In episode 678, Megan Porta chats with McKenna Pulda, Emily Christensen, and Amy Coyne about how to successfully collaborate on a cookbook.

McKenna Pulda is a former choir teacher turned sourdough enthusiast, recipe developer, and mom of two. After receiving her first sourdough starter 4 years ago, her love for baking quickly turned into a passion for creating delicious, from-scratch recipes with a sourdough twist. Since starting her blog, Simplicity and a Starter, in 2023, McKenna has shared 150+ tried-and-true sourdough recipes and also co-authored a cookbook, Our Sourdough Table, featuring long-fermented and quick sourdough recipes that are perfect for the holiday season.

Emily is the creator and voice behind Country Roads Sourdough, where she shares tried-and-true sourdough bread and discard recipes, along with helpful sourdough tips and techniques. After leaving her corporate brand management career to become a stay-at-home mom, she quickly realized she needed a creative outlet and began hosting local sourdough classes. What started as a passion project quickly took off after a few viral Instagram videos—turning her love for sourdough into a full-time career.

Amy Coyne is a sourdough teacher, recipe developer, and mom to four awesome kiddos. She has grown her website over the last two years from 100K pageviews in 2022 to almost 10 million pageviews at the end of 2024. She shares tried-and-true sourdough recipes on her website and with her Instagram and social media communities.

Summary & Takeaways

In this episode, you’ll learn how to coordinate writing a collaborative cookbook, from deciding who to collaborate with to how to create a cohesive look and boost sales through social media marketing.

Key points discussed include:

- Who to collaborate with: Emily reached out to Amy and McKenna via Instagram DMs because they had similar followings and vibes.

- Deciding on a niche: The group decided to focus on holiday sourdough recipes, filling a unique niche.

- Maintaining a cohesive look: They coordinated photography styles, using neutral colors and backgrounds, even reshooting existing blog photos to align.

- Organization and book cover design: The group used Google Docs to organize recipes by category and Canva to create the cookbook layout.

- In-person retreat: The group had a working weekend at an Airbnb to photograph recipes, proofread, and plan marketing strategies.

- Choosing a self-publishing platform: They selected Lulu for its print-on-demand service, quality, payment splitting, and worldwide printing locations.

- Marketing strategies: The group conducted live bake-alongs and created weekly Instagram reels to promote the cookbook.

- Customer service: The team helped customers with order issues, but also realized the limitations of print-on-demand, since they didn’t have the actual product or shipping control.

- The power of collaboration: Working together helped them grow their followings, build lasting friendships, and create a product that they loved.

Guest Details

Connect with McKenna Pulda

Website | Instagram

Connect with Emily Christensen

Website | Instagram

Connect with Amy Coyne

Website | Instagram