Welcome to another episode of the Cookbook Love Podcast. Today on the podcast I share three questions that came up during Recipe Week LIVE 2025: how to ethically adapt recipes, how to move from passive learning to active doing, and how to price a self-published print cookbook on Amazon with confidence.

Today on the show, I share:

• Adaptation & attribution: Why ingredient lists and basic processes aren’t generally copyrightable and how your expression (voice, headnotes, tips, stories, history, technique rationale) creates protectable originality. Simple, honest “inspired by/adapted from” credit keeps you on solid ethical ground.

• From learning to doing: Why passive learning feels comfortable, and how small, courageous actions (blank page → draft → test → iterate) build momentum. Use tools like a Pre-Recipe Tool or documentation is the bridge to capture ideas and start writing.

• Pricing with confidence: Why $25–$40 is common for premium print cookbooks, how color and page count affect your KDP print costs, and why price is a signal of value and not a race to the bottom with a lost cost book. Consider your margin and own your profit goal.

Things We Mention in This Episode:

• Join the waitlist for Cookbooks on KDP (September 2025 enrolling soon)

• KDP Printing Cost & Royalty Calculator

Before we get started, there’s still time to take advantage of the final two days of Recipe Week LIVE 2025 happening now through August 15, 2025. This live event is for anyone who wants to turn what they cook or bake every day into publishable recipes. Sign up here for Recipe Week LIVE 2025. 

Today I’m excited to have an interview with Holly Capelle. Holly is a home cook, food preservationist, lifestyle artist, and advocate for sustainable living. She is the founder of @bigfamilyliving, an online community for people who preserve, create, cook, and garden. Holly is the author of the new book Preserving the Seasons, a comprehensive guide to the easiest ways to preserve the produce, herbs, and flowers you love.

Holly lives in Portland, Oregon, and with her husband and six children, they’ve created a living garden classroom in their suburban home. As the garden has grown over the years, it’s now filled with chickens and vegetable, fruit, herb, and edible flower gardens right out her back door.

Today Holly and I talk all about her living classroom, and walk through her beautiful new book filled with tips for infusions, drying, dehydrating, freeze-drying, and how to incorporate these preserved ingredients into everyday cooking.

Things We Mention in This Episode:

Register for Recipe Week LIVE Holly Capelle @bigfamilyliving Preserving the Seasons

Welcome to the Cookbook Love Podcast. Today I’m excited to have an interview with Ellen Kanner. Ellen Kanner is the author of Miami Vegan: Plant-Based Recipes from the Tropics to Your Table and the award-winning book Feeding the Hungry Ghost: Life, Faith and What to Eat for Dinner. She writes about the intersection of food, culture, community, and wellness for outlets including HuffPost, VegNews, and Edible South Florida. Ellen is a vegan advocate and culinary instructor, and the creator of the Substack newsletter Broccoli Rising. As a fifth-generation Miami native, Ellen lives with her husband in where else? Beautiful Miami. Today on the show, we talk about all the natural beauty and wonders of Miami, her life as a vegan, her new book Miami Vegan, including everything from tropical fruits and vegetables in Miami, vegan food swap and ingredients, as well as Ellen’s perhaps unpopular opinion about how to include more vegetables in your diet. 

Don’t forget to register for our upcoming LIVE event: Recipe Week LIVE 2025: Get Your Recipes Cookbook-Ready, happening August 11-15, 2025. This five-day live event is for aspiring cookbook authors who want to turn their passion into publishable recipes. Sign up here for Recipe Week LIVE 2025. 

Things We Mention in This Episode:

Register for Recipe Week LIVE Ellen Kanner Miami Vegan: Plant-based Recipes from the Tropics to Your Table

Welcome to the Cookbook Love Podcast. Today, I talk about a question I hear all the time: How do I get my recipes ready for a cookbook? Recipes are the heart of any cookbook. They are what set our books apart from other works of non-fiction. They’re not just instructions on paper; they’re a combination of creativity, story, and trust. So if you are writing your recipes for publication, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I’ll walk you through the five stages of recipe writing: ideation, development, writing, testing, and publishing. These stages form the foundation of every great cookbook recipe, and understanding them will help you move from a scattered collection of notes to polished, cookbook-ready recipes.

And if you want to dive deeper, I’ll also tell you about Recipe Week LIVE 2025: Get Your Recipes Cookbook-Ready, happening August 11-15, 2025. This five-day live event is going to change the way you think about recipe writing. Sign up here for Recipe Week LIVE 2025. 

Things We Mention in This Episode:

Register for Recipe Week LIVE 

Today on the podcast, I’m joined by Daen Lia — home cook, recipe creator, and the author of Garlic, Olive Oil + Everything Mediterranean. You may know Daen from her wildly popular social channels under @daenskitchen, where she shares comforting Mediterranean-inspired recipes with over 6 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Daen Lia learned to cook from her Spanish and Italian mother and grandmother. With the smell of garlic and roasted tomatoes wafting through the kitchen, Daen discovered the alchemy of a few simple ingredients: garlic, olive oil, and whatever is fresh, whether a vegetable or protein, or both. 

In this episode, we explore:

• Why garlic confit is the foundation of nearly every recipe in her cookbook—and how to make it yourself

• How one simple batch of garlic and olive oil can transform everyday meals

• The journey from social content to print publishing

• The six essential ingredients that structure her book: GARLIC, OLIVE OIL, BUTTER, BREAD, CRUMBS, and EGGS

• Daen’s tips for creating content for social media

Whether you’re new to Mediterranean cooking or a seasoned home cook, Garlic, Olive Oil + Everything Mediterranean offers approachable techniques, bold flavor, and heartfelt inspiration from a kitchen rooted in love and simplicity.

Things We Mention in This Episode: Garlic, Olive Oil, + Everything Mediterranean

Daen’s Kitchen

Join the waitlist for Cookbooks on KDP for September 2025

Diana Henry’s How to Eat a Peach

Matty Mattheson’s  Soup, Salad, and Sandwiches: A Cookbook

In this episode of the Cookbook Love Podcast, I’m joined by Suzanne Lenzer, food stylist, writer, and author of Peckish: Suggestions for the Sophisticated Snacker. Suzanne’s approach to food and cooking invites us to consider not just what we eat, but how and why, with more spontaneity and less convention. Suzanne shares how she structured Peckish around “vessels” like On Toast, In Jars, Napkins Only, and more, making it easier (and more fun) to plan a night of grazing or to turn an afternoon snack into a small ritual of care.

In today's show we talk about: 

• What mindful snacking actually looks like

• Why “Girl Dinner” became a cultural moment

• How to structure meals (or non-meals!) around what you’re really craving

• The beauty of Peckish as both a guide and an invitation

If you’ve ever felt the joy of assembling a little plate that speaks to what you want in that moment, this conversation is for you. Let's celebrate the joy of eating well, one thoughtful snack at a time.

Things We Mention in This Episode: Peckish: Suggestions for the Sophisticated Snacker Connect with Suzanne Lenzer Join the waitlist for Cookbooks on KDP for September 2025 Diana Henry, How to Eat a Peach

In today’s episode, we’re unpacking a concept I teach inside the Get Paid to Get Published program about defining Your Cookbook Concept. Using a powerful metaphor —the Dinner Party Analogy—we’ll explore how to define what your book is really about, who it’s for, what’s on the “menu,” and why it matters in today’s publishing landscape. Today you’ll learn why you, the author, are the host of your book’s journey, how to identify and describe your ideal reader, and different cookbook concept types—from ingredients to holidays, what makes your book stand out in the market, and what is a competition study.

Things We Mention in This Episode: How to Get Paid to Write a Cookbook Free Training Too Many Eggs Episode 261 with Mimi Smith Dvorak

Welcome to another episode of the show. Today, I’m excited to welcome Cristina Carolan. Cristina is a plant-based personal chef and author of Plant-Based Pacific, a cookbook that reflects a vibrant fusion of culinary cultures from Japan, Hawaii, and the Philippines. She’s the owner of Chef Veggie, a plant-based personal chef and holistic lifestyle service. A lifelong traveler, Cristina’s experiences living in Japan, visiting her mother’s homeland of the Philippines, and calling three Hawaiian islands home inform every dish and story in her book.

In today’s episode, we talk about:

• The inspiration behind Plant-Based Pacific

• How Cristina's multicultural upbringing shaped the concept

• Cristina's cookbook publishing journey

• Recipes and stories for local meals like Hawaiian Plate Lunch and Filipino Kamayan, all with a plant-based twist

• Advice for aspiring cookbook authors

Whether you’re a plant-based cook, a cultural food enthusiast, or dreaming of writing a cookbook, Cristina’s story offers warmth, insight, and plenty of practical wisdom for your journey in the kitchen and at your keyboard.

Things We Mention in This Episode:

Join the waitlist for Cookbooks on KDP for September 2025

Connect with Cristina Carolan 

Order a personalized copy of Plant-Based Pacific

Welcome to another episode of the podcast! Several times a year, outlets like Eater, Food Network, Epicurious, Publishers Weekly, and others publish their roundup features: What’s hot in cookbooks this season? They’re the pulse checks of the cookbook world and offer a lens into what's resonating now. Today on the show, we’ll dive into trends in cookbooks published this spring, each tied to what cookbook buyers are craving and what publishers are publishing in Spring 2025.

Things We Mention in This Episode:

Join the waitlist for Cookbooks on KDP for September 2025 🎧 Episode 348 – Being a Cookbook Author: Umma: A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom

🎧 Cookbook Love Episode 347 – Being a Cookbook Author: Discover Your Authentic Voice & Indian Comfort Food

🎧 Episode 334 - Eat Better Sleep Better with Marie-Pierre St. Onge

Over the years, I’ve coached hundreds of cookbook writers. And as a cookbook writer myself, I’ve noticed something: the way we write shifts with the seasons. So does the energy you all bring to your projects. Without a doubt, January and September are your power months. Something about the clean slate of the new year—or the back-to-school feeling of fall—makes it easy to say yes. The urgency feels good for a while. But urgency doesn’t last.  Pressure wears you out.  And cookbook writing—at its best—is built on bringing the full you to the page, year-round. So today I want to offer another way. A way of writing that moves with the rhythm of summer. With more daylight.  With more warmth.  With more time to reflect, to gather, to savor, and to create. Summer isn’t about pushing. It’s about presence.  And that’s exactly what Cookbook Camp is built for.  So, whether you’re poolside with a notebook or cooking with the windows open, let’s explore how this season can support your most nourishing work yet. Things We Mention In This Episode: Registration for Cookbook Camp, a guided summer experience to help you shape your concept, choose your publishing path, and start building the habits that lead to a finished book.