layout, you did everything. So you laid out the pages. How did you know to do that coordinating thing? I never would’ve thought of that. 

Tyanne Johnson: Part of the template had some sort of key indicator. That look a little bit different. So I changed it to a triangle. Then therefore you always know where you’re at in the book.

Megan Porta: That is so cool. I never would’ve thought of that. That’s a great idea. So where did you go from there after you got the layout done and you did your own editing, correct? 

Tyanne Johnson: Yes. I did have a couple of people I know also check through and make sure everything looked good. Just because, after you do it so long with your own eyes, after a while it starts to all blend together and it’s always good to have a fresh set of eyes. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, absolutely. That’s why like even traditionally published books, they go through rigorous editing, with so many different people. Including the author and they still all the time, they miss things because of that same reason. If you’re looking at something over and over, it’s almost like your eyes get used to it and you’re just gonna miss stuff. So it’s such a good idea if you’re self-publishing I think to have, what do you think, at least two other people look at it? 

Tyanne Johnson: Oh yeah. I’d say at least five. Because part of having the launch team in the beginning, or the people to help you out that are like the closest people around you that you know, is to have them go through and edit it and give you pointers about what you can add or take out. 

Megan Porta: So you say launch team who was part of your launch team and what did they do?

Tyanne Johnson: So how I gathered my launch team was that I posted it to my Instagram. If you’re interested in helping me out with this cookbook, fill out this application. Most people who applied were the people closest to me and a couple of people from Canada actually, who applied to be part of my launch team, they were just my followers. They were able to gimme feedback on things like contents of the book, but they also helped with the cover and some promotional ideas as well. 

Megan Porta: That’s such a great idea. Where did you get that idea from, to reach out to your followers? 

Tyanne Johnson: Part of the book Published by Chandler Bolt mentions it. Then part of the BC stack blogging group last year, part of that group had a publishing course. One of the people was relaunching her book and I was on her launch team. So it was helpful to know how a launch team works. 

Megan Porta: Oh yeah. That’s cool. Do you feel like they did a good job? Were they dedicated, did they pull through with everything you expected?

Tyanne Johnson: I’d say about 75% of them pulled through and other people didn’t help out as much as I would’ve hoped to have. But that’s why you have a larger group because some people, things come up and they can’t help as much. So the more people you have on your team, the better. 

Megan Porta: What did they get from it aside from just having that satisfaction of helping you with a big project? Did you pay them? What did you give them in return? I’m just curious. 

Tyanne Johnson: So they got a free copy of the book and then their name is actually in the book too, in the end of the acknowledgements that they helped. 

Megan Porta: Okay. So editing, you got help with that. How long did editing take for you? Was that a big ordeal? 

Tyanne Johnson: I think I allocated about a week, but I wish it would’ve allocated more looking back now, but overall, even though I did it in a week with help of others, it still turned out pretty good considering I only gave myself a week. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. That’s a short timeframe, but I’m just so impressed that you did all of this in such a short timeframe. This is unheard of. I haven’t even asked you what your cookbook is called. I’m assuming like it’s published and it’s awesome and doing well. How’s it doing?

Tyanne Johnson: It’s called Deliciously Fresh Freezer Dinner Meals, and it’s doing pretty well. I’ve been traveling over the summer, doing some events, book signing and promotional things online.

Megan Porta: I’m assuming since it was through KDP that it’s on Amazon. Is it pretty much everywhere books are sold or is it just Amazon? 

Tyanne Johnson: No, I actually uploaded it to Ingram Spark as well. So it’s also there too. Then with Ingram spark, they put it in bookstores. 

Megan Porta: Are you happy with it? How do you feel like it turned out? Is there anything that you’re like, oh, I wish I would’ve added 20 more recipes or redid that photograph or any little detail that you wish you would’ve done differently?

Tyanne Johnson: Overall, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Seeing people walk by my booth when I’m selling at places and complimenting it and then buying it saying, they’re giving it as a gift for a loved one. It’s a really great feeling, because I’ve put in a lot of 14 hour days on end to accomplish it. So it’s really rewarding to have accomplished in the end. I do wish that it would have a couple more recipes, but other than that, I’m pretty pleased how it turned out considering it was done in such a short amount of time.

Megan Porta: I feel like freezer meals are so helpful for people. I think older people and I think people wanting to help out, I don’t know, a couple who just had a baby and who needs extra meals. For me, when I think of freezer meals, it’s support and lending a hand to people who need it. So I think that is in your favor. It’s a really great topic, honestly. I’m curious about the feedback you’ve gotten. So from your audience and people who have purchased it, what kind of feedback have they given you? 

Tyanne Johnson: There’s a lot of fan favorites. A lot of people really enjoy the bacon wrap meatloaf recipe. A lot of people also compliment the pictures and a lot of the pasta recipes. Those are all my favorites. Another fan favorite is the hamburger recipe. It’s not a plain Jane hamburger, being a food blogger, you always gotta spice things up a bit. I feel like a lot of people just throw some salt and pepper on their hamburgers. So I try to make the recipe as spicy as possible. 

Megan Porta: Oh, yummy. That sounds amazing. I’m starving. Okay. I just purchased a copy of your book.

Tyanne Johnson: Oh really? Thank you. 

Megan Porta: I’m excited to get it. I think we make freezer meals for that reason that I mentioned earlier. If somebody needs something, we throw a freezer meal together and we don’t always know what to make. So I think this is gonna be really helpful. So thank you. 

Tyanne Johnson: Yes. Thank you. 

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Megan Porta: I have a question about the cover. Did you design the cover? Did you hire someone else too? Your cover’s really beautiful. I’m assuming that’s a picture of you on the cover. 

Tyanne Johnson: It is, yes. 

Megan Porta: Okay. Yeah. So tell us about it.

Tyanne Johnson: Last May when Google did the Google core update, I needed to have some website things done. So I reached out to a Facebook group and somebody commented and he helped me out with some blogging aspects. Then he happened to also go to school for graphic design. So he was more than willing to do the cover. The covers were actually made in India. My mom took a picture of me outside and there actually isn’t syrup coming out of the cup. He added that part in.

Megan Porta: What? Okay, so that picture is of you standing outside and that’s just a green screen background of sorts? 

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah. He put me in the kitchen somehow. 

Megan Porta: Oh, my gosh. That is so funny and amazing. Wow. That I’m so impressed. 

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah. He thought of the phrase, meals that save the day. Whatever I wanted before he said what about freezer meals that save the day? Because at the end of the day, your meals are to save someone’s day when they don’t have time to cook. I thought that was really genius of time to think of that. That’s why that’s the slogan. 

Megan Porta: Awesome. That’s perfect. Just what I was saying earlier. You’re saving someone else. So you are saving the day and most of the time you need a meal, like last minute. So it’s oh, that saved my day. It’s kinda a good phrase for it. Are you happy with the cover? 

Tyanne Johnson: Yes. I really like the cover. It turned out better than anything I could have done by myself. He was really good about taking suggestions and critiques and he made it in front of my own eyes, on the computer, over Google Meet, I think is what it’s called. My whole family was there too to say, oh, no, I think the letters need to be moved here. What about this background? It was really cool to see it come to life. 

Megan Porta: You really did make this a team project. It sounds like you have a great network of people surrounding you. You included your family and your launch team and people to really support you in every step of the process, which is super smart, because you don’t wanna do something like this alone, right?

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah. Yeah. You definitely have to have a good support system. Working long hours to get it done. You have to have someone continuously backing you up to make you keep going and not give up. 

Megan Porta: I love that. So once you had everything edited and you had a cover, then I don’t know how this works. So with self-publishing, what do you do with all of that? Where does it go from there? 

Tyanne Johnson: So once you have everything done, then you have to upload it to Amazon. I uploaded using the KF8 format. Then with that, then you can order a book to send to yourself so you can see what it looks like and go through one more time of editing. Then once Amazon approves it and you like it, then you can hit publish. It was instantly published, I think. Then anybody can buy it from there and you can promote it. 

Megan Porta: Did you have moments where you were like, I should go through it again. I should have someone else look through this. Did you have doubtful questioning moments? 

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah, I did. Because you always think what if I missed something on this one page? I didn’t spend as much time on that page, but as the book Published by Chandler Bolt says, he says that nothing’s ever gonna be a hundred percent perfect. Just getting it done is an accomplishment in itself.

Megan Porta: Oh, my gosh. That’s so true. Just putting it out there is such a message, I think, to the world. You did it, you published it. Of course it’s not going to be perfect. I have to tell you, I traditionally published a cookbook and there were so many eyeballs on it. A week after it was published, my sister called me and she was like, Megan, I was gonna make your banana cream pie cookies, but there’s nothing banana flavored in the recipe. My heart just sank. I was like, what? No, this can’t be right. So I rushed to my copy and read through it. So I use a pudding mix and it’s supposed to be banana cream or banana cream pie flavor. Somehow we changed it to vanilla. Then there was something else banana in the recipe that got changed to vanilla. So yeah, that was a huge miss. So nothing is going to be perfect and you just have to roll with it, right? If you do find a mistake, which you will, you just have to accept that mistake. You have to accept that people are going to forgive you and have grace and oh, that must be her mistake. So I agree. You just have to put it out there, do your best, put it out there, learn your lesson. The good thing about self-publishing is that in reprints, you can fix it, right? 

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah. You can fix it in reprints. Because I publish on Blurb. I’d have to pay like per page to get it resized to Amazon after the first time. Because Amazon forgave me for the first time. So everything is still the same as it was a year ago. 

Megan Porta: Okay. But you could go back potentially and do that. For mine it was like, okay, you have to sell, I don’t know, 10,000 copies. Then we can, I don’t know if it was exactly 10,000, but it was like, you have to sell all these and then we can change it. I’m like okay. Here’s the change after that many copies. But it was a little disheartening. But you just have to roll with the punches, like everything else. 

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah. Yeah. You do. Because then you’d look at other books that you read and you’re like, oh, there’s also a mistake there too.

Megan Porta: Totally. Really well known books of people who publish a lot of really high end material. There’s always mistakes everywhere. So tons of grace, I think from readers. Have you done outreach to get reviews and ratings and all of that? 

Tyanne Johnson: Yes. I had my launch team review at first, since they all had a copy. Then I promoted on Facebook and Instagram. Hey, if you buy a copy, I’d really appreciate it if you would leave a review. Amazon’s pretty good about emailing people for reviews anyways. So I do get a lot from there too. Then on book signings, they always try to say, if you like it, let me know how you like it in the Amazon review.

Megan Porta: Yeah, that’s smart. So you talked about book signings. Tell us more about how you promoted it. So once it was published, did you wait to promote it or did you start promoting beforehand? Or how did that all work out? 

Tyanne Johnson: I did some promoting beforehand or getting people ready on Instagram to buy the book, talking about how I wrote the book and such. Then after it was made, then I really promoted every day on Instagram, every day on Facebook for a while. Then once I got closer to Christmas, I did a couple book signings in my hometown. Then now I do the farmer’s market book signings and then craft show book signings as well.

Megan Porta: Oh, awesome. Did you find that once it was published, that you were depleted of energy and you didn’t wanna promote, or did you have stamina to get through that? 

Tyanne Johnson: I think I had some stamina afterwards, just because I had a grace period while waiting for Amazon to get back to me. Then after that I felt pretty good. I had a lot of energy, I was getting more sleep and I was able to promote more. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. I hated the promotion period. Honestly, if I’m completely honest with you. I got to that point and I was like, yeah, I’m tired. I’m done. The publisher that I went through did I think it was three months of promotions for me, which was great. They got me on the news station. 

Tyanne Johnson: Oh, that’s nice.

Megan Porta: Got me in another big publication or two, but then after that it was all on me and I quite honestly just didn’t have the energy for it. So I faded away, which is a huge regret of mine. I wish I could go back and tell myself before I even started the project, to save energy for promotion. Because it’s such a big piece of it. Do you agree with that? Do you feel like promoting is important?

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah, because Amazon categories aren’t your keywords. It does help with sales, but a lot of it is self-promotion. Getting it out there, people, and like community members and from there on out, then they can suggest it to other people. It just keeps on snowballing. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. Do you have plans to make another?

Tyanne Johnson: Maybe someday? I thought about making lunch recipes for people who work full time. Because the concept frees your meal list if you’re super busy, then you can prepare your meals ahead of time. If you know that you’re gonna be gone every Wednesday or something, then you can have a meal ready for your Wednesday. I think people really spend a lot of time eating out with lunch every day at work, because it’s just easy. So that’d be my other idea if I ever do it again.

Megan Porta: If you could go back before you started this project, what things or things would you change? 

Tyanne Johnson: I think I would change maybe different fonts. I chose one of the more standard fonts and maybe to make it more unique or to match my website better, I could have done a similar font. 

Megan Porta: Okay. That’s interesting. Yeah. And how did you choose your fonts in the book? 

Tyanne Johnson: Because I was doing it in such a short amount of time, I did it one of the top recommended fonts, but they were actually called very different things then they’d be called in like Word. So I wanna say something like the font called Stonybrook or something. 

Megan Porta: Oh, yeah. Just looking through. You can look at your book now or whatever it’s called on Amazon. Yeah. I’m just looking through. I see the triangles that you were talking about that line up. I’m assuming the yellow triangle that comes in from the side. Is that what you were saying about lining those up? 

Tyanne Johnson: Yes. 

Megan Porta: Okay. Very cool. These recipes look amazing. I can’t wait to get it and check it out. So if you’re listening, go check out Tyanne’s book and if you are into freezer meals, or if you know someone who is, support her in that way. Do you have any other words of advice for people who want to publish and want to go this route and maybe are intimidated by the process or are holding off? What advice do you have for them? 

Tyanne Johnson: I’d say, just start. Because there are days where after I started, I would be thinking, do I really wanna go through with this? This is like day seven of working 14 hour days. But in the end I was thinking, you had a goal, think about like, why you wanna accomplish this goal. You have to be in it for more than the money. You have to be more in it for helping others because that’s what’ll push you forward. You’re just starting is the most important thing. Because not many people can say, oh, I wrote a book. If you walk into a party, how many other people are gonna actually have a book out there too? It’s quite an accomplishment to get it published and to actually begin the process. 

Megan Porta: It is! It’s a lot of work from start to finish. Oh my goodness. But if you, yeah, it’s like Sally Ekus, she’s a literary agent for the Ekus group. She always says this and I love it. A cookbook. Isn’t going to make you a ton of money, but it can be like a big, beautiful business card. Which I love. It’s like the most impressive thing that you can hand to somebody. I did this. I put in all the work; blood, sweat, and tears and all. That is pretty cool. Good for you. Congratulations. 

Tyanne Johnson: Thank you. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, this is a huge accomplishment, especially your timeframe and all you did in such a short time. It’s so impressive. I know everybody listening is gonna be like, wow, she’s amazing. You probably will set into motion some goals for other people. Do you believe that this is a huge stepping stone for your business? 

Tyanne Johnson: I definitely think so because liking to cook is one thing. Bringing baked goods somewhere is another thing. Having a blog is something completely different. But on top of that, I also have a book which kind of sets me apart from the crowd, I think. 

Megan Porta: Oh, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Would you ever go the traditional route of publishing? 

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah, I have considered that. I haven’t really thought about it since making this one, but I do think there are pros and cons to both traditional and self-publishing. I think with traditional publishing, you don’t have to do as much research, but you do get more say, I think, in what the inside contents look like. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. Awesome. Thank you, Tyanne. Is there anything we missed? 

Tyanne Johnson: Oh, the Amazon categories. When uploading to Amazon, you can actually choose up to 10 categories, if you call them and not just the three that they give you for options.

Megan Porta: Oh, good to know. Okay. What did you choose as your categories? 

Tyanne Johnson: I don’t have off the top of my head, but I think one of them is like cooking and preservation. Easy meals, American Midwest cooking, cooking with kids, cooking meats, natural cooking. 

Megan Porta: So you made sure to fill in all 10? 

Tyanne Johnson: Yeah. The more categories, the better. There’s another program you can run categories through online and it’ll tell you how many you have to sell in a day to be the number one category. 

Megan Porta: Oh, that’s cool. I didn’t know about that. Yeah. Awesome. Cool. Thank you for mentioning that. Thank you for being here. I appreciate your time. This was so valuable, Tyanne. 

Tyanne Johnson: Yes. Thank you so much for having me. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, it was a pleasure. Do you have either a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with today? 

Tyanne Johnson: I think one of my words of inspiration is, grateful for the opportunity. Self-publishing a book in 2021 was completely different than if I would’ve been born a decade sooner and try to do it say in like 2011. There’s so many more opportunities nowadays for research on how to do things. Back in 2011, I wouldn’t have been taking photos on my phone. I would’ve had to go develop them somewhere. So I really think that with time, being grateful for opportunities and how things evolve is very important. 

Megan Porta: Aw, such a great attitude to have. Like in any aspect of our businesses and lives, but I love how you applied it to this, be grateful for the advancements, right? How easy, like really easy it is. So I side note, published an ebook back in like 2011 when I was first blogging. It was hard. It was not easy back then. I remember having to jump through all of these weird hoops just to get the ebook on Amazon. It was insane. I was like, this is crazy. I will never do this again, but now I’m sure it’s way different. I’m sure. It’s way more streamlined, just like self-publishing a hardcover book. So yeah. Grateful for those advancements for sure. I will put together a show notes page for you, Tyanne. So if anyone wants to peek at those and everything we’ve talked about today will be in there, you can go to eatblogtalk.com/cookingwithtyanne. Tyanne. Tell everyone where they can find you online and social media. Also just reiterate what your book title is and where people can find it. 

Tyanne Johnson: You can find me online at my blog. www.cookingwithtyanne.com. I’m also on Instagram and Facebook at Cooking with Tyanne. My book is called Deliciously Fresh Freezer Meals. Right now I have it a discount on Amazon since it is right around the same time period as I launched last year. So for a little launch anniversary, it is discounted right now if you wanna go check it out. 

Megan Porta: Awesome. Thank you so much again, Tyanne, for being here. Thank you for listening today, food bloggers. I will see you in the next episode. 

Tyanne Johnson: Thanks for having me.

Outro: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. Please share this episode with a friend who would benefit from tuning in. I will see you next time.