Episode 621: What You Need To Know Before Publishing a Cookbook The Traditional Way with Jessie-Sierra Ross

EBT621 – Jessie-Sierra Ross

Intro 00:10

Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth, and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal, or professional. I’m Megan Porta. I have been a food blogger for 13 years, so I understand how isolating food blogging can be. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

Supercut  00:38

You are going to want to download our bonus supercut that gives you all the information you need to grow your Instagram account. Go to eatblogtalk.com/Instagrowth to download today. 

Megan Porta  00:53

Just a little gut feeling of mine is that cookbook publishing is going to be more and more prominent in food blogging businesses in coming years because of our need to pivot and refocus and find new ways to make money and build community and all that other good stuff. Jessie-Sierra Ross, she is the blogger at Straight to the Hips Baby, and also a new cookbook author at Seasons Around the Table, joins me in this interview to talk about traditional cookbook publishing. She talks about her whole experience with it, how it went from literally the start to the finish and every detail in between. If you have any questions about getting started, listen to this episode, and you should have all the info you need, as well as some inspiration to dig into your cookbook project. This episode is number 621 sponsored by RankIQ. 

Sponsor  01:51

Are you really wanting to be a part of one of the Eat Blog Talk mastermind groups? But you’re just not in the place to make the investment right now, the Eat Blog Talk accountability group might be the perfect fit for you. For just $34 a month, you’ll get access to weekly accountability check ins a private Slack channel, live productivity sessions and monthly zoom calls with fellow bloggers and me Megan Porta, achieve your big blogging goals surrounded by supportive, like minded creators who truly understand your journey. The Eat Blog Talk accountability group is here to help you stay focused and motivated as you build your awesome brand. Head to eatblogtalk.com/focus, today to claim your spot. 

Megan Porta  02:34

Jessie Sierra Ross is a cookbook author, television contributor and food and lifestyle blogger at Straight to the Hips Baby, a native Bostonian and former professional ballerina. Jessie traded in her fast paced urban life for the farm to table landscape of Western Massachusetts, a self taught cook and avid home entertainer. She brings her unique artistic background to her light and bright food photography style and recipe approach known for her step by step, cooking with lush floral touches. Jessie-Sierra shares her easy elegance with a variety of audiences with ongoing appearances on NBC, CBS, Bloom TV network and PBS stations. Jessie has become one of the region’s popular how to food and home entertaining specialists, whether it’s sharing her recipes on her blog or live on television. Jessie’s goal is to empower the home cook to create their own food experiences for family and friends. With that in mind, Jessie Sierra is very pleased to share her first cooking in home entertaining book, Seasons Around the Table, October 2024 with Schiffer Publishing. Focusing on seasonal menus, original food and drink recipes, stunning, floral table decor and home entertaining tutorials. Jessie has written a how to guide for crafting exceptional gatherings at home. 

Megan Porta  03:50

Jessie, welcome back to the podcast. How are you? How have you been?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  03:54

I am doing fabulously. Thank you so much for having me, and I have, oh, man, I have tremendous news.

Megan Porta  04:00

Oh, what’s your tremendous news?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  04:03

I’ve written a cookbook.

Megan Porta  04:06

This is amazing because you’re talking about traditional cookbook publishing today, so it’s coming firsthand and very fresh.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  04:14

Absolutely. And, you know, it’s such a fascinating topic. And I hope that your listeners really, you know, go for it. Because if someone like me who used to be a ballerina and is used to being on stage can run into a publishing house and get that cookbook contract, then I think anyone can. 

Megan Porta  04:32

Oh, I love it. This is such a great topic. Can’t wait to get into it. But first, before we do that, do you have another fun fact to share with us? 

Jessie-Sierra Ross  04:40

So I already mentioned that I’m a former professional ballerina, and I can say and I giggle because it’s ridiculous, but I can still do the splits at 43 years old. It’s a party trick.

Megan Porta  04:51

I don’t know that many other 43 year olds can say that you’re probably in the minority with that. So nice work. I definitely cannot do this splits anymore.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  05:02

I think the trick is trying to get off the ground that I can’t promise, right?

Megan Porta  05:07

So do you do this as a party trick?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  05:10

I can. I’ve been known to do so that and dancing in the streets whenever there’s some fun music going on. But you know, you gotta follow your heart. And if your heart says dance, you have to dance.

Megan Porta  05:22

You should hang out. Definitely, we’d be good friends. 

Jessie-Sierra Ross  05:25

Absolutely.

Megan Porta  05:26

Yes. Okay, so to frame our chat, will you tell us a little bit about your blog and your cookbook? 

Jessie-Sierra Ross  05:33

Absolutely. So I am a food and lifestyle blogger at stray to the hips baby.com and I have been really writing and producing professionally as my full time job for the last three, almost four years, I focus on light and bright photography with lush, floral aspects, step by step, recipes and drinks as well as modern home entertaining advice. And it started off as a hobby. I have to be honest, it was an outlet for me when I had young children at home, and I was surrounded by baby babble, and I needed, I needed a line to the outside world, but it quickly became something that I not only look forward to creating for but people really enjoyed reading. And over the pandemic, it just exploded and people wanted to cook, and it has morphed into something that’s more of a multimedia sort of content creation house. We are now in print. We’re now in publishing. I create TV segments for different lifestyle shows, and I’ve even created little mini shows for PBS and other streaming networks. So it’s been such a wonderful experience, and taking all of my experiences and artistic eye from the field of dance and theater, and transitioning it to to what’s really an art of its own, between the food styling, the photography, the recipe testing, recipe writing that you need to create this blog. Yeah, it’s been a joy, and now I have this cookbook that’s it’s called, thank you. I’m so excited. This is my fourth child. I mean, don’t tell my other children, but it’s called Seasons Around the Table. It is effortless, entertaining with floral table stapes and seasonal recipes. So this book, I really wanted to act as your your individual personal party planner in your back pocket. So not only are you getting seasonal recipes from scratch recipes, but you’re also getting table stape decor instructions, floral arranging directions, as well as really creating original recipes for each season, which includes four holidays or four themed menus per season that you can mix and match, that has its own sort of color and feel taste, all using seasonally available ingredients as well as flowers.

Megan Porta  08:00

Okay, that all sounds perfect and amazing. I love that you put this together and you’re right. It is like having a baby. You put so much love and time and energy into it. So I think that it’s okay for you to say that, tell your kids I said that I will. And congratulations. It’s such a huge accomplishment. I mean, it really is so you did this traditionally. You went the traditional route, correct?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  08:24

I did I with one caveat, I will say I partnered with Schiffer books, Schiffer Publishing down in Pennsylvania, and they had originally approached me with an idea and were really enthusiastic to work with me, and then we completely pivoted when I I kind of re pitched them my idea, and they grabbed onto it and we ran with it. So we still went through the entire pitching and proposal process, but they did find me versus me using a cookbook agent or someone to pitch my work to different publishing houses.

Megan Porta  09:01

Okay, so they found you, but you still went through that kind of typical process of pitching and proposing, okay, can you talk about how that process went?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  09:11

Absolutely so there’s some minor differences between pitching and proposing a book. So for the pitching process, this is usually kind of the bare bones idea of your cookbook, it includes the idea of what you’re hoping to write, what makes it different than any other book in your genre, and also your target audience. And this can be broken down into your demographics, your typical sort of age group and gender. It could be per interest, and it’s really kind of like the boiled down essence of your book. And normally, you would either take this pitch and pitch it to different publishing houses, or you would hire a cookbook agent to do that for you, because Schiffer came to me. I. Had to create a pitch anyway, so they could see what I was really talking about, because we did pivot the idea to one, including recipes and seasonal entertaining. So it was fun. I created a pitch, I think in an evening, I created a couple of graphics, I sent it off. They were super excited. And they said, Okay, how about the proposal? And I said, Okay, how do I write a proposal?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  10:24

And I was lucky enough to have taken a course, a cookbook writing course, several years ago with the phenomenal Sally Ekus, oh yeah, of the Ekus Group, and she’s the best, and she’s local to me. And I still had my notes, so I went stamping off to find my notebook and started writing a proposal. Now the proposal is a little bit different. It’s sort of taking the pitch elements and elaborating on them. They become the proposal becomes the blueprint, really, of your book. So you’ve taken all that information about the idea, about the target audience, and you’re now going to flesh it out. So this includes your topic. You’re going to elaborate more on the topic, and what your book will include, includes chapter headings. It includes any sort of guides or sort of indexes that you plan on providing if it’s something special. It also includes the number of photographs, if you’re going to have any charts, if you’re going to have anyone who collaborates with you on any part of it, also how you’re going to market it. And for me, and typically for most cookbook authors that I’ve spoken to, I also included two sample chapters. And because I’ve said a visual person, I also included not only the recipes, but I hopped on Canva and created two chapters with photographs from my blog, so they don’t have to necessarily those little samples. You can tweak your own photographs. You can plug them in and make it work. But it’s to show the publisher first that you’re serious and that you have the content. You have the idea, but it lets them know surely what you’re thinking, your creative POV, your recipe, feel too because, remember, there’s so many cookbooks on the market, and they range from the specialty to the much more broad sort of sample of cooking and cuisine. So it’s important for that publisher to really see what you’re doing before they agree or disagree. Or they might come back and ask, you know, can you switch this up? Or can you elaborate more on this part? Or perhaps they have a counter idea that they’d like to include? I was fortunate. They pretty much. They did. They took they took the sample, they took the proposal, and they said, well, let’s collaborate. We see things. We see big things for this. And I can tell you that those two sample chapters that I sent in really are so similar to what the finished book looks like. Yeah, that it’s really, it’s an amazing process to tell you the truth. It’s it lets you focus in and crystallize your perspective and your your real artistic eye.

Megan Porta  12:58

Oh, that’s so cool. So I imagine, for the proposal, the more information up front, kind of the better, right?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  13:04

Yes and no. So each publisher has its own sort of parameters for what they’re looking for. They’ll often send you a guide or something along those lines, where they’ll say, This is what I want. These are the chapter headings. You know this number or this is the amount of text that we’d like to see. But yes, generally speaking, you’re not only writing your recipe ideas or your menu ideas or your your book idea. You are truly diving in. You’re doing comparative, you know, book to book research. You’re you’re creating a marketing plan about where you’re going to sell that book hopefully, or who you’re going to sell it to, and what time of year, and how you can make it more enticing for people. So it’s putting on your business hat as well as your creative hat. But I think as cooking and recipe bloggers, we tend to do that already. So it’s not a stretch to say like, oh, I’m going to market, and I’m going to help market this book by utilizing the community that I’ve grown through my blog or my social media, or I will tap my friends who are amazing people and truly friends in that same space to help me promote and find their audiences, or to you know, for me and what I I love doing was taking some books from my friends and using them as complimentary texts.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  13:07

Oh, great idea.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  13:38

To create those bridges. Because, again, we all rise together. So yeah, it’s a great way to start creating that unity. I think if we think more of like hand in hand to help each other out. But yes, generally speaking, you are diving in much deeper than you would ever think when you you set out to write a proposal.

Megan Porta  14:48

Yeah, and I also imagine that it helps once you start writing the book, just having thought through so much information, because if you just started with a blank doc, you’d be like, Well, where do I go from here, so the proposal probably helps to guide you completely.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  15:04

I was referring back to my proposal throughout the writing process, because that proposal also gets, at least in my case, it was tweet a tiny bit by my editor when I met her and started working with Sandra cornac, not necessarily the topics, but the way the book was laid out, the construction of it, what made sense for the different aspects, particularly for my book, because it’s a, it’s kind of a genre bending book where we’re taking not only lifestyle, but we’re taking photography, we’re taking florals, we’re taking recipes home entertaining. So it was very important to create a through thought. You know, there’s a there’s a line through there. So there’s a story, because a lot of books are and I enjoy them immensely. But there’s not necessarily a storyline running through the book. It’s an it’s telling the story through the recipes. This one is really telling a story. It’s giving a lesson, and it’s actively inspirational and aspirational through the pages, so super important that you have boiled down your essence and what you’re doing and who you’re who you’re teaching, who you’re hoping to really touch with this book, and what you want to say.

Megan Porta  16:16

Who I love, yeah, I love the idea of thinking through all of that, as opposed to, let’s just throw some recipes together and print it in a book, I imagine, that lands with people a lot more, too, with this whole new thing of like telling your story and building community and all of that so cool. So after pitching and writing a proposal, what happens next?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  16:38

Well, you sign a contract, don’t this is my advice for people, and I, for me, I had a rough idea. I had some recipes that I had been testing and keeping in my back pocket to make up the sort of base of this book. But the real work comes after you sign the contract and you’ve hashed out all the details so very, very important that you have a lawyer look it over, and that you’ve discussed your percentages and fees and advances and all that before you get going to the real meat of the project. But yes, so after all the T’s were crossed and the I’s dotted, started to write, and what I did is, I’m very much a project oriented person. I like to take small bits and finish those bits and keep building on it. So I set out with my good old trusty notebook. I think the last time we spoke, I mentioned how I am a notebook addict. I am not a I’m not a big techie person. I like the feel of writing on the page. And for me, it meant writing down the menus and highlighting those seasonal ingredients that were available per season. So for like the springtime, I really wanted to focus on, you know, the fresh, tender greens that come up, the spring peas. And as we get into late spring, early summer, the you know, the berries, the strawberries, the blueberries, what would pair nicely, and then the table, stake colors, what flowers would be available to me. So fashioning that pattern, that sort of go to index, was my first step, and then figuring out what flavors and ingredients paired with each other that would create that theme, create that season. And then started recipe testing. And I got all the recipe testing done, recipes written and noted, and, you know, I wanted that to be done. So that took some time. Then we took about, I want to say, eight weekends, and my husband actually took all the photographs featured in the book, as he does for my blog. We, it’s a partnership between the people. 

Megan Porta  18:43

He does not, oh my gosh! 

Jessie-Sierra Ross  18:46

So he’s, he’s great, so I have him take all the photographs, because he’s better at it than I am. We, uh, we figured that out very early on during our blogging journey. So he does all the photographs. He does the editing, and I do all the styling, the recipes and the writing. And what we did was we batched. We would do three, four recipes every day. You know, over the weekend, we had an agreement with our publisher that we could use some of our, some of our older recipes as well. So that helped save time either on the recipe side or on the photo side. We did photograph, reshoot quite a few older recipes, because I wanted it to look fresh for the book. But the majority of the book is absolutely new recipes. And, yeah, we just kind of bulldoze through it and got the kids involved. They were helping, you know, holding diffusing screens and using their hands to hold things and taste testing. It was the greatest, like three months of their life during this point because they lived off of dessert food.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  18:49

I mean, a dream come.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  18:54

Like chocolate, flourless cake for breakfast or tart for lunch. Like, yeah, okay. Well…

Megan Porta  19:56

Mom, where’s your next cookbook? 

Jessie-Sierra Ross  19:59

Exactly. And it was so fun, though, because they would page through this book and and they would say to me, Hey, I remember those strawberry cinnamon bowls. They were great. When are you making those again? Yeah, so it’s, it was the recipe, testing the recipe, shoot, and then getting into the guides, the instructions, the changing the Imperial measurements to metric, which is something that’s much more popular now than it used to be, so that you can release your cookbook to an international audience. And I’ve been fortunate that they’re releasing this book shift for publishing in several different languages. So we wanted to make sure the metric is, yeah, it’s it was an interesting process to change the metric let me tell you, thank goodness my husband’s Canadian, and he helped me out, because they use the metric system.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  20:45

Yeah, I would be clueless with that. I’d have to do a lot of research or hire somebody. 

Jessie-Sierra Ross  20:45

Well, typically, that’s something you would, you can do, and you would do unless you’re crazy, like I am. Same with making an index. Those of you who have written a book or hope to write a book, farm out that index. Don’t do it. It’s maddening. It’s, I think that was the hardest part of writing the whole book.

Megan Porta  21:11

Oh, gosh.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  21:12

Oh my gosh. It’s tedious, but you do it. 

Sponsor  21:15

Food bloggers, it has been a tough year. Am I right? We have endured a lot of changes in our industry, and it feels like the blows just keep coming. One thing that has remained constant this year is the Eat Blog Talk mastermind group, the way we show up for each other, and the fact that the members in the group are pivoting when needed. Staying in touch with relevant information and thriving is huge, and it says a lot about the group. I want to share this audio clip with you from Kristina. She’s the blogger at When Salty and Sweet Unite. She is part of the group this year, and here are her thoughts about you considering joining the group next year in 2025. For more information and to apply, go to eatblogtalk.com/mastermind. Here is Kristina. “There’s just something about people who are investing in themselves, there’s just something about us that we get it like we want it. We’re gonna go get it, we’re gonna go figure it out, and let’s all do this together, right? There’s no room for negativity. There’s negative things that happen throughout that, course, but that’s not what we’re focused on? Yeah, and I think in free groups, I noticed there’s a lot of negativity, and I don’t know why that is like, is that because this is truly a free group? Is that because we’re not touching on mindset enough? Is that because, like, when you get free, is what you get? Is free? Like, I don’t know. I don’t have an answer to why that is, but I just feel like, you know you can make it happen, like if you want, if you want that growth, because I understand not everyone can do a mastermind, but somehow, somehow you can make it happen, whether it be do a payment plan,we found a way to make it work. Yeah, it has really, like you said, it’s absolutely worth it.” Now back to the episode.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  23:03

So you’ve written the body of the book, you’ve taken the photographs, you’ve done, the sort of extras, which is the guide, the instructions for the table stakes, pictures for the table stakes. That was actually quite fun. And you’ve created this manuscript. So once you have that first draft, and usually it’s one of maybe three or four, you send it off to your editor, and you have a dedicated editor, and they’re going to go through that manuscript with a fine tooth comb, and it’s wonderful, 

Megan Porta  23:35

Yeah, catching all the things right? It’s necessary part of the process.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  23:39

Absolutely. And in my case, my editor, Sandra, she she caught all my extra commas. I like a good comma.

Megan Porta  23:49

You’re a comma lady.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  23:50

I am very much a comma lady. And I tend to write like I speak, which is very I like to think it connects with people. But you know, you do have to think about grammar, and so that your editor, you establish a very close relationship to them. And they’re not only looking at grammar or how you’re building paragraphs or the order of what you’re doing, but they’re actually consolidating certain topics. They are asking questions, where, where a topic or an idea may be very, very obvious to you, because this is your specialty, right? You know what you’re talking about, but it may not be as obvious to the reader. So I loved that, because there were items on there. I was like, Yeah, of course, this is how we treat flowers, or, of course, this is how we make a roux. But she would put notes in and ask, well, let’s be more descriptive. How can we tell someone who’s never even picked up a frying pan how to make that route so they’re incredibly helpful. And from the beginning of the process till the end of the process, your editor is not only going through your content, the written word, the photograph. Fee, the layout, but they’re also advocating for you in publishers meetings, and when you’re dealing with different departments within the publishing house, because there’s so many different elements that come into writing a book, it’s very important that you have that person who is connected to you, who knows your voice and can really translate that voice to the other people who are making this, this process, this magical process happen. 

Megan Porta  25:28

Wow. So this is a lot. Can I ask you a few questions about some of the components that go into it? So photographs, if you could go back, would you do the same thing? Would you take your own photos? Do you feel like that’s an essential part of your cookbook brand, or would you consider hiring that out?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  25:46

Great, great question. So for me personally, and it’s different for every creator, the photography is as important as the voice around the recipes, the voice around the flavors. So we have a very unique in house photography style, which is that light, bright, dreamy essence, and it’s unusual in the space. And for us, it was definitely a make or break moment to have us do the photography. And luckily, Schiffer was all on board. They were absolutely it was no question. So we did it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I think if you’re not comfortable taking that amount of photography, if you are looking to have a different style, perhaps, than the one that you shoot in, or you just don’t have the time, hiring out is definitely a great idea. And there’s a lot of fantastic photographers out there who are who will work with you. The thing to be aware of, though, is that the cost of the photography element of a book is very, very high, and that typically comes out of your advance. So depending on the amount that you get advanced, that’s going to go towards your ingredient fees, if you hire a stylist and then to towards that photographer, and it can get very expensive, so I would say it’s a case by case basis, but definitely be open to it, because we all have our own strengths. For us, the photography, the recipe writing, the storytelling, was a strength, but when it came to other areas, like the PR and, you know, trying to get that book out to a larger audience than the one that I had already established. My husband and I and our publishing house, we utilized the Schiffer PR team, but also I hired a specific cookbook PR agent to help me during this process, to really, really emphasize our messaging.

Megan Porta  27:36

When was your book released? What was the date?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  27:40

My book will be released October 28. 

Megan Porta  27:42

Oh, gosh. Okay, so we’re by the time this was published, it will have been so are you in the throes now of kind of figuring out promotions and all of that PR stuff?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  27:55

Yes, we are actually in the the moment of taping and and talking and running promotions. So promotion is a very big part of, believe it or not, writing a book, because you can write something, create something that’s absolutely groundbreaking, but if no one hears about it, it’s going to be that much harder to gain traction. So the PR bit of this book release actually started several months ago, I would even say, a year ago, with meetings and plans and reaching out to different resources. And we you have to have a plan established on, you know, I mentioned earlier, touching base with influencers or brands, with bookstores, with retail stores, events, libraries or privates, businesses touching base with newscasters, podcasters such as yourself, and even large lifestyle or food influencer groups. So it’s very important that you have a plan, whether you do it yourself or you hire out and really understand again, what you’re good at and what you’re willing to let go. Because I like to this goes for my entire content creation sort of world. I I chop my my specialties into three items, things I’m good at and am willing to do, things I’m okay at but I don’t really enjoy, and things I’m just not good at, and I should really farm out, and that’s how I look at it, because it helps kind of categorize your wants and needs, and it makes it a lot simpler. And so for me, the PR bit was, yeah, I can do this. I do a decent job, I think, on online and through my blog and through all of my lifestyle and food segments on local broadcast stations, but I wanted to focus my time on other elements of this book process, so I luckily was able to connect with Carrie Bachman, who is a very well esteemed cookbook agent, and she is stellar. She’s just stellar, and she has been four denied. And touching base and creating these opportunities for my book and for myself to really be exposed to a larger audience and create those connections that will move forward.

Megan Porta  30:13

Yeah, the PR and promotion piece, it feels like that gets kind of side, I don’t know, put on the back burner a little bit, because people go through all of the essential parts of the process, I guess, like developing recipes and putting the book together and taking photographs and doing the things that have to be in the book. And when it comes to PR and promotion, it’s like, oh my gosh, I’m exhausted. So they I feel like that. I know from my cookbook. Years ago, and this was 2018 I think it was published. I was so tired by the time it got published that I didn’t do much, to be honest with you, and it did not serve me well to have that attitude, but I was just kind of done. 

Jessie-Sierra Ross  30:55

It’s understandable, though. I mean, again, you mentioned it. It’s, it’s such a fulfilling sort of creative endeavor, but it is extremely exhausting, both mentally, physically, emotionally, because you’re putting everything into this cookbook, which you know most of the time, cookbooks take about 18 months to get out there. For us, we did everything, the creative component, within six months to get that manuscript in. So we were we were going, it was a tornado. So to outsource the PR, it’s doing the work justice, and it can be at any time, though. So I know that you mentioned that you released your book in 2018 you could certainly go ahead and and hire that PR team now to get that book. That’s the lovely thing about this, and more and more that I’m learning is that it doesn’t necessarily have to be just at the opening so, so to speak, you know, like a Broadway opening of that project, it can be at any point. And, you know, I tease Carrie a lot. I wish I could keep her on to just like, manage 

Megan Porta  31:57

Ongoing PR.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  32:00

As I manage my family’s life and my kids life, then I know where they’re going to go and who they’re going to talk to, and I’m going to reach out to this person. Carrie does that for me, and it’s been such a lifesaver and such a mental sort of I don’t have to think about it that much. I can just say, you know, this would be great to connect with. She says, this is going to be a person I want to talk to. Great. Let’s make it happen, and it’s been really fun.

Megan Porta  32:21

Yeah, that would be so helpful. I love that you said you don’t have to do it right after, because somehow, in my mind, and probably in other people’s minds, I think that it does. It has to, like, start the day after it’s published, and then you have six months or something. I don’t know why that was ingrained in my head, but, yeah, you just gave me permission to restart the project, whatever.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  32:44

I think if we, if we think more like food bloggers. So as food bloggers, we know, let’s say we made a recipe for Christmas 2024 and it did okay. It did great, cookies, whatever, but it doesn’t pick up until Christmas. 2026 is it any less valuable? No, it happens. It depends on, you know, for us algorithms, but it’s the same sort of idea for the market. It depends on, did someone pick up your book? Did a, you know, a big media person say, hey, you know, Megan’s book is amazing. I need you to have this book. You should buy this book. And then suddenly there’s an invigoration of energy into that book. So it’s really any time, and you can create, or at least see the ground, to create that momentum. And especially, I’m trying to wrap my head around this myself. I have that same stress where I’m like, Oh, it has to be this holiday season. I’m not going to get momentum. You know, that internal panic, it’s not like that. This is a long term game. It’s a marathon. It’s not a sprint. So I want momentum now. I want momentum into the spring, into the summer, and into next year, and perhaps even five years from now, because I want to use this cookbook as a calling card for even bigger projects, even more media, even more books. And so thinking of it as a stepping stone versus just sort of a goal post, is a much healthier way of thinking about it.

Megan Porta  34:10

I like that. That’s a really good perspective. I’ve never told anyone this, but I released my book. It’s called cookie remix. It’s basically taking like desserts and sweet drinks and sweet treats and turning them into cookies before crumble became popular. So I was like, oh, did they see my cookbook? Because a lot of their cookies are are in my book. Like, not exactly, probably, but like this, the same themes, you know what I mean. So I’m like, I could be like, the original the original crumble is released. So I mean, there, there is a possibility to give it some attention. It doesn’t get old. Cookie. Everyone loves cookies. Everyone likes mixing treats and combining goodies. So there’s potential there. So thank you. 

Jessie-Sierra Ross  35:00

2025, I hope to see it again on the shelves.

Megan Porta  35:06

Well, you never know. Let’s see. What else did I want to ask you? Oh, I wanted to ask you about your workflow, because there’s so much to manage. Do you have tips on just how to keep things together with different components of the process?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  35:18

Good question. So for me, I again, I go back to that, that list idea where I had deadlines for myself, and I would say, Okay, for the next two weeks, I will be recipe testing during the week. We’re going to do a shoot on the weekend. I know there’s many authors that like to use online programs or software to keep track of things to create workflow, but for me, it was, it was sort of like taking small bites of a giant cake. That was my workflow. It was making sure that I wasn’t overwhelmed and giving myself grace and expecting that things would pop up where I would need to take time off, or there was a kid stick at home so I wasn’t going to get to recipe shoot. But workflow, for me, was making sure that I had all the elements under control.

Megan Porta  36:07

Yeah, there’s a lot going on. 

Jessie-Sierra Ross  36:09

There is. So it’s writing, well, recipe testing, writing the recipes, shooting, editing text, and it works for us. This is how I work for the blog as well, so that it’s, it’s streamlined, and there isn’t a lot of extras in there. We may take a lot of shots that we might use for B roll or something like that, but everything, and I was lucky, because this book is about streamlining, that it was very clean, it was very clear. 

Megan Porta  36:36

Yeah, that’s, I think that is very inspiring. And I’m sure everyone works differently, right? Like some people probably dip into different aspects of it, and that works for them, but that is one piece of writing a cookbook that can be really overwhelming for people. Just like there’s so much going on that I can see that being a stumbling block for getting started.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  36:59

I think again, breaking it down into segments, things that it’s kind of like when you’re in college or you’re in school, and there’s certain subjects you love and they’re a breeze, right? I was always a history person. Loved history, loved writing papers. Did I particularly like taking calculus? No. So with my calculus homework, you have a choice. You either get it done first, so you could get to the stuff you enjoy, or you flip it, get everything you like, and you know, you can be very efficient with it, and then get to the hard stuff. So for me, the most tedious part, and I think the facet that needed the most attention, was making sure those recipes were reliable, first of all repeatable, because you want others to create what you’ve created. And so that was, it’s enjoyable. I don’t get me wrong, I like it, but that needed a lot of thought and a lot of time. So getting that out of the way made the rest of the process really fun. 

Megan Porta  37:53

Yeah, no, that was a great analogy, just putting it in the mindset of college and classes, like, Yes, I It’s that Eat That Frog concept, like, I know I need to do the things I don’t want to do first, and then I can have fun with the rest. If you had to do anything differently going back, what would you do differently?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  38:14

Ooh, that’s a good one. I think that I would, I would give myself more time to create the book. I think I was very ambitious, and also I didn’t realize what the typical time frame was when I said, yes, absolutely, it will do this within a year. That’s very short for a book, especially with traditional publishing. And not that it couldn’t be done, not that it wasn’t still enjoyable. And we created a wonderful, Project, a wonderful piece of literature and recipe content, but it put a lot of strain on me to get it done, so I would probably give myself more of a runway for that, just so that I could save some of my sanity at times. Other than that, it really went well, I can’t say it was a pleasure. It was an absolute pleasure to work with Schiffer. It’s still an absolute pleasure to work with Carrie Bachman and the other agent I have, Jillian Sanders for the lifestyle component. It’s such a breeze. I think that I would go about, oh, I know what I would do. I would get a better camera. Okay, so we have a very nice camera. It’s a Sony. What is it? A 7837, something like that. But for those sort of up close macro shots from a larger photograph, we did find that we had too much grain and that we had to tweak that post. So, yeah, I would do make sure you invest in a really good camera. But other than that, just know who you’re going to bring on your team, what you need to identify as your strengths and weaknesses, and really fill in the blanks, because it’s not about you’re not going to, you know, win a contest for doing everything yourself. You know, it’s about creating the best product, the best vision of what you see, that cookbook coming.

Megan Porta  40:04

That was good. Yeah, that’s a good takeaway. No gold medal offered for doing it all. Yes, okay, anything else, any other tips or tidbits you would impart to people who are considering this venture?

Jessie-Sierra Ross  40:17

Absolutely don’t give up. It’s really it’s hard. I liken it to the audition process and ballet. You’re putting yourself out there, and yourself, in this instance, is your cookbook picture proposal, and you’re putting it out there for people to critique, to see, see if it’s worthy. And you’re going to get a lot of no’s. You’re going to get a lot of opinions. You don’t get a lot of people who have constructive opinions and corrections, and you don’t get a lot of people who just say no without anything to help you sort of figure out what you’re doing wrong. Find your community, rely on them, pitch it to them, ask them, What am I doing wrong? How would you tweak this or look at the concept? How would you, you know, make this a little bit more special and unique? But don’t give up. I had a moment I had been wanting to write a cookbook for many years, and I had had one moment where I pitched an idea and I was shot down, and it kind of crushed me. And I was like, Oh, I guess I could never write a cookbook. And now I look back and I say, well, I might not have been ready at that time. That’s a different story than not able. Yeah, so you’re able, but you know, it’s or rather, you may not be ready at that time. It just means you need to make more connections, do the work, do the research, you will become able. So just keep plugging.

Megan Porta  41:33

I like that. I think that cookbook publishing is going to increase. Just as we go on here, people are trying to find new ways to pivot and find new focuses for their businesses. That’s just a little gut feeling that I have. So I think this is going to be hugely helpful and inspiring. And thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. Jessie, we really appreciate that.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  41:56

It’s been an absolute pleasure. And for the listeners out there, if you have any questions or ask, please reach out to me. I am an open book. I am an educator at heart. And if I can cheer lead, or if I can pinpoint something where you know or lead you in the right direction, I am here.

Megan Porta  42:15

Oh, that’s so nice of you. I love that you offered that. Well, thanks for joining me. It was so fun to talk to you again. Interview number two, I hope you come back again soon and have a third chat. But yeah, thanks for taking the time for us today.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  42:27

Absolutely. And can I share where to find the book? Please do yes, yay. So you can find seasons around the table, my new cookbook and home entertaining book at amazon, at Barnes and Noble at Target online, or you can go to my website straighttothehipsbaby.com/seasons where there’s a little summary of the book, some extra photographs, as well as helpful links for purchasing both nationally and internationally. 

Megan Porta  42:56

Oh, I love that you mentioned that, because I know food bloggers love supporting other food bloggers. So everyone, go check out that book, and we will put together a show notes page for you with all of this inside of it. Jessie also. So if you want to go peek at those and get the direct link, you can head to eatblogtalk.com/straighttoth hips. So you mentioned your book. Can people find you on Instagram. Are there other places that you are? Yes, I’m

Jessie-Sierra Ross  43:26

Everywhere, aren’t we all?

Megan Porta  43:30

Unfortunately, yes.

Jessie-Sierra Ross  43:31

Yes, I predominantly work on Instagram. So you can find me @straighttothehipsbaby, and I share both blog posts and recipes. But you can look at behind the scenes, sort of tapes on book, writing, the book photo shoots, as well as my work on TV, which is another element that is a fabulous way to gain exposure. You can find me on Facebook at straighttothehipsbaby, as well as on Tiktok at S, T, T H, Baby, say that three times fast. Oh, and I also have a newsletter. Oh, I almost forgot them on Substack. I’m slowly pivoting to Substack. Highly recommend it. It’s called Jessie-Sierra, The Last Bite, and I share exclusive recipes as well as the video. And again, looking into my TV work and book work, and it’s more of a personal sort of one on one chat. It’s my speaking voice for the most part, little sarcastic, a little dry, but always ready with a cocktail.

Megan Porta  44:32

Oh, I love it. Yes. I hope everyone goes and checks out all of those avenues and channels. So thank you again, Jessie, for being here, and thank you for listening, food bloggers, I will see you next time.