In today’s season 5 premier episode (52) of the EAT, CAPTURE, SHARE Podcast, I’m speaking with Sarah Copeland, an award-winning food writer, photographer and cookbook author, known on instagram as Edible Living. We chat about how to develop a career in food, what it was like working for Oprah, how to write great cookbooks and lots more. Here’s what else you can expect from today’s episode….

• Sarah introduces herself
• Sarah shares how she developed a career in food
• Sarah talks about her journey from working at Oprah magazine, to a chance encounter that led to the start of her cookbook writing career
• Sarah notes how the concept of her first cookbook was developed
• Sarah and I discuss what it’s really like writing a book
• Sarah explains how creating recipes and photography for a book is completely different than creating recipes for a blog or social media
• Sarah explains how she comes up with fresh new recipes and how she stays inspired
• Sarah shares the number one thing she avoids when she’s nurturing a new creative idea
• Sarah outlines her recipe development process
• We discuss what distinguishes excellent cookbooks from mediocre ones
• Sarah talks about how she deals with copycats
• Sarah explains how she selects recipes for her cookbooks
• Sarah’s first cookbook sold more than 200,000 copies and she shares what she learned from writing a run-away success like that
• We explore whether it’s always the best idea to photograph your own cookbook
• We chat about what role social media plays in ‘success’ within the food world
• We both open up about the pressure we feel to grow a following on social media
• Sarah outlines how she balances her ambition with the needs of her young family
• Sarah explains how she curates her instagram stories and why she enjoys it more than the instagram grid itself
• Sarah shares how she got a show on the Food Network Cooking App

LINKS MENTIONED:

• Find out more about my book Creative Food Photography
• Connect with Sarah on instagram or via her website
• Find Sarah’s books here
• Saveur, Food&Wine, GLAMOUR, Oprah, Real Simple magazine
• Chronical
• Clarkson Potter
• Martha Stewart
• Good Housekeeping
• Dorie Greenspan
• Oatmeal yoghurt pancakes with blackberry crush
• Bon Appetit
• Epicurious
• James Beard Foundation
• Gentl and Hyers
• Christopher Testani
• Feed the Hungry
• Find the full show notes HERE
• Find me on instagram here